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

TALBOT, Maj Gen Dennis Edmund Blaquière (1908-1994)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Talbot

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

Title: TALBOT, Maj Gen Dennis Edmund Blaquière (1908-1994)

Date(s): 1929-1992

Level of description: Collection (Fonds)

Extent: 7 boxes (0.07 cubic meters)

Name of creator(s): Talbot | Dennis Edmund Blaquière | 1908-1994 | Major General

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1908; educated at Tonbridge School, Kent, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; commissioned into the The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, 1928; service in India, 1928-1937; Lt, 1931; Adjutant, 1 Bn, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, India, 1934-1937; Capt, 1937; commanded Company, Regimental Depot, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, Maidstone, Kent, 1938-1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; attended Staff College, Jan-Apr 1940; Bde Maj, 30 Infantry Bde, British Expeditionary Force (BEF), France, Apr-Jun 1940; defence of Calais, France, 1940; Bde Maj, 141 Infantry Bde, UK, Jun-Nov 1940; General Staff Officer 2 (Operations), Headquarters 1 Corps, UK, Dec 1940-Jul 1941; General Staff Officer 2 and General Staff Officer 1, Combined Operations, UK, 1941-1944; War Substantive Maj, 1942; temporary Lt Col, 1942-1944; Second in Command, 5 Bn, Dorsetshire Regt, UK and British Liberation Army, France, Mar-Jul 1944; awarded MC, 1944; temporary Lt Col, 1944-1948; Commanding Officer, 7 Bn, Hampshire Regt, British Liberation Army, North West Europe, 1944-1945; awarded DSO, 1945; Maj, 1945; Commanding Officer, 2 Bn, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, UK and British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), Germany, 1945-1946; RN Staff College, Greenwich, 1946; Joint Services Staff College, Latimer, Buckinghamshire, 1947; General Staff Officer 1 (Training), General Headquarters, Far East Land Forces, Singapore, 1947-1948; Senior Army Liaison Officer, UK Services Liaison Staff, New Zealand, 1948-1951; Lt Col, 1949; Col (Co-ordination), Adjutant General's Branch, War Office, 1951-1953; Col, 1952; temporary Brig, 1953; commanded 18 Infantry Bde and 99 Gurkha Infantry Bde, Malaya, 1953-1955; awarded CBE, 1955; Imperial Defence College, London, 1956; Brig, 1956; Brig, General Staff (Staff Duties, Training and Technical), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), Germany, 1957-1958; Maj Gen, 1958; General Officer Commanding East Anglia District and 54 East Anglian Infantry Div, Territorial Army, 1958-1961; Civil Defence Staff College, Sunningdale, Ascot, Berkshire, 1959; Col, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, 1959-1961; awarded CB, 1960; Deputy Commander, British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), and Commander British Army Group Troops, Germany, 1961-1963; Deputy Col, The Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regt, 1961-1965; Chief of Staff, British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), and General Officer Commanding Rhine Army Troops, Germany, 1963-1964; retired 1964; Deputy Lieutenant, Kent, 1964; Civil Service, 1964-1973; Chairman, Kent Committee, Army Benevolent Fund, 1964-1984; Vice President of local branch, Royal British Legion; Hon Col, 8 Queen's Cadre (formally 8 Bn, The Queen's Regt (West Kent)), 1968-1971; died 1994.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, maps, publications, photographs and newspaper cuttings relating to Maj Gen Dennis Edmund Blaquière Talbot's life and career, 1929-1992, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, India, 1929-1930. Papers relating to Talbot's service as Bde Maj, 30 Infantry Bde, British Expeditionary Force (BEF), France, Apr-Jun 1940, the defence and fall of Calais, and Talbot's escape from German captivity and return to the UK, 1940, including five printed maps of France and Belgium, 1937-1942; photograph of HMS VESPER, the destroyer that picked up the escape party, 17 Jun 1940; typescript report for MI9, War Office, by Talbot, Capt Edgar Alexander Wilmot Williams, 2 Bn, 60 Rifles, and Lt W Millett, Royal Corps of Signals and Bde signal Officer, 30 Infantry Bde, entitled 'Report compiled by three officers of the 30th Infantry Brigade who were captured at Calais on the evening of the 26th May 1940, escaped on the 30th May and finally arrived in England on the night of 17th June 1940', dated 22 Jun 1940 manuscript text of lecture by Talbot on the defence of Calais, 1940, with two large wall charts, sketch maps of the campaign in France, 1940, and of the defence of Calais, May-Jun 1940; correspondence, dated 1940-1941, with relatives of men captured or killed at Calais, 1940, including typescript list of killed, wounded, missing and captured, 1 Bn, The Rifle Brigade, 1940; three editions of The defence of Calais by Eric Robert Russell Linklater (HMSO, London, 1941); typescript letter, dated 13 Jul 1971, to Talbot from Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave MP requesting information and recollections on the defence of Calais in 1940 to be used in a book later published as The flames of Calais: a soldier's battle (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1972). Papers relating to Talbot's service in the North West Europe campaign, 1944-1945, including typescript copies of monthly War Diary, 7 Bn, Hampshire Regt, Jun 1944-May 1945, with typescript citations for gallantry awards, 1944-1945; typescript account '7th Bn The Hampshire Regiment in the North West European campaign during the period 13th July 1944 to 17th June 1945', with list of honours and awards and order of battle, 43 (Wessex) Div, 1945; five photographs, 1944-1945, notably officers of 7 Bn, Hampshire Regt, 1944, and victory parade, Bremerhaven, Germany, 1945; edition of The story of the 5th Battalion The Dorsetshire Regiment in North West Europe, 23rd June, 1944 to 5th May, 1945 by Maj G R Hartwell, Maj G R Pack and Maj M A Edwards (Henry Ling, Dorchester, Dorset, [1946]); correspondence relating to the North West Europe campaign, 1944-1945, mostly with veterans of 7 Bn, Hampshire Regt, 1951-1959 and 1983-1991. Talbot's course notes, RN Staff College, Greenwich, 1946; copies of Talbot's confidential annual reports, 1946-1955. Typescript text of radio broadcast by FM Sir William Joseph Slim entitled 'Our Army', 2 Nov 1952. Papers relating to the Malayan Emergency, 1949-1955, including printed leaflet entitled 'Security hints', Malaya, 1952; typescript 'Appreciation of the situation in Malaya' by Lt Gen Sir Hugh Charles Stockwell, General Officer Commanding Malaya, 15 Oct 1953; Flying Log Book, Malaya, Oct 1953-Oct 1955, with group photograph of 1911 Light Liaison Flight RAF, Royal Naval Air Station Sembawang, Singapore, Aug 1955; twenty seven uncaptioned photographs relating to Talbot's service in Malaya, 1953-1955; eight printed maps of Malaya, 1953-1955; typescript copy of memorandum by Lt Col John Hamilton Allford, 2 Bn, 7 Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles, entitled 'The location and attack on CT (Communist Terrorist) camps and cultivations in jungle', Jan 1954; typescript report entitled 'Malaya Command. Demonstration of field defences in atomic warfare', Dec 1954; typescript Operational Instructions, Malaya, 1954-1955, including Operation MOHICAN, Nov 1953-Mar 1954, and Operation LATIMER NORTH, South Pahang, Malaya, Sep 1954-Apr 1955; typescript copy of translated statement by Ng Heng, Representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters of the Malayan Racial Liberation Army, on negotiating a settlement to the Malayan Emergency, 1 May 1955; typescript memorandum by Talbot, commanding 99 Gurkha Infantry Bde, entitled 'Psychological warfare', May 1955; typescript 'Handing over notes' from Talbot to Brig Edward Philip Townsend on relinquishing command of 99 Gurkha Infantry Bde, Jun 1955, with related correspondence, May-Sep 1955; typescript situation reports from Maj John Eric Heelis, Headquarters, 99 Gurkha Infantry Bde, Malaya, Oct 1955-Oct 1956;. Also, printed leaflet 'Edward VIII. His Coronation route', 1936; printed leaflet 'Code of battle signals' [1940]; three printed pamphlets entitled Notes from France,, Nos 1-3 (War Office, London, Jan 1940); printed pamphlet entitled Summary of events. Flanders campaign, 10th May-3rd June 1940 (War Office, London, Jul 1940); edition of The Regimental Officer's Handbook of the German Army (War Office, London, Aug 1943); edition of The history of the Hampshire Regiment (37th and 67th Foot) (Gale and Polden, Aldershot, Hampshire, 1944).

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: Principally English, some Malay, Chinese and Arabic

System of arrangement:

The papers were initially sorted by Talbot's family. A summary list of the papers was produced at the time of deposit in 1996, and a detailed catalogue was produced in 2006. Much of the material fell naturally in discrete, chronological sections, and was arranged in the following sections: Escape from Calais, Campaign in North West Europe 1944-1945, Service in Malaya, General military career, Other papers compiled by Talbot.

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate rovision of a letter of introduction.

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.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

This Summary Guide and a detailed catalogue available on-line and in hard copy in the College Archives reading room, King's College London.

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Placed in the Centre by the family in 1996.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Books and regimental papers of Major General Talbot were deposited by the Talbot family with The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regimental Museum in May 1995.

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Decorations: MC, DSO, CBE, CB

Archivist's note: Detailed catalogue complied by Zoë Browne

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.

Date(s) of descriptions: Summary guide Dec 1999; detailed catalogue and revised summary guide, Jan 2007


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Armed forces | State security
Maps | Visual materials
Propaganda | Persuasion | Communication process
War | International conflicts
War prisoners | War victims | International conflicts
World War Two (1939-1945) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)
Military organizations

Personal names
Talbot | Dennis Edmund Blaquière | 1908-1994 | Major General

Corporate names
British Army
HMS Vesper

Places
Calais | France | Western Europe | Europe
Malaysia | South East Asia
Singapore | South East Asia