King's College London
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Summary Guide

Note: The item numbers represent a subset from ISAD(G) rules (General International Standard Archival Description) promulgated by the International Council on Archives to standardise archival description world-wide. Only item numbers relevant to our specific archive are included here.

3.1 IDENTITY STATEMENT
3.1.1 Reference code: GB99 KCLMA Allenby
3.1.2 Title: ALLENBY, FM Edmund (Henry Hynman), 1st Viscount Allenby of Megiddo and of Felixstowe (1861-1936)
3.1.3 Dates of creation of material: 1881-1950, 1955
3.1.4 Level of description: collection level
3.1.5 Extent: 14 boxes or 0.14m3

3.2 CONTEXT
3.2.2 Biographical history: Born in 1861; educated at Haileybury College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; commissioned into 6 Inniskilling Dragoons, 1882; served in Bechuanaland Expedition, 1884-1885, and in Zululand, 1888; Adjutant, Inniskilling Dragoons, 1889-1893; served in UK, 1890-1896; Staff College, Camberley, 1896-1897; Maj, 1897; Bde Maj, 3 Cavalry Bde, Ireland, 1898; served in South Africa, 1899-1902; commanded 5 Royal Irish Lancers, 1902-1905, and 4 Cavalry Brigade, Eastern Command, 1905-1910; Inspector of Cavalry, 1910-1914; served on Western Front, 1914-1917; Commander, Cavalry Div (later Cavalry Corps), BEF, 1914; Commander, 5 Army Corps, 1915; Commander, 3 Army, 1915-1917; Commander-in-Chief, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, Palestine and Egypt, 1917-1919; FM, 1919; High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan, 1919-1925; died in 1936.
3.2.5 Provenance/source of acquisition: Placed in the Centre by the family in 1976.

3.3 CONTENT AND STRUCTURE
3.3.1 Scope and content: Papers relating to his life and career, 1881-1936, including letters to his family, 1890-1922, notably covering his service in UK, 1890-1896, and South Africa, 1899-1902, including operations around Colesberg, Dec 1899-Jan 1900, relief of Kimberley, Feb 1900, Battle of Diamond Hill, Jun 1900, and operations in Transvaal and Orange Free State, 1900-1902, on Western Front, 1914-1917, including the first battle of Ypres, Oct-Nov 1914, Battle of Arras, Apr 1917, and in Palestine and Egypt, 1917-1922, including third Battle of Gaza, Oct-Nov 1917, capture of Jerusalem, Dec 1917, Battle of Megiddo, Sep 1918, and fall of Damascus, Oct 1918; correspondence relating to Allenby's role as High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan, 1919-1925, including telegrams exchanged by Allenby and the Rt Hon (Joseph) Austen Chamberlain, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, over Nevile Meyrick Henderson's appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary and Allenby's resignation as High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan, 1924-1925; manuscript, typescript and printed texts of speeches, lectures and articles, [1929-1936]; newspaper cuttings, 1899-1936, including obituaries of Allenby, 1936; photographs, 1881-1936. Papers collected by Gen Archibald Percival Wavell during the writing of Allenby: a study in greatness (Harrap and Co, London, 1940) and Allenby in Egypt (Harrap and Co, London, 1943) principally comprising correspondence and notes written by Allenby's army colleagues, 1936-1943; notes and letters from Gerald Delany concerning Allenby in Egypt, [1940-1943]; letter from Gen Sir Henry George Chauvel to Director of Australian War Memorial concerning Seven pillars of wisdom by Thomas Edward Lawrence (also known as Thomas Edward Shaw) (Jonathan Cape, London, 1935), 1936, and printed appreciation of Lawrence by Allenby, 1935.
3.3.4 Arrangement: Arranged in the following sections: personal papers and correspondence; Palestine and Egypt; speeches, lectures and articles; newspaper cuttings; photographs and photograph albums; correspondence received by Wavell during writing of Allenby; material collected by Wavell for Allenby in Egypt, including papers relating to Lawrence.

3.4 CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE
3.4.2 Access: Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of a letter of introduction.
3.4.3 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.
3.4.4 Language: Mainly English, some Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian and French
3.4.6 Finding aids: Detailed catalogue available on line and also in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

3.5 ALLIED MATERIALS
3.5.2 Existence of copies: Middle East Centre, St Antony's College, Oxford holds copies of papers relating to Allenby's service in the Middle East.
3.5.3 Related units of description: Papers of FM Sir William Robert Robertson, 1st Bt, include official and personal correspondence with Allenby concerning operations in Egypt, 1917-1918 (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Robertson 1/14, 1/21, 1/32). Papers of Gen Sir John Stuart Mackenzie Shea include letters from Allenby concerning operations in Palestine, 1917-1918 (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Shea 4/2).
3.5.4 Associated material: Middle East Centre, St Antony's College, Oxford holds additional correspondence relating to Allenby and his service in the Middle East in the papers of Sir Milne Cheetham, Col C F Ryder, Gerald Delany, Sir William Goodenough Hayter, Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel and Sir Mark Sykes, 6th Bt. The Imperial War Museum holds correspondence with Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, 1918-1921 (Ref: HHW), six letters from Allenby to George Yardley, 1917-1922, and one to E S Jackson, 1934. The papers of Lt Gen Sir Herbert (Scott Gould) Miles at Christ Church, Oxford, also include correspondence with Allenby, 1923-1924. The papers of Philip Kerr at the Scottish Record Office include correspondence, 1917-1920. The Department of Manuscripts, Cambridge University Library holds letters from R Wingate, 1917-1919 (Ref: Hardinge). The papers of Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, at the House of Lords Records Office include correspondence, 1918-1921.
3.5.5 Related publications: The papers have been used by (Robert) Brian Gardner for his biography, Allenby (Cassell, London, 1965), and by Thomas Pakenham for The Boer War (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1979).

3.6 NOTE AREA
3.6.1 Date of compilation: Jan 1997
3.6.2 Decorations: GCB, GCMG, GCVO

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