King's College London
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

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

Service biography
Commissioned, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 1909; service in Malta Cameronians 1911-1912; World War I with the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), Western Front and Italy 1914-1918; Staff College, Camberley 1920; Bde Maj, Experimental Bde 1921; Adjutant, Cameronians 1924; Company Commander, Sandhurst 1925-1927; Instructor, Staff College Camberley 1927-1929; service with 1 Bn Cameronians, Eygpt 1930; Lucknow, India 1931-1932; General Staff Officer Grade 2, War Office 1932-1934; Imperial Defence College 1935; Commander, Peshawar Infantry Bde, North West Frontier, India 1936-1938; Commander, 7 Div 1938; Military Governor of Jerusalem, Palestine 1938-1939; World War II 1939-1945; Commander, Western Desert Corps in Libya Campaign, North Africa 1940-1941; General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, British Troops in Eygpt 1941; POW, Italy 1941-1943; escaped 1943; Commander, 8 Corps, 2 Army, France 1944; General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command, India 1945; General Officer Commanding-in-Chief North Western Army, India 1945-1946; Adjutant General to the Forces, War Office 1946-1947; retired 1948; Commandant, Army Cadet Forces, Scotland 1948-1959

Papers
LIDDELL HART CENTRE FOR MILITARY ARCHIVES: Papers 1912-1976 (16 boxes), including; diaries and official correspondence relating to his service on Western Front and in Italy 1915-1919 (ref: O'Connor 2/2/1-9); reports, official correspondence, press cuttings and photographs relating to his service as Commander, Peshawar Infantry Bde and District, India 1935-1938 (ref: O'Connor 2/4/1-9); including confidential reports on O'Connor 1937-1938 by Maj Gen Chauncy Batho Dashwood Strettell (ref: O'Connor 2/4/5-6); official correspondence, letters home and press cuttings relating to his service as Commander, 7 Div and Military Governor, Jerusalem 1938-1939 (ref: O'Connor 3/1-4); including official correspondence with Lt Gen Robert Hadden Haining, General Officer Commanding British Troops in Palestine and Transjordan 1938-1939 (ref: O'Connor 3/2/1-31); official correspondence as Commander, 7 Div, Mersa Matruh Fortress, and as Commander, Western Desert Force 1939-1940. Correspondents include Maj Gen Michael O'Moore Creagh, Commander of 7 Armoured Div, and Lt Gen Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, British Troops in Egypt (ref: O'Connor 4/1/1-133); correspondence and press cuttings relating to the First Libyan campaign 1940-1941(ref: O'Connor 4/2/1-70); including correspondence with Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart concerning the First Libyan campaign 1942-1951 (ref: O'Connor 4/2/50 - see also LH 1/553); narrative accounts of the First Libyan campaign by O'Connor, Gen Philip Neame and Lt Col John Frederick Boyce Combe, also related correspondence 1940-1941 (ref: O'Connor 4/3/1-22); War Cabinet Defence Committee minutes of meetings relating to the British expedition to Greece 1941 (ref: O'Connor 4/4/1-8); papers relating to O'Connor's captivity in Castle Vincigliata, Italy, including a narrative of his escape 1941-1946 (ref: O'Connor 4/5/1-22); including account of previous unsuccessful escape attempt and recapture, with Maj Gen Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart 1942 (ref: O'Connor 4/5/1); official and personal letters written as Commander, 8 Corps, North West Europe 1944. Recipients include Maj Gen Sir Allan Adair, Commander, Guards Armoured Div; Maj Gen Sir Percy Hobart, Commander, 79 Armoured Div; Maj Gen Lashmer Gordon Whistler, Commander, 3 British Div; Maj Gen (George) Philip (Bradley) Roberts, Commander, 11 Armoured Div (ref: O'Connor 5/1-4); official and semi official correspondence as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief North Western Army, India 1945-1946 (ref: O'Connor 6/1-33); semi official correspondence as Adjutant Gen to the Forces 1946-1947 (ref: O'Connor 7/1-20); including correspondence relating to his resignation as Adjutant Gen 1947 (ref: O'Connor 7/19-20); the papers of Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart include correspondence with O'Connor 1935-1965 (LH 1/553 - see also O'Connor 4//2/50) IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM, LONDON: Unpublished typescript account of the First Libyan Campaign, North Africa 1940-1941 (duplicate of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives' copy, ref: 69/57/1); the papers of Lt Gen Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese (ref: Strong Rm), include five brief letters, chiefly of thanks, from O'Connor 1945-1946; the papers of FM Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein and Hindhead include a single letter from O'Connor, Aug 1944 (ref: BLM 97/31); the Department of Sound Records holds an interview (recorded in 1974); LIDDLE COLLECTION, LEEDS UNIVERSITY: Photocopy of extract from Italian diary, January 1918; interview covering his service in World War I (recorded in 1975 ref: 297-298)

Publications
Cyril Nelson Barclay, Against all odds: the story of the first offensive in Libya, 1940-45, including extracts from O'Connor's personal narrative (Sifton Praed & Co, London, 1955)

Index terms
SUBJECTS training 1935; training 1948-1959; staff 1932-1934; civil military relations 1938-1939; staff 1939-1947; armoured warfare 1939-1941; battle of Sidi Barrani, Dec 1940; Operation Overlord 1944
PLACES Southern Europe 1914-1918; Southern Europe 1941-1943; Middle East 1914-1918; Middle East 1938-1941; North Africa 1939-1941; Normandy 1944; North West Europe 1944; South Asia 1936-1938; South Asia 1945-1946
NAMES Maj Gen Sir Michael O'Moore Creagh 1941; Lt Gen Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart 1941-1943; FM Sir Henry Maitland Wilson 1939-1940

Last updated: