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 MISC 74
3.1.2 Title: Civil Service Oral History Project, 1989
3.1.3 Dates of creation of material: 1989
3.1.4 Level of description: collection level
3.1.5 Extent: 1 file

3.2 CONTEXT
3.2.1 Name of creator: Institute of Contemporary British History
3.2.2 Administrative history: In May 1989, the Institute of Contemporary British History commenced a broad ranging oral history project relating to the education and careers of high-ranking members of the Civil Service, 1947-1982. The interviews were conducted primarily by Dr W Scott Lucas from the University of Birmingham and Professor Anthony Gorst of the University of Westminster, under the auspices of an Institute for Contemporary British History archive project. The interviews were eventually coalesced into the Institute for Contemporary British History Suez Oral History Project, which concerned British political, diplomatic, and military involvement in the Suez Crisis, 1956.
3.2.5 Provenance/source of acquisition: Presented to the Centre in 1999 by Harriet Jones, Institute of Contemporary British History, Senate House, London

3.3 CONTENT AND STRUCTURE
3.3.1 Scope and content: Typescript transcripts of interviews with high-ranking members of the Civil Service conducted by Dr W Scott Lucas of the University of Birmingham and Professor Anthony Gorst of the University of Westminster for an Institute of Contemporary British History oral history archive project, 1989. The purpose of the project was to trace the career development of key Civil Service officials and included questions relating to their childhood, education, involvement in World War Two, and most notably their positions during some of the most pivotal events of the Cold War. Topics covered include the post-war European Recovery Programme; the Berlin Airlift, 1948; British relations with the USSR, 1946-1982; the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 1949; the Suez Crisis, 1956; and British arms procurement, 1945-1982. Interviewees include Ian Powell Bancroft, Baron Bancroft of Coatham, Head Home Civil Service and Permanent Secretary to Civil Service Department, 1978-1981; Sir Harold Beeley, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 1955, Assistant Under Secretary, Foreign Office, 1956–1958, Deputy United Kingdom Representative, United Nations, 1958-1961; United Kingdom Representative, Disarmament Conference, Geneva, Switzerland, 1964–1967, Ambassador to the United Arab Republic, 1961-1964 and 1967-1969; Rt Hon Sir Frank Cooper, Ministry of Defence, 1964–1968, Deputy Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence, 1968–1970, Deputy Secretary, Civil Service Department, 1970-1973, Permanent Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office, 1973–1976, Permanent Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence, 1976-1982; Sir Frank (Kenyon) Roberts, Principal Private Secretary to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1947–1949, Deputy High Commissioner in India, 1949–1951, Deputy Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office, 1951-1954, Ambassador to Yugoslavia, 1954–1957, United Kingdom Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council, 1957–1960, Ambassador to the USSR, 1960-1962 and to the Federal Republic of Germany, 1963–68. Also includes typescript lecture by Roger Mellor Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield, relating to the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (AGR) decision, 1963- 1964, presented to the Institute of Contemporary British History, 25 Oct 1989.

3.4 CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE
3.4.2 Access: Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.
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 College Archivist.
3.4.4 Language: English
3.4.6 Finding aids: Summary guide entry on-line and available in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

3.5 ALLIED MATERIALS
3.5.3 Related units of description: The Centre also holds the transcripts of interviews with British military and Civil Service personnel involved in the Suez Crisis, 1956, conducted by the Institute of Contemporary British History, 1989-1991, (Ref: Suez Oral History Project).
3.6 NOTE AREA
3.6.1 Date of compilation: Nov 1999

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