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

POWNALL, Lt Gen Sir Henry Royds (1887-1961)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Pownall

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

Title: POWNALL, Lt Gen Sir Henry Royds (1887-1961)

Date(s): Created 1933-1945

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 2 boxes or 0.02 cubic metres

Name of creator(s):

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1887; educated at Rugby School and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; served in Royal Field Artillery and Royal Horse Artillery in UK and India, 1906-1914; Lt, 1909; Capt, 1914; served in World War One, 1914-1918; acting Maj, 1916-1917; Bde Maj Royal Artillery, 17 Div, 1917-1919; Maj, 1917; awarded DSO, 1918; Bde Maj, School of Artillery, 1924-1925; General Staff Officer 2, Staff College, Camberley, 1926-1929; Brevet Lt Col, 1928; service on North West Frontier, India, 1930-1931; awarded Bar to DSO, 1931; Military Assistant Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence, 1933-1935; Lt Col, 1935; Deputy Secretary, 1936; awarded CB, 1936; Brig, 1936; Commandant, School of Artillery, Larkhill, Wiltshire, 1936-1938; Maj Gen, 1938; Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, War Office, 1938-1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Chief of General Staff, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), France, 1939-1940; created KBE, 1940; Inspector General of the Local Defence Volunteer Force (later the Home Guard), 1940; Commander-in-Chief, British Forces in Northern Ireland, 1940-1941; Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff, War Office, 1941; Commander-in-Chief Far East, 1941-1942; Lt Gen, 1942; Chief of Staff, ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) Command, Far East, 1942; General Officer Commanding Ceylon, 1942-1943; Col Commandant Royal Artillery, 1942-1952; Commander-in-Chief Persia-Iraq, 1943; Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, 1943-1944; retired 1945; created KCB, 1945; Chairman, Friary Meux Limited; Member of the Committee of Lloyds Bank; Chief Commissioner, St John Ambulance Bde, 1947-1949; military consultant to Rt Hon Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill on the History of the Second World War (Cassell, London, 1948-1954); Chancellor, Order of St John, 1951; died 1961.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Twelve detailed, narrative, manuscript diaries, Jan 1933-Aug 1936 and Jan 1938-Dec 1944 (with postscripts added in Jan and Sep 1945), including Pownall's time as Military Assistant Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence, 1933-1935, Commandant, School of Artillery, Larkhill, Wiltshire, 1936-1938, Chief of General Staff, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), France, 1939-1940, Commander-in-Chief, British Forces in Northern Ireland, 1940-1941, and Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, 1943-1944, with aerial photograph of Belfast, Aug 1940, and a group photograph of the officers of South East Asia Command [1945], typescript extracts from reports, letters and typescript extract from the diary of Maj Gen Edmund Archibald Osborne, on the campaign in France, 1940. Also, printed order of service in memory of FM John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, 10 Apr 1946, and related newspaper cuttings. The diaries were published as Chief of Staff. The diaries of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pownall, edited by Brian James Bond (Leo Cooper, London, 1972).

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

12 volumes

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

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:

Summary guide entry on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/top.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1980.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

The papers of Gen Hastings Lionel Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay of Wormington, contain official correspondence with Pownall, 1944-1945 (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Ismay). The papers of Lt Gen Noel Mackintosh Stuart Irwin, held by the Imperial War Museum, London, include a note on discussions with Pownall concerning training, administration, disease and strategy, 1943 (Ref: P139). The papers of FM Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, in the Public Record Office, London, include demi-official correspondence with Pownall, Mar-Aug 1943 (Ref: WO 216/131). Copies of Pownall's diaries are in Churchill College, Cambridge University.

Publication note:

Chief of Staff. The diaries of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pownall, edited by Brian James Bond (Leo Cooper, London, 1972).

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Decorations: KCB, KBE, DSO, MC

Date(s) of descriptions: Sep 1998


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Aerial photographs | Photographs | Visual materials
Armed forces | State security
Diaries | Nonfiction | Prose | Literary forms and genres | Literature
Military operations | Military engineering
War | International conflicts
Warfare | Military engineering
World War Two (1939-1945) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)
International relations
Military organizations
Primary documents

Personal names
Bond | Brian James | b 1936 | historian
Osborne | Edmund Archibald | 1885-1969 | Lieutenant General
Pownall | Sir | Henry Royds | 1887-1961 | Knight | Lieutenant General
Vereker | John Standish Surtees Prendergast | 1886-1946 | 6th Viscount Gort | Field Marshal x Gort | 6th Viscount

Corporate names
British Army

Places
Belfast | Northern Ireland | UK | Western Europe | Europe
France | Western Europe | Europe
Ireland | Western Europe | Europe
Larkhill | Wiltshire | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
South East Asia