Summary Guide

WILKINSON, Col Alexander Camac (1892-1983)

IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Wilkinson

Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Title: WILKINSON, Col Alexander Camac (1892-1983)

Date(s): 1906-1983

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 3 boxes or 0.03 cubic metres

Name of creator(s): Wilkinson | Alexander Camac | 1892-1983 | Colonel

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born, 1892; educated, Eton College, [1906-1907]; Coldstream Guards, 1917; 99 Light Anti-Aircraft Regt during World War Two, 1939-1945; Head of British Military Government, Graz, Steiermark, Austria, 1945; died, 1983.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Col Alexander Camac Wilkinson, 1906-1983, including appointment diary, 1931; typescript memoir, 'Fun and games and narrow squeaks' relating to Wilkinson's early cricketing and military career; account of service with 1 Company, 2 Bn, Coldstream Guards, 1917, with trench map, Bourlon; an account by Wilkinson as regimental Cdr of 99 Light Anti-Aircraft Regt's role in Operation HONKER, before the capture of Rome, providing smoke screens across all river crossings to protect Royal Engineers who were constructing bridges; letter on Wilkinson's thoughts on post-war Imperial development and reconstruction, 1943; letters from Wilkinson to his aunt, written from Eton, 1906-1907; social and personal correspondence, 1945-1983; correspondence relating to business and charity; correspondence and press cuttings relating to reunions, notably a visit to Graz, 1970, capital of Austrian province of Steiermark, where Wilkinson was Head of British Military Government, 1945; citation (with translation) and press cuttings relating to the presentation of an Austrian decoration to Wilkinson, 1977; photocopy of citations for Wilkinson's military decorations, with covering letter from the Ministry of Defence, 1982; maps of North West Europe, Texas and London; notes on an old cricketing friend in Australia, Jack Massie; note of thanks from Peter Thwaites, Imperial War Museum, 1980, relating to the loan for copying of an account dealing with incendiary bombs, World War Two; artefacts including an empty presentation box, with inscription to Wilkinson from 99 LAA Regt on his marriage, 1947; empty DSO medal case and Austrian medal, in original case.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Original order

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

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.

Finding aids:

This collection description.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Box passed to the Centre, 2002.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Decorations: MC with Bar, GM and DSO.

Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Geoff Browell for the RSLP AIM25 Project. Revised by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions: National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997; ISAD(G), Second Edition, 2000.

Date(s) of descriptions: June 2003; June 2008.

Subjects

Medals | Awards | Social norms | Social behaviour

Military government | Political systems

Military logistics | Warfare | Military engineering

Operation Honker (1944) | Military operations | Military engineering

Sport | Leisure time activities | Leisure

World War One (1914-1918) | War | International conflicts

World War Two (1939-1945) | War | International conflicts

World wars (events)

World wars (events)

Personal names

Wilkinson | Alexander Camac | 1892 - 1983 | Colonel

Corporate names

British Army

Eton College | public school

Places

Bourlon | France | Western Europe

Graz | Austria | Western Europe

London | England | UK | Western Europe

Northern Europe | Western Europe

Texas | USA | North America