King's College London
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Papers of Field Marshal Sir John Greer Dill GCB, CMG, DSO (1881-1944)


Reference code: GB99 KCLMA DILL
Title: DILL, Field Marshal Sir John Greer (1881-1944)
Dates of creation of material: 1857-1975
Level of description: collection (fonds)
Extent: 0.16 metres cubed or (16 boxes) and one oversize photograph

Introduction

Brief List



Papers of Field Marshal Sir John Greer Dill GCB, CMG, DSO (1881-1944)



INTRODUCTION

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Born 1881; educated at Methodist College, Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland, Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire, 1895; Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1900; commissioned into 1 Bn, The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regt (Royal Canadians), 1901; service in Second Boer War, South Africa, 1901-1902; Assistant Adjutant, 1 Bn, The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regt (Royal Canadians), Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland, Shorncliffe, Kent, and Blackdown, Dorset, 1902-1906; Lt, 1903; Adjutant, 1 Bn, The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regt (Royal Canadians), Blackdown, Dorset, and Devonport, Devon, 1906-1909; Bde Signal Officer, UK, 1909; Capt, 1911; graduated from Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1914; General Staff Officer 3, Eastern Command, 1914; served in World War One, 1914-1918; Bde Maj, 25 Bde, 8 Div, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), France, 1914-1916; Battles of Neuve Chapelle and Aubers Ridge, 1915; awarded Distinguished Service Order (DSO), 1915; General Staff Officer Grade 2, 55 (West Lancashire) Div, Territorial Force, Western Front, 1916; Maj, 1916; General Staff Officer Grade 2, Canadian Corps, Western Front, 1916-1917; Brevet Lt Col, 1917; General Staff Officer Grade 1, 37 Div, Western Front, 1917; temporary Lt Col, 1917-1918; General Staff Officer Grade 1, Operations Branch, General Headquarters, British Armies in France, 1917-1918; awarded Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG), 1918; Brig Gen, 1918-1920; Brig Gen General Staff, Operations Branch, General Headquarters, British Armies in France, 1918-1919; Brevet Col, 1919; Brig Gen General Staff and Chief Instructor, Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1919-1922; Col, 1920; commanded Welsh Border Bde, 53 (Welsh) Div, Territorial Army, 1922-1923; Col Commandant, 2 Infantry Bde, Aldershot, Hampshire, 1923-1926; Army Instructor, Imperial Defence College, London, 1926-1928; awarded Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) 1928; Brig General Staff, Western Command, Quetta, India, 1929-1931; Maj Gen, 1930; Commandant, Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1931-1934; Col, East Lancashire Regt, 1932; Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, War Office, 1934-1936; Lt Gen, 1936; General Officer Commanding British Troops in Palestine and Transjordan, 1936-1937; created Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), 1937; General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Aldershot Command, 1937-1939; Gen, 1939; General Officer Commanding 1 Corps, Belgium and France, 1939-1940; Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Apr 1940; Aide de Camp General to the King, 1940-1941; Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 26 May 1940-Dec 1941; Governor-Designate, Bombay, India, 1941; FM, 1941; Head of British Joint Staff Mission, and Senior British Member, Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee, Washington DC, USA, 1942-1944; appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB), 1942; Col Commandant, The Parachute Regt, 1942-1944; Col Commandant, Army Air Corps, 1942-1944; died, 1944; posthumously awarded US Distinguished Service Medal, 1944.

PROVENANCE

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1978. A second accession was acquired from the family in 1999.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

Papers relating to the life and career of Field Marshal Sir John Greer Dill (1857-1963). Also some papers of Dill’s family and family estates, 1857-1953. Consisting of papers relating to World War One including operational orders, battle instructions, translations of captured German documents, papers on promotions and award of Distinguished Service Order (DSO), letters from Marshal Ferdinand Foch, inspection reports by Maj Bernard Charles Tolver Paget and personal correspondence. Papers relating to the inter-war years, 1919-1939 including lectures; speeches; papers from from Dill’s service at Staff College, Camberley; papers on promotions; personal correspondence; notes on the state of the British Armed Forces and military intelligence; papers relating to Dill’s service as Director of Military Operations and Intelligence and correspondence from Dill’s service as General Officer Commanding British Troops in Palestine and Transjordan relating to the Arab revolt, Palestine, 1936-1937. Papers relating to World War Two, including papers relating to Dill’s service as General Officer Commanding 1 Corps, British Expeditionary Force; papers relating to Dill’s service as Chief of General Staff, notably on situation in Middle East, including Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Kenya, Western Desert, Cyprus, Sudan, Aden and Somaliland, Iraq, Cyrenaica, Crete, Libya, Abyssinia, East Africa and Tobruk with extensive official and personal correspondence with Gen Sir Archibald Percival Wavell, also correspondence with Gen Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck and papers from Dill’s official tour of the Mediterranean Feb-Apr 1941. Papers on France, including the evacuation of Dunkirk, May-Jun 1940; also Ireland, Nov-Dec 1940; Northern Ireland, Jun 1940; Narvick, Norway, Jan 1940-Sep 1941; India; and defence of Britain, 1940-1941. Post-war papers relating to Dill’s death and memorials including obituaries, condolence letters and papers relating to memorials including Dill’s statue in Arlington National Cemetery. Photographs and postcards including official photographs of ATLANTIC conference, Newfoundland, Aug 1941; SYMBOL conference, Casablanca, Jan 1943; QUADRANT conference, Quebec, Aug 1943; visit to Germany 1935; portraits; Staff College, Camberley; exercises and parades; Razmak, Pakistan; Khyber pass; visit to Hollywood studios [MGM]; personal and travel photographs and scrapbook of photographs and press cuttings on Dill’s career. Maps, honours and awards, publications and articles, Dill family papers, personal financial papers and papers relating to Dill’s family, 1937-1947, including papers relating to Dill’s second wife Lady Nancy Isabelle Cecil Furlong (née Charrington) Dill, 1941-1945 papers relating to Dill’s son, John de Guerin Dill, 1916-1956, and personal correspondence between the Dill family, 1937-1945.

ARRANGEMENT

The files have been arranged into sections as outlined in the brief list above. The papers were re-arranged in 2007. The order of the papers previous to this re-arrangement are traceable using the concordance.

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE

Access

Open, subject to signature of Reader registration form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

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 Director of Archive Services.

Language

English. Some items in French and German, one item in Arabic, one item in Greek.

Last modified: Friday, 18-Sep-2009 17:18:35 BST

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