King's College London
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Papers of Victor Bonham Carter (1913-2007)

Reference code: GB99 KCLMA Bonham Carter

Title: BONHAM CARTER, Victor (1913-2007)

Dates of creation of material: [1960-1964]

Level of description: item level

Extent: 0.01m3 or 1 box of papers

Introduction

Brief List






INTRODUCTION

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Born in 1913; educated at Winchester College and Magdalene College, Cambridge; on staff of The Countryman, 1936-1937; Director, School Prints Ltd, 1937-1939, 1945-1960; served with Royal Berkshire Regt and Intelligence Corps, 1939-1945; farmed in West Somerset, 1947-1959; historian of Dartington Hall Estate, Devon, 1951-1966; on staff of Society of Authors, 1963-1982; partner, Exmoor Press, 1969-1989; published numerous books and articles on country life and on authorship matters, especially Public Lending Right; died 2007.

PROVENANCE

Presented to the Centre by Bonham Carter in 1965.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The collection is composed of two parts, papers relating to A Soldier True, (Frederick Muller, London) Bonham Carter's biography of FM Sir William (Robert) Robertson, 1st Bt, 1963, and papers created during the writing of scripts for the BBC series The Great War, 1963-4.
Much of the Robertson material consists of handwritten notes taken from secondary sources; of interest, though, is Bonham Carter's overview of the events of 1916, especially concerning the French General Robert Georges Nivelle. There are also some very brief notes made during interviews with persons relevant to Bonham Carter's research on Robertson.
The notes and scripts relating to The Great War, show the process by which historical material is incorporated into a television series; again, there are interesting and detailed notes on the domestic problems and foreign policy of 1916, which seems to have been Bonham Carter's area of expertise, and many narratives describing historical events from differing perspectives are to be found in the final scripts.

ARRANGEMENT

The material is divided into two areas, as described above, and within those two areas, into sections based upon type of material. In section 1/2 of the original list, every sheet of paper was numbered separately, whether part of a larger item or not; this was considered misleading, and that section has been renumbered according to item.

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE

Access

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Copyright

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the College Archivist.

Language

English.

RELATED MATERIAL

Related units of description

The Centre also holds the papers of FM Sir William (Robert) Robertson, 1st Bt (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Robertson W R).


Last modified: Friday, 28-Mar-2008 09:25:15 GMT

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