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 AREA

3.1.1 Reference code(s): GB0099 Davy

3.1.2 Title: DAVY, Brig George Mark Oswald (1898-1983)

3.1.3 Date(s): 1918-1982

3.1.4 Level of description: Collection (Fonds)

3.1.5 Extent and medium of the unit of description (quantity, bulk or size): 2 boxes, 1 microfilm

3.2 CONTEXT AREA

3.2.1 Name of creator(s): Davy | George Mark Oswald | 1898-1983 | Brigadier

3.2.2 Administrative/Biographical history: Born, 1898; educated at Charterhouse and Royal Military Academy; commissioned, Royal Field Artillery (RFA), 1918; service on Western Front, World War One 1918; Prisoner of War, 1918; Gunnery course, School of Gunnery, Shoeburyness, 1919; service in 130 Bde, RFA, 28 Div, Anatolia, 1919-1920; service with RFA, India, 1920; transferred to 3 King's Own Hussars, India 1931; Staff College course, Camberley, 1932-1933; Bde Maj, 150 Bde, 1935-1936; Company Commander, Royal Military College Sandhurst, 1937-1938; Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich, 1939; Chief Staff Officer, British Mission to French Gen Maurice Gustave Gamelin, Paris, France, led by Maj Gen Sir Richard Granville Hylton Howard-Vyse, 1939-1940; Head of War Office Mission to King Leopold, Belgium, May 1940; Second in Command, 3 Hussars, 7 Armoured Bde, Western Desert, 1940-1941; General Staff Officer Grade 1, British Troops Headquarters, Greece, for evacuation of British forces from Greece, April 1941; commanded 3 Armoured Bde, Tobruk, Libya May-Jul 1941; General Officer Commanding 7 Armoured Bde, 7 Armoured Div, Western Desert Jul-Dec, 1941; Director of Military Operations, Middle East General Headquarters, 1942-1944; commanded Land Forces Adriatic, southern Italy, 1944-1945; retired from Army, 1948; became professional painter and sculptor; recommissioned for special duties, Middle East, 1956; retired from Army again, 1959; died, 1983.

3.2.3 Archival history:

3.2.4 Immediate source of acquisition or transfer: Presented to the Centre by Brigadier Davy's executors, 1984. Copy microfilm purchased from Imperial War Museum, 1984.

3.3 CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

3.3.1 Scope and content: Papers of Brig George Mark Oswald Davy, 1918-1982, relating chiefly to Davy's service 1940-1947, including; copy of The Times, 11 Nov 1918; article written at Royal Naval Staff College, 'Some lessons of naval strategy in the Great War and their possible application to a future war with Germany', Jul 1939; papers relating to Maj Gen Sir Richard Granville Hylton Howard-Vyse's Mission to French Gen Maurice Gustave Gamelin, France, 1939-1940, including photocopy of a report on the Maginot Line, France, Dec 1939, drafted by Davy and signed by Maj Gen HRH Prince Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, Duke of Windsor, correspondence, 1974-1981, concerning the Duke of Windsor and his role in the British Military Mission, 1939; reports and correspondence, 1940-1982, relating to the British Military Mission to Belgium, led by Davy, 1940; diary of the evacuation of the British Military Mission to Belgium, May 1940; memorandum to 7 Armoured Bde by Davy, 16 Nov 1941, shortly before the battle of Sidi Rezegh; recollection of Maj Gen John Charles ('Jock') Campbell, VC [1942]; official and semi-official correspondence received by Davy as Commander of Land Forces Adriatic, 1944-1945; report and correspondence concerning Brig (later Maj Gen) Thomas Bell Lindsay Churchill and his role in operations at Sarande, Albania, Sep-Oct 1944; correspondence, 1947-1953, relating to Davy's retirement, 1947; curriculum vitae, 1918-1947; supplement to The London Gazette, Mar 1948, concerning operations in Burma, 1941-1942; supplement to The London Gazette, Jun 1950, concerning Allied Armies in Italy, 1943-1944; correspondence relating to meetings of the Military Commentators' Circle, 1954-1955; speeches in support of the Conservative Party, 1955 and 1979; correspondence with (Archibald) David Stirling and Maj Gen Sir Robert Edward Laycock concerning a Sunday Times article by Len Deighton, 1967 about David Stirling and 1 Special Air Services (SAS) Bde, Tobruk, Sep 1942, and subsequent apology by the Sunday Times. Obituaries and appreciations of colleagues, 1962-1979, including Maj Gen Sir Richard Granville Hylton Howard-Vyse, Polish Gen Wladyslaw Anders, Brig Ronald John Frederick Tod, Polish Gen Stanislaw Kopanski, and Brig the Rt Hon Sir Eric Sachs. Correspondence, 1967-1982, concerning Davy's World War Two service, 1940-1945. Manuscript memoirs [nd] relating to Davy's service in India and the UK, 1923-1939. Microfilm of typescript extract from his memoirs relating to his World War Two service 1939-1944.

3.3.2 Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

3.3.3 Accruals:

3.3.4 System of arrangement: One reel of microfilm and two boxes of papers. The latter are arranged chronologically

3.4 CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

3.4.1 Conditions governing access: Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of a letter of introduction.

3.4.2 Conditions governing reproduction: 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.

3.4.3 Language/scripts of material: English

3.4.4 Physical characteristics and technical requirements:

3.4.5 Finding aids: Collection level description

3.5 ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

3.5.1 Existence and location of originals:

3.5.2 Existence and location of copies: Department of Documents, Imperial War Museum, also holds a microfilm copy of typescript extracts from Davy's memoirs relating to his World War Two service, 1939-1944 (ref: pp/mcr/143).

3.5.3 Related units of description:

3.5.4 Publication note:

3.6 NOTE AREA

3.6.1 Note:

3.7 DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

3.7.1 Archivist's note: Compiled by Kate O'Brien

3.7.2 Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

3.7.3 Date(s) of descriptions: 2003

INDEX ENTRIES

Subjects

Personal names

Davy | George Mark Oswald | 1898-1983 | Brigadier

Corporate names

Places

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