STARLING, Brig John Geoffrey (`Joe') (1928-1996)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA Starling
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	: STARLING, Brig John Geoffrey (`Joe') (1928-1996)
Date(s)	: 1944-1992
Level of description	: Collection level
Extent	: 4 boxes or 0.04m3
Name of creator(s)	: Starling | John Geoffrey (`Joe') | 1928-1996 | Brigadier

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1928; joined Army 1946; attended Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 1947-1948; 2 Lieutenant, Suffolk Regiment, 1948; served in Middle East and Far East, including Malaya, 1950; School of Infantry, Hythe, 1950; Lieutenant, 1950; Captain, 1 East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk), 1954; temporary Major, 1959; transferred to Parachute Regiment as Major, 1961; served in Cyprus, 1966; Aden (Yemen), 1967; and Northern Ireland; Lieutenant Colonel, 1968; Regimental Colonel, 1972; served on Staff of Gen Alexander Haig, Supreme Commander Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE); Deputy Commander, South West District, 1978-1981; retired 1982; Secretary, Western Wessex Territorial Auxiliary and Volunteer Reserve Association, 1982-1987; died 1996.

Publications: Soldier On! The Testament of a Tom, (Kent: Spellmount Ltd., 1992)

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers relating to the career of Brig John `Joe' Starling, 1947-1992, including copy of memoir Soldier On! The Testament of a Tom, (Spellmount Ltd., 1992), detailing 45 years of Starling's military career; pamphlets and brochures advertising the Parachute Regiment and the Red Devils display team including The Parachute Regiment: Challenge!, c.1970; Train to be a Parachute Soldier, [1975]; Parachute Regiment and Officer Parachute Regiment, Office of Information, 1985; The Airborne Initiative: The 1990 Airborne Forces Golden Jubilee Appeal, 1989 and recruitment posters; recognition guides including Tips for Tankers: Defeating Soviet Armor, US Army Armor School, c 1955; Recognition Handbook: Foreign Weapons and Equipment (USSR), MOD, 1964; Notes on the Soviet Ground Forces, MOD, 1972; Intelligence Aide-Memoire, Staff College, Camberley, 1976; Threat Recognition Guide, 1 (BR) Intelligence Training Directive, 1984; RAF: Aircraft, Missiles, Vehicles, Office of Information, 1985; Threat Recognition Guide, 1 (BR) Intelligence Training Directive, 1988; and flipbook showing Soviet weaponry and equipment.

Publications including Field Engineering and Mine Warfare, Pamphlet No. 4: Mines - Individual Mechanisms, War Office, 1961; NATO: Facts and Figures, NATO Information Service, 1971; Ranger Handbook, United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia, May 1972; Northern Ireland: What is it like for soldiers?, HMSO, 1974; Back Pocket Briefs: Royal Navy, Directorate of Naval Staff Duties, MOD, c.1988.

Lecture notes, handouts, pictures, maps and teaching aids on topics including lessons learned at Fibua Tewt, Aden, May-June 1967; battle handling exercises: tank stalk and tank ambush; explosive excavation of trenches; tactical exercises, Joint Services Free Fall Trials Team, May 1971, and the construction of petrol bombs to effectively attack tanks. Photographs including Starling in a rubber estate, evening meal in the jungle, Bukit Prang Base, river crossing, a patrol resting, armoured 3 ton truck, the corpses of Tamil terrorists killed in ambush, captured weapons displayed by an Iban tracker, Malay policemen and Starling, Malaya, 1949; group photographs including Champion and Waterloo Company; Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, July 1947; Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Hare and Hounds; Waterloo Company, July 1948; No 2 Platoon, East Anglian Regiment Training Brigade; Officers, School of Infantry (Platoon Weapons Wing), Hythe, May 1950; School of Infantry Tactical Wing Platoon Commanders Course, August 1950 and the Parachute Regiment Regimental Sergeants Major Convention, March 1973. Also Yemeni flag with National Liberation Front slogan in Arabic, Aden, 1963.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

4 boxes arranged in sections as above.

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification.

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 Archives and Information Management.

Finding aids:

A detailed box list is available in hard copy in the Archives Reading Room.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family, July 2006

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Entry compiled by Katharine Higgon.

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:
Sept 2007