DE LISLE, Gen Sir (Henry De) Beauvoir (1864-1955)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA De Lisle
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	: DE LISLE, Gen Sir (Henry De) Beauvoir (1864-1955)
Date(s)	: Created 1885-1941
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 5 volumes, 3 files
Name of creator(s)	:

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1864; educated in Jersey and at Royal Military College, Sandhurst; commissioned into 2 Bn, Durham Light Infantry, Gibraltar, 1883; employed with Mounted Infantry, Frontier Field Force, Egypt and the Sudan, 1885-1886; Battle of Giniss, Sudan, 1885; awarded DSO for service in an attack by Arabs on fort at Ambigole Wells, Egypt, 1886; Capt, 1891; Adjutant, 2 Bn, Durham Light Infantry, Poona, Bombay, India, 1892-1896; attended Staff College, 1899; served with Mounted Infantry, Second Boer War, South Africa, 1899-1902; Relief of Kimberley, Orange Free State, South Africa, 1900; awarded CB, 1900; raised and commanded 6 Mounted Infantry Regt and a Mobile Column, South Africa, 1900-1902; Maj, 1902; Brevet Lt Col, 1902; service with 5 Dragoon Guards, 1902; Commanding Officer, 2 Provincial Regt of Hussars, Hounslow, Middlesex, 1902-1903; Second in Command, 1 (Royal) Dragoons, 1903; Lt Col, 1906; Brevet Col, 1906; Commanding Officer, 1 (Royal) Dragoons, 1906-1910; Col, 1910; General Staff Officer 1, 2 Div, Aldershot Command, 1910-1911; temporary Brig Gen, 1911-1914; commanded 4 Cavalry Bde, Eastern Command, 1911; commanded 2 Cavalry Bde, Southern Command, 1911-1914; served in World War One, 1914-1918; commanded 2 Cavalry Bde, 1 Cavalry Div, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), France, 1914; temporary Maj Gen, 1914-1915; General Officer Commanding 1 Cavalry Div, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), Western Front, 1914-1915; Maj Gen, 1915; General Officer Commanding 29 Div, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 1915-1916; temporarily commanded 9 Corps, Gallipoli, 1915; General Officer Commanding 29 Div, Western Front, 1916-1918; created KCB, 1917; temporary Lt Gen, 1918; General Officer Commanding 13 Corps, Western Front, Mar 1918; General Officer Commanding 15 Corps, British Armies in France, Apr 1918; Lt Gen, 1919; created KCMG, 1919; General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command, 1919-1923; Gen, 1926; retired 1926; died 1955. Publications: Polo in India (Thacker, Bombay, India, 1907); Tournament polo (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1938); Reminiscences of sport and war (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1939).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers relating to his life and career, 1885-1941, including typescript volume entitled 'The story of the Egyptian campaign, 1885-1886', written in [1914]; two typescript volumes entitled 'My narrative of the South African War 1899-1902' and 'Second phase of the South African War' with sketch maps, notes and recommendations of awards for officers and men of 2 Mounted Infantry Corps, 1899-1900; reports, notes and correspondence, 1900-1912, relating to the future development of cavalry in the British Army, including typescript extracts from article by Maj Gen Sir Ian Monteith Hamilton on operations at Diamond Hill, Second Boer War, South Africa, Jun 1900, and correspondence with FM Rt Hon Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar, Pretoria and Waterford, Lt Gen Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien, Maj Gen Edmund Henry Hyman Allenby, Maj Gen Sir Edward Thomas Henry Hutton, and Lt Col Hubert De la Poer Gough, 1903-1910; typescript notes on cavalry tactics, equipment and history, entitled 'Letters from an old cavalry officer to his son', 1909; two typescript volumes entitled 'My narrative of the Great German War', an account of his service in World War One in Gallipoli and on the Western Front, 1914-1918, including 29 photographs and typescript table showing number of 29 Div casualties between 1915 and 1917; manuscript article by De Lisle entitled 'General Sir Archibald Wavell GCB: the unknown leader', 1941; typescript unpublished novel entitled 'The great recovery', 1941, based on De Lisle's experiences in World War One, 1914-1918.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The collection is arranged in sections as outlined above.

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 1991.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The papers of FM Edmund (Henry Hyman) Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby of Megiddo and of Felixstowe, include correspondence, 1936-1939, relating to Chapter 5 of Allenby. A study in greatness by Gen Sir Archibald Percival Wavell (Harrap, London, 1940), from De Lisle concerning Allenby's command of 5 Royal Irish Lancers, 1902-1905, 4 Cavalry Bde, 1905-1909, and his service as Inspector of Cavalry, 1910-1914 (Ref: Allenby 6/5).

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
Jan 1999