King's College London
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Survey of the Papers of Senior UK Defence Personnel, 1900-1975

Service biography
Commissioned 1905; joined 21 Cavalry (Frontier Force), Indian Army, 1907; North West Frontier, India 1908; World War I 1914-1918; operations in Somaliland 1914-1920; Staff College, Quetta, India 1922; Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General, Army Headquarters, India 1923; RAF Staff College, Andover 1924; Army Headquarters, India 1925; Assistant Secretary Committee of Imperial Defence 1926-1930; Military Secretary to Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquis of Willingdon, Viceroy of India 1931-1933; General Staff Officer Grade 1, War Office 1933-1936; Deputy Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence 1936-1938; Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence 1938; Chief of Staff to Ministry of Defence 1940-1945; Deputy Secretary (Military) to War Cabinet 1940-1945; Additional Secretary (Military) Cabinet 1945; Chief of Staff to AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, last Viceroy of India, Mar-Nov 1947; Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations 1951-1952; Secretary-General, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) 1952-1957; Vice Chairman, North Atlantic Council 1952-1956; Chairman, North Atlantic Council 1956-1957

Papers
LIDDELL HART CENTRE FOR MILITARY ARCHIVES: Papers 1893-1965 (26 boxes) including; personal correspondence and speeches 1893-1961 (ref: Ismay 1/1/1-4); letters home to his mother from Somaliland 1916-1920 (ref: Ismay 1/2); working notes for Committee of Imperial Defence 1925-1926 (ref: Ismay 1/3); appointment diaries Jul-Oct 1945 (ref: Ismay 1/9/1); appointment diaries 1947-1956 (ref: Ismay 1/9/2-9); material compiled for memoirs, including memoranda 1954-1961(ref: Ismay 1/10-15); correspondence with Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill 1940-1965, including correspondence relating to Churchill's memoirs (ref: Ismay 2/1-4); official and personal correspondence, lectures, notes and press cuttings relating to defence issues, principally proposed defence re-organisation 1936-1963. Correspondents include AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, MRAF Sir John Cotesworth Slessor, Lt Gen Sir (Edward) Ian (Claud) Jacob, (ref: Ismay 3/4/1-130); official correspondence relating to operations in Somaliland 1917-1922 (ref: Ismay 3/1); training exercises and notes relating to Staff College, Quetta and RAF Staff College, Andover 1922-1924 (ref: Ismay 3/2); notes relating to the Foreign Secretaries' Conference, Moscow, USSR 1943 (ref: Ismay 3/5); situation reports and official correspondence relating to India 1946-1951. Correspondents include AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Lt Col Vernon Forbes Erskine Crum, Gen Sir Douglas David Gracey and Jawarharlal Nehru (ref: 3/7/1-68); official correspondence relating to Ismay's appointment as Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) 1952 (ref: Ismay 3/11/1-31); official correspondence relating to Ismay's service as Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) #rom 1952 #to 1957. Correspondents include FM Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein and Hindhead, Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, (Robert) Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, and Dana Wilgress, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Canadian permanent representative (ref: Ismay 3/12/1-40); speeches, broadcasts and statements to the press made by Ismay relating to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) 1952-1957 (ref: Ismay 3/13-20); North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Secretary General's progress reports 1952-1956 (ref: Ismay 3/21/1-9); correspondence and minutes relating to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Bermuda conference 1953 (ref: Ismay 3/22/1-6); speeches, ceremonial details and congratulatory correspondence relating to Ismay's resignation as Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) 1956-1957 (ref: Ismay 3/23-24); personal correspondence with and about FM Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke of Brookeborough, 1946-1963 (ref: Ismay 4/Ala/1-30); personal correspondence with Clement Richard Attlee00 1940-1946 (ref: Ismay 4/Atl/1-12); personal correspondence with (Robert) Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon 1943-1965 (ref: 4/Avo/1-20); corresondence with Lt Gen Montagu Brocas Burrows, British Military Mission to Moscow 1944-1945, concerning Russian attitudes to the campaign in North West Europe (ref: Ismay 4/Bur/1-9); correspondence with publishers and colleagues, including Gen Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor, about a proposed biography of Lt Gen Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart 1962-1964 (ref: Ismay 4/Car/1-132); official correspondence with Gen Mark Wayne Clark, US Army 1943-1952 (ref: Ismay 4/Cla/1-8); personal correspondence with and about FM Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck and FM Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, including correspondence with Maj Gen Robert John Collins about their biographies 1941-1961 (ref: Ismay 4/Con/1-4); official correspondence with Maj Gen Richard Henry Dewing, RAF Liaison Staff, Australia 1943-1944 (ref: Ismay 4/Dew/1-7); official and personal correspondence with and about Gen Dwight David Eisenhower, United States Army 1942-1965 (ref Ismay 4/ Eis/1-147); personal correspondence with FM John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, 1942-1945 (ref: Ismay 4/Gor/1-5); official correspondence with Maj Gen Gordon Edward Grimsdale, Head of Military Mission to Chungking, China 1942-1943 (ref: Ismay 4/ Gri/1-7); personal correspondence with Gen Alfred (Maximilian) Gruenther, Supreme Commander, Allied Forces Europe 1952-1965 (ref: Ismay 4/Gru/1-95); personal correspondence with Sir Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey of The Chart, 1930-1961 (ref: Ismay 4/Han/1-18); official correspondence with AF Sir Roger John Brownlow Keyes 1941-1942 (ref: Ismay 4/Key/1-23); personal correspondence with Gen George C Marshall, United States Army 1942-1957 (ref: Ismay 4/ Mar/1-14); official correspondence with Lt Gen Sir Frederick Edgworth Morgan 1944-1946 (ref: Ismay 4/Mor/1-10); official and personal correspondence with AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 1943-1964 (ref: Ismay 4/Mou/1-129); official correspondence with Lt Gen Sir Henry Royds Pownall, South East Asia Command Headquarters 1944-1945 (ref: Ismay 4/Pow/1-8); official correspondence with Lt Gen Sir Harold Redman, British Joint Staff Mission, Washington DC, USA 1943-1944 (ref: Ismay 4/Red/1-6); personal correspondence with Gen W Bedell Smith, United States Army 1942-1962 (ref: Ismay 4/Smi/1-40); official correspondence with AF Sir James Fownes Somerville, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Fleet 1943-1947 (ref: Ismay 4/Som/1-10); official correspondence with Maj Gen Sir Edward Louis Spears, Minister to the Lebanon 1940-1945 (ref: Ismay 4/Spe/1-15); personal correspondence with Lt Gen Albert Coady Wedemeyer, United States Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, South East Asia Command #1944 (ref: Ismay 4/Wed/1-8); printed copies of Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill's telegrams as Prime Minister 1941-1942, in two bound volumes (ref: Ismay 6/1-2); printed minutes of Chiefs of Staff meetings 1943-1944 (ref: Ismay 6/3-8); printed minutes of CASABLANCA, TRIDENT and QUADRANT Combined Chiefs of Staff meetings 1943 (ref: Ismay 6/11-13) BIRMINGHAM UNIVERSITY INFORMATION SERVICES, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT: The papers of (Robert) Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, include correspondence with Ismay 1961-1965 (ref: AP 23/41); BODLEIAN LIBRARY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: The papers of Walter Turner Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, include correspondence with Ismay 1947-1956 (ref: Deputy Monckton); the papers of Lionel George Curtis include correspondence with Ismay 1951-1952 (ref: MSS Curtis, Eng hist b 224, c 776-877); BRITISH LIBRARY, DEPARTMENT OF MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS, LONDON: The papers of AF Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes of Zeebrugge and Dover, include correspondence with Ismay 1941-1942; CHARTERHOUSE SCHOOL, GODALMING: press cuttings; CHURCHILL ARCHIVES CENTRE, CHURCHILL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY: Papers of Maj Gen Sir Edward Louis Spears include correspondence with Lord and Lady Ismay 1940-1971 (ref: SPRS 1/184); IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM, LONDON: The papers of FM Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein and Hindhead, include a single letter from Ismay, Jul 1944 (ref: BLM 97/112); the papers of Maj Gen Joseph Charles Haydon (ref: 93/28/4; Con Shelf) include a single letter from Ismay, Dec 1942, commenting on his depression at his contribution to the war effort; NUFFIELD COLLEGE LIBRARY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: The papers of Frederick Alexander Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell of Oxford, include correspondence with Ismay 1940-1954 (ref: CSAC 80/4/81, 99/3/84); RHODES HOUSE LIBRARY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: The papers of Col Charles William Garne Walker contain; correspondence relating to East Africa 1927-1935; SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY: Papers of AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, include correspondence 1942 concerning Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill's comments about the Dieppe raid and AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma's reply (ref: MB1/B18); The papers of AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma also include correspondence relating to South East Asia Command 1943-1946 (ref: MB1/C145-147); Mountbatten papers include personal correspondence 1946-1948 (ref: MB1/E83); Mountbatten papers include correspondence relating to India, Oct 1947 (ref: MB1/D196); Mountbatten papers include correspondence relating to India 1951-1952 (ref: MB1/G25); Mountbatten papers include personal correspondence 1956-1959 (ref: MB1/I229); Mountbatten papers include correspondence relating to Ismay's memoirs 1961-1964 (ref: MB1/J246)

Publications

Index terms
SUBJECTS training 1922; staff 1925-1926; policy 1936-1945; strategy 1936-1945; high command 1936-1945; staff 1940-1947; strategy 1940-1945; colonial government 1946-1947; Indian independence 1947; Cold War 1952-1957
PLACES East Africa 1916-1922; France 1942; North West Europe 1942; Russia 1943-1945; South Asia 1946-1951; Pacific 1943-1944; Far East 1942-1943; South East Asia 1944-1945; North America 1943-1944; Middle East 1940-1952
NAMES Clement Richard Atlee, 1st Earl Atlee 1940-1946; Maj Gen Vernon Forbes Erskine Crum 1948; Gen Sir Douglas Gracey 1948; Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey of The Chart 1930-1961; AF Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes of Zeebrugge and Dover 1941-1942 Maj Gen Sir Edward Spears, formerly Speirs 1940-1945

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