WATTS, Capt William Harold, RN (d 1997)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA Watts
Held at	: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma ›
Full title	: WATTS, Capt William Harold, RN (d 1997)
Date(s)	: Created 1945-1990
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 file
Name of creator(s)	:

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Temporary Instructor Lt, Apr 1937; Instructor Lt (Meteorological), HMS RODNEY, 2 Battle Sqn, Home Fleet, 1938-1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; service on HMS ILLUSTRIOUS, Mediterranean, 1940-1942; service on Crete and evacuated from Sphakia aboard HMS NAPIER, May 1941; served at Royal Naval Air Station, Hatston, Orkney, 1942-1943; Instructor Lt Cdr, 1943; Fleet Meteorological Officer, Eastern Fleet, and British Pacific Fleet, 1944-1945; acting Instructor Cdr, Fleet Education Officer and Fleet Meteorological Officer, HMS SHEFFIELD, Flagship of V Adm Sir William George Tennant, Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station, 1946-1948; HMS DRYAD, 1948-1949; Instructor Cdr, 1948; HMS EXCELLENT, 1952-1953; Royal Naval College, Greenwich, 1955; acting Instructor Capt, HMS DAEDALUS, Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, 1956-1958; Instructor Capt, 1958; Naval Education Service, Admiralty, 1958-1960; HMS COLLINGWOOD, Naval Electrical School, Fareham, Hampshire, 1960-1963; HMS VICTORY, Portsmouth Command Instructor Officer and Port Librarian, 1963-1966; Aide de Camp to HM Queen Elizabeth II, 1966; Director of Studies and Dean of the College, RN College, Greenwich, 1966-1969; retired [1969]; died 1997.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers relating to Watts' RN career, training of RN Engineers and meteorology, 1945-1990, including three telegrams relating to the German and Japanese surrenders, May and Aug 1945, and to the signing of the Japanese surrender, Tokyo Bay, Japan, Sep 1945; lectures and talks by Watts relating to RN Engineer training, 1960-1962; typescript lecture notes entitled 'The Instructor Branch' [1961]; typescript address to Royal Naval Reserve Instructor Officers, [1964]; correspondence with R Adm Sir William (Alfred) Bishop, R Adm Christopher John Howard, Capt John Athol Burnett, RN, Capt Arthur Ernest Johnston, RN, Capt Alexander Malcolm Morrice, RN, Cdr William Nimmo Bowman, RN, and Richard J Ogden, Apr-Nov 1988, relating to research for a lecture by Watts on 'Meteorology in the Royal Navy in World War Two' to the History Group of the Royal Meteorological Society, Oct 1988, with edition of Meteorology and World War II. Second conference, October 1988, edited by Brian Douglas Giles (Royal Meteorological Society, School of Geography, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, 1989); typescript account of German bombing of HMS ILLUSTRIOUS off Pantelleria, Mediterranean, 10 Jan 1941, entitled 'A day to remember', with two sketch maps of the operation [1990]; typescript lecture notes on the organisation of the RN Meteorological Service in World War Two [1990].

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

1 file.

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.

Finding aids:

Summary guide available on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/top.htm, and in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Placed in the Centre by the family in 1997.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
Aug 1999