IRVINE, Sqn Ldr Anthony Thorburn (1914-1941)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA Irvine
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	: IRVINE, Sqn Ldr Anthony Thorburn (1914-1941)
Date(s)	: 1922-1941, 1982-1996
Level of description	: Collection (Fonds)
Extent	: 2 boxes (0.2 cubic metres)
Name of creator(s)	: Irvine | Anthony Thorburn | 1914-1941 | Squadron Leader Irvine | James | b 1940 | son of Sqn Ldr A T Irvine

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born, 1914; educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford; joined RAF, 1936; service with 211 Sqn, UK and Egypt, 1937-1938; on staff, RAF Headquarters, Amman, Transjordan, 1938; service with 14 Sqn, Ismailia, Egypt, 1938; service with 14 Sqn at Port Sudan, Sudan, 1940; made an unauthorised raid on Italian naval base, Massawa, Eritrea, June 1940; service with 113 Sqn, Western Desert, 1940-1941; service with 211 Sqn, Greece, 1941; killed in action, Parymythia, Greece, Apr 1941

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Correspondence and papers of Sqn Ldr Anthony Thorburn Irvine, 1922-1941, including;
letters to his parents from Eton and Oxford, 1922-1935; letters to his parents from flying training, Yorkshire, 1935; letters to his parents from RAF Amman, Transjordan, 1939; letters to Katherine Lowick (subsequently Katherine Irvine) and to his parents, 1940, including an account of his unauthorised raid on the Italian naval base at Massawa, Eritrea, June 1940; telegrams to Katherine Irvine from Egypt, Feb-Mar 1941; letters of condolence to family, 1941; family correspondence with Red Cross and with Air Ministry, 1941-1942, concerning Irvine's death. Also papers relating to research on Irvine by James Irvine (son), including: correspondence, 1982-1996, relating to 211 Squadron in Greece, 1941; account of Irvine family history by James Irvine, with detailed account of Irvine's last raid, Parymythia, Greece, Apr 1941; autobiography by Diana Athill, Instead of a letter (this edition Granta, London 2001), detailing her relationship with Irvine (whom she names `Paul').

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The files are arranged chronologically, as described in scope and content.

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of a letter of introduction.

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Placed in the Centre by the family in 2002.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Kate O'Brien

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:
Sep 2003