The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London, and the Archives and Manuscripts Section, Southampton University Library, have undertaken a comprehensive survey of the nature and location of private papers bearing on the military and naval affairs of the 19th and 20th centuries. The aim of the survey has been to bring together, on linked computerised databases in London and Southampton, information about papers held both publicly and privately to support the work of anyone interested in the field of military history and the implications of war and defence policy on the civil population. Further information about the Southampton database may be found by consulting Special Collections - Survey of the Papers of Senior UK Defence Personnel, 1793-1975 .
The scope of the Location Register is unprecedented in the military field and includes entries for all British defence personnel who achieved the ranks above and including Major General, Air Vice Marshal and Rear Admiral as well as their opposite numbers in the civil service between the years 1800-1975. The entries give significant career details and a description and location for any papers which have been located, including a note of the existence of photocopies or microfilm held by repositories open to the public. Entries also indicate where no papers have been kept, where they have been destroyed and, if appropriate, where no information has been obtainable.
At King's College the Location Register has drawn upon an existing register to the 20th century which has been compiled in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives over a number of years and has been supplemented by the survey of relevant holdings of record offices, museums and libraries, and by correspondence and contact with private individuals. The National Register of Archives and all available published guides have also been consulted.
Although now made available, the Location Register remains very much a work in progress and will continue to be added to as further information becomes available. Material will also be gradually added for officers post 1975. Staff of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives will welcome corrections and updates to information offered from both the web community and archivists and librarians. We are indebted already to a number of you for the information available here.
Please note that the date range searching of the search screen which follows is fairly unsophisticated and likely to produce 'false drops'. Work on developing the search strategy is still in progress
Work on the Location Register has been supported substantially by the generosity of the Leverhulme Trust and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.