MEATES, Lt Col Geoffrey Wells (1900-1985)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA Meates
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	: MEATES, Lt Col Geoffrey Wells (1900-1985)
Date(s)	: 1919-1947
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 0.07 cubic metres (7 boxes)
Name of creator(s)	: Meates | Geoffrey Wells | 1900-1985 | Lieutenant Colonel

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born, 1900; educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from 1919; commissioned into the Royal Artillery, 1921; service with Royal Artillery, Shoeburyness, Essex, 1921; served with 4 Bde, Royal Artillery, India, 1921-1924; Adjutant, Royal Artillery, India, 1924-1927; Adjutant, 3 (Rangoon) Bde, Royal Artillery (Auxiliary Force), Rangoon, Burma, May-Sep 1927; served at Spike Island, Queenstown, Cork, Ireland, 1929-1930; service as Instructor, Royal Artillery, Clarence Barracks, Portsmouth, Hampshire, 1931-1932; Capt, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 1932-1936; retired, Dec 1936; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Instructor, Anti Aircraft militia (Royal Artillery), 1939; served as Capt, 15 Anti Aircraft Battery, 6 Anti Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, British Expeditionary Force (BEF), France, 1939; served with 1 Light Anti Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery, BEF, France, Jan-May 1940; Maj, 2 Anti Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 1940; service with 27 Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery, Malta, 1940-1942; Lt Col, 7 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, Malta, 1942-1944, and in Workington, Cumberland, Orkney Islands, and Sandwich, Kent, 1944-1945; retired, 1945; excavated the Roman villa at Lullingstone, Kent; died, 1985. Publications: Lullingstone Roman villa (William Heinemann, London, 1955); Lullingstone Roman villa, Kent (HMSO, London, 1963); The Roman villa at Lullingstone, Kent. Vol 1. The site (Kent Archaeological Society, Maidstone, Kent, 1979); The Roman villa at Lullingstone, Kent. Vol 2. The wall paintings and finds (Kent Archaeological Society, Maidstone, Kent, 1987).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1919-1947, of Lt Col Geoffrey Wells Meates, comprising his diaries, 1919, 1921-1939, 1943-1947, containing detailed narrative entries daily, and correspondence with his parents, 1921-1935, 1939-1945. Meates' diaries and letters record his activities, experiences, surroundings and travels, including his service with the Royal Artillery in Rangoon, Burma, and Calcutta, India, in the 1920s, and with Anti-Aircraft Artillery units in France (British Expeditionary Force, 1939-1940), Malta (1940-1944) and England (1944-1945) during World War Two.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Meates' diaries (Ref: I) are arranged chronologically by volume and then by loose leaves; correspondence with his parents (Ref: II) is arranged chronologically.

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:

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Placed in the Centre by Meates' literary executor in 1986.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

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