MCCREERY, Gen Sir Richard Loudon (1898-1967)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB99 KCLMA McCreery
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	: MCCREERY, Gen Sir Richard Loudon (1898-1967)
Date(s)	: 1928-1960
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: Two boxes or 0.2m3
Name of creator(s)	: McCreery | Sir | Richard Loudon | 1898-1967 | Knight | General

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1898; educated Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; 12 Lancers, 1915; served in France, 1915-1918; Staff College, 1928-1929; Brigade Major, 2 Cavalry Brigade, 1930-1933; commanded 12 Lancers (Armoured Car Regiment), 1935-1938; General Staff Officer, 1938-1939; served in France, 1940; Commander, 8 Armoured Division, Home Forces, Dec 1940-Oct 1941; Major General, 1943; Chief of General Staff, Middle East, 1942; Tunisia, 1943; Lieutenant General, 1944; commanded Eight Army, Italy, 1944-1945; General Officer Commanding in Chief, British Forces of Occupation in Austria and British representative on the Allied Commission for Austria, 1945-1946; General Officer Commanding in Chief, British Army on the Rhine, 1946-1948; General, 1948; British Army representative, Military Staff Committee, United Nations, 1948-1949; retired, 1949; Colonel Commandant, Royal Armoured Corps, 1947-1956; Colonel, 12 Lancers, 1951; Colonel, 9/12 Royal Lancers, 1960; died 1967.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Gen Sir Richard McCreery, 1928-1960; including notes relating to Staff College, 1928-1929; edition of The Cologne Post and Wiesbaden Times, 3 Nov 1929, relating to the final evacuation of British Forces from the Rhine; map of Aisne battlefield, 1914; notes relating to 12 Royal Lancers training exercises, chiefly on Salisbury Plain, 1937-1938; detailed narrative of 2 Armoured Brigade operations, France, May-Jun 1940, with brief diary of events, and official photograph with original caption, 'A conference at HQ during operations on the Somme Front'; map for 5 Corps training exercise, Salisbury Plain, Dec 1940; official correspondence as Commander, 8 Armoured Div, Home Forces, Dec 1940-Oct 1941, discussing topics including unit inspections, accommodation, recruitment and appointments; report on 'The supply of mobile forces by air', c 1942, regarding supply in the Western Desert; letter from Maj Gen Gerald Templer, Cdr 56 Div, Italy, 18 Mar 1944, commenting on recent operations; messages to all ranks as Commander, 8 Army, Italy, 12 October 1944-26 April 1945; pamphlet, Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, 1945, relating to the development of the Corps, 1940-1945; notes on the Tunisian campaign and notebook containing brief notes on operations in Italy and Austria, 1944-1946, possibly compiled retrospectively as lecture notes; detailed itinerary for British Troops in Austria battlefield tour of Italy, 5-11 May 1946; letter from V Adm Louis Mountbatten, South East Asia Command HQ, 8 Aug 1946, asking for any available polo ponies to be sold to the Malta Polo Club; booklet sent as Christmas card, 1946, with illustrations of Russian Army personnel; publications British Army of the Rhine battlefield tour: first day. 8 Corps operations east of Caen, 18-21 July 1944 (Operation GOODWOOD) (BAOR, Jun 1947) and British Army of the Rhine battlefield tour: fourth day. 43 (W) Division assault crossing of the River Seine, 25-28 August 1944 (BAOR, Jun 1947); brief notes relating to British Army of the Rhine organisation and administration, [1947]; letter from Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, 16 Dec 1947, relating a recent conversation with Emmanuel Shinwell, Minister of Defence, concerning the role of Christian teaching in Army education, particularly with regard to National Servicemen in Germany; routine official correspondence as Colonel Commandant, Royal Armoured Corps, 1947-1957; memorandum from FM Sir Bernard Law Montgomery as Chief of Imperial General Staff, 29 May 1948, relating to deployment of tanks by Royal Armoured Corps; notes on 'The Reserve Army, 1946-1949', by Brooke Claxton, Minister of National Defence, 1949; letter from Lynch Maydon, the Conservative MP for Wells, 7 Nov 1956, responding to the latter's criticism of the invasion of the Suez Canal Zone; correspondence, May-June 1957, relating to proposed mergers of army regiments; papers, chiefly training notes, relating to the Royal Armoured Corps, 1960.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

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:

No further finding aids have been published.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family, April 2006.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Correspondence from McCreery can be found in the Divers, Kirkman, Dill, O'Connor, Liddell Hart and Fuller papers in the Liddell Hart Centre.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
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:
Nov 2007