OLDFIELD, Maj Peter Carlton (1911-1992)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA Oldfield
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	: OLDFIELD, Maj Peter Carlton (1911-1992)
Date(s)	: 1941-2004
Level of description	: Collection level
Extent	: 1 file or 0.01m3
Name of creator(s)	: Oldfield | Peter Carlton | 1911-1992 | Major

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born Harewood, West Yorkshire, 1911; educated at Repton and University College, Oxford; worked for Knight Frank and Rutley, surveyors and auctioneers; commissioned into Warwickshire Royal Yeomanry; photographic interpreter; head of Air Reconnaissance at General Headquarters Middle-East c 1941; joined 1 Special Air Service regiment September 1942; captured near Tuorga, Libya, after destroying 20 aircraft on the ground, 17 Dec 1942; POW, Italy; escaped to Switzerland, October 1943; repatriated to United Kingdom c 1944; died 1992.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers relating to the career of Maj Peter Oldfield, 1941-1944, including: diary, Jun-Nov 1941, detailing work at Air Reconnaissance Unit at the Middle East Headquarters; typescript 'War Diary' of Peter and Elisabeth Oldfield, with excerpts from Elisabeth's memoirs of following Oldfield to Middle East and Oldfield's reminiscences of his experiences, written by a member of the family, [2004]; Elisabeth Oldfield's typescript memoirs; constitution of Special Air Service regimental association; photographs of the Western Desert, [1942], including Long Range Desert Group activities, Field Marshal Erwin Rommell, and surrendering Italian prisoners; photograph of ship being sunk off Tunisia, 1941; photographic copies of letters from Oldfield to his wife Elisabeth, VAD, 15 Scottish Hospital, Cairo, Egypt, 1943. Letters to family from William Gibbons of Knight, Frank and Rutley, including description of Oldfield's capture, 1943; postcards from Oldfield while Italian POW to family and friends, 1943; correspondence from Switzerland whilst interned including letters to his wife from Berne, Dec 1943; postcards from Oldfield to family, 1944. Press cuttings relating to POWs, Special Air Service and events of war. Papers relating to award of bronze statuette to Oldfield by 1 Special Air Service regiment, including letters from Lt Col David Stirling, 1981, and press cutting on reward.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

1 file as above.

Conditions governing access:

In order to view archive material you will need to provide 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:

No additional finding aids exist.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family in July 2004.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled by Darren Short 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