MAURICE, Maj Gen Sir Frederick (Barton) (1871-1951)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA Maurice F B
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	: MAURICE, Maj Gen Sir Frederick (Barton) (1871-1951)
Date(s)	: [1806]-1812, 1888-1971
Level of description	: Collection (Fonds)
Extent	: 6.5 boxes (0.065 cubic metres)
Name of creator(s)	: Maurice | Sir | Frederick Barton | 1871-1951 | Major General Spears | Lady | Nancy | d. 1975 | daughter of Frederick Barton Maurice
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in 1871; gazetted to Derbyshire Regt (later the Sherwood Foresters), 1892; served in Tirah Expeditions, India, 1897-1898; Capt, 1899; Special Service Officer, South Africa, 1899-1900; entered Staff College, 1902; General Staff Officer Grade 2, War Office, 1902; General Staff Officer Grade 2, 1908; Maj, 1911; Instructor, Staff College, 1913; Lt Col 1913; General Staff Officer Grade 2, later Grade 1, 3 Div, France, 1914-1915; Director of Military Operations, Imperial General Staff, 1915-1918; Maj Gen, 1916; wrote letter to the press accusing David Lloyd George's government of making misleading statements about the strength of British Army on the Western Front, May 1918; retired from Army and became military correspondent for The Daily Chronicle, May 1918; helped to found British Legion, 1920; Principal, Working Men's College, London, 1922-1933; Professor of Military Studies, London University, 1927; President of the British Legion, 1932-1947; Principal of Queen Mary College, University of London, 1933-1944; died in 1951. Publications: The Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878 (Special Campaign Series, 1905); Sir Frederick Maurice: a record of his work and opinions (Edward Arnold, London, 1913); Forty days in 1914 (Constable and Co, London, 1919); The last four months (Cassell and Co, London, 1919); The life of Lord Wolseley (with Sir George Compton Archibald Arthur) (William Heinemann, London, 1924); Robert E Lee, the soldier (Constable and Co, London, 1925); Governments and war (William Heinemann, London, 1926); An aide-de-camp of Lee (Little, Brown and Co, London, 1927); The life of General Lord Rawlinson of Trent (Cassell and Co, London, 1928); British strategy (Constable and Co, London, 1929); The 16th Foot (Constable and Co, London, 1931); The history of the Scots Guards (Chatto and Windus, London, 1934); Haldane (Faber and Faber, London, 1937, 1939); The armistices of 1918 (Oxford University Press, London, 1943); The adventures of Edward Wogan (G Routledge and Sons, London, 1945). Also contributed to John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, Baron Acton's Cambridge modern history planned by (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1902-1911).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Major General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice, relating to his letter to the press concerning the government's statements about the strength of the British Army, May 1918, dated 1917-1971, principally comprising Maurice's diary, Jan-May 1918; printed and typescript texts by Maurice, 1918-1919, 1922, notably including 'The story of the crisis of May 1918', dated 1918; correspondence with family and colleagues, 1918-1922, 1925, 1934, 1936; newspaper cuttings, 1918, 1936, 1939; copies of Parliamentary and War Cabinet papers, 1918; correspondence relating to The Maurice Case (Leo Cooper, London, 1972) by Nancy Maurice (Nancy Spears, wife of Maj Gen Sir Edward (Louis) Spears, 1st Bt), 1967-1971. Papers collected by Maurice during the writing of The life of General Lord Rawlinson of Trent (Cassell and Co, London, 1928) and Haldane (Faber and Faber, London, 1937, 1939), comprising letters received by Rt Hon Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, 1894, 1898, 1902, 1915-1916, 1919, 1928; letters received by Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson of Trent, 1888, 1914-1916, 1918, 1921, notably including letters from Maj Gen Henry Hughes Wilson and Gen Sir Alexander John Godley concerning the Battle of the Aisne, Sep 1914 and operations at Gallipoli, 1915. Other papers relating to his life and career, 1888-1951, dated 1888-1971, principally comprising letters to his wife describing his service in South Africa, 1899-1900, and as General Staff Officer, 3 Div, France, 1914-1915, and Director of Military Operations, Imperial General Staff, 1915; correspondence, 1915-1919, relating to his service as Director of Military Operations, 1915-1918, notably including letters from Maj Gen Archibald Armar Montgomery-Massingberd, Maj Gen John Humphrey Davidson, Lt Gen Sir George (Norton) Cory, Lt Gen Sir William Raine Marshall, Maj Gen Sir Arthur Lynden Lynden-Bell concerning operations on the Western Front, 1916-1917, and in the Balkans, 1916-1917, Mesopotamia, 1917-1918, and Palestine, 1917; correspondence with Gen Sir Charles Harington Harington, [1923], 1925, 1932, 1934; printed and typescript articles, lectures and other writings, 1913-1943, notably including text of 'On the uses of the study of war', his inaugural lecture as Professor of Military Studies, London University, 1927, text of Maurice's Lee Knowles lecture 'Public opinion in war', and articles on arms limitation, 1921, 1926, the Graeco-Turkish War, 1922, the Corfu Incident, [1923], and the possibility of war between the USA and Japan, 1925; newspaper cuttings, 1912-1919, 1924-1927, 1938, 1945, 1951, principally comprising reviews of his books. Family papers, [1806-1812], principally comprising papers relating to Maurice's grandfather, Frederick Denison Maurice, [1833-1869], 1927; papers relating to his wife's family, [1806-1812], 1874-1879, 1896, 1909-[1915], 1921, notably including personal letters written by her great-grandfather, Spencer Perceval, [1806-1812], and an account of a day during the Paris Commune, written in [1871] by [Norman Spencer].

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
Mainly English, some French

System of arrangement:

The papers form sections 1, 3 and 4 of the Maurice family collection. Section 2 of the collection consists of the papers of Maurice's father, Maj Gen Sir (John) Frederick Maurice.

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:

Detailed catalogue available in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1972 and 1973.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The archives of King's College London include papers relating to Frederick Denison Maurice (grandfather of Frederick Barton Maurice)

Department of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, Oxford University (GB 0161) holds Maurice's letters to Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, 1916-1925 (Ref: MSS Asquith). The papers of Maj Gen Sir Edward (Louis) Spears, at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge University, (Ref GB 0014) include correspondence, 1919-1944. The Department of Manuscripts, National Library of Scotland, (GB 0233) holds correspondence with Lord Haldane, 1917-1937 (Ref: MSS 5914-6103).

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Some of the material relating to the events of May 1918 has been published in The Maurice Case (Leo Cooper, London, 1972) by Nancy Maurice (Nancy Spears, wife of Maj Gen Sir Edward (Louis) Spears,

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled Mar 1997

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:
1997