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

GALE, Lt Gen Sir Humfrey Myddleton (1890-1971)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Gale

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

Title: GALE, Lt Gen Sir Humfrey Myddleton (1890-1971)

Date(s): 1942-1945

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 0.09 cubic metres (9 boxes)

Name of creator(s): Gale | Sir | Humfrey Myddleton | 1890-1971 | Knight | Lieutenant General

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born, 1890; educated at St Paul's School, Architectural School, Westminster, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; served with the 28 County of London Bn (Artists' Rifles), The London Regt, Territorial Force, 1908-1910; commissioned into the Army Service Corps, 1911; served in World War One, 1914-1918; awarded MC; Lt, 1914; temporary Capt, 1914-1917; Deputy Assistant Director of Transport, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), Western Front, 1915-1919; Capt, 1917; Staff Capt, War Office, 1919-1923; Brevet Maj, 1921; Staff Capt, War Office, 1928-1930; Maj, 1930; Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General, War Office, 1930-1932; Lt Col, 1932; General Staff Officer 2, Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1935-1937; Col, 1937; Assistant Director of Shipping and Transport, War Office, 1937-1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Brig, 1939; Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General, 3 Corps, France, 1939-1940; awarded CBE, 1940; temporary Maj Gen, 1940-1941; Maj Gen, Administration, Scottish Command, 1940-1941; Maj Gen, 1941; Chief Administrative Officer to Gen Sir Alan Francis Brooke, Commander in Chief Home Forces, 1941; awarded CB, 1942; Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Administrative Officer under US Gen Dwight David Eisenhower, European Theatre of Operations, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), 1942-1945; awarded CVO, 1943; Allied invasions of North Africa (Operation TORCH), 1942, Sicily (Operation HUSKY), 1943, Italy (Operations BAYTOWN, SLAPSTICK and AVALANCHE), 1943, and Normandy (Operation OVERLORD), 1944; created KBE, 1943; temporary Lt Gen, 1944; Col Commandant, Royal Army Service Corps, 1944-1954; Personal Representative in Europe of Director General of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), 1945-1947; worked for Anglo-Iran Oil Company; Col Commandant, Army Catering Corps, 1946-1958; retired, 1947; Chairman, Basildon New Town Development Corporation, Essex, 1954-1964; died, 1971.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1942-1945, of Lt Gen Sir Humfrey Myddleton Gale dating from his time at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), comprising typescript diaries about his work containing narrative entries on daily events and activities, 1942-1945; office files as Chief Administrative Officer, 1944-1945, including correspondence; five printed volumes, 'History of the Allied Forces Headquarters, Parts I-II', Aug 1942-Dec 1943.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

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:

Collection level description available in reading room at Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives and online at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma; more detailed catalogue available in hard copy in the reading room.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by Gale's family in 1971, 1972 and 1981.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

King's College London, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, holds papers of Maj Gen Sir Richard George Aylward Lewis, including two letters from Gen Sir Evan Gibb to Gale on the need for a disposals organisation to exist before the end of hostilities, Feb 1944 (Ref: Lewis, R G A 3/6); papers of Gen Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor, including Gale's obituary, The Times, 1971 (Ref: O'Connor 11/24); papers of Gen Hastings Lionel Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay of Wormington, including memorandum from Brig J B Sandberg, War Office, Chessington to Lt Gen Sir Humfrey Gale on roadside storage for ammunition from 1941 onwards, 25 Jun 1959 (Ref: Ismay 1/14/57). Berkshire Record Office, Reading, holds letters from Gale to Ralph George Campbell Glyn, 1st Baron Glyn of Farnborough, 1942-1945 (Ref: C27). Imperial War Museum, London, holds correspondence between Gale and Gen Sir Thomas Sheridan Riddell-Webster, 1942-1945. National Library of Wales, Department of Manuscripts and Records, holds correspondence between Gale and Sir George William Rendel, 1969-1971 (Ref: NLW MSS 19440-67, 20569-72, 23028-35).

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Compiled by Iain Mutch; revised by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

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: Nov 1999, Mar 2001


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
War | International conflicts
War diaries | Diaries | Nonfiction | Prose | Literary forms and genres | Literature
World War Two (1939-1945) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)
Primary documents

Personal names
Gale | Sir | Humfrey Myddleton | 1890-1971 | Knight | Lieutenant General

Corporate names
SHAEF | Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force x Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force

Places