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The Admiralty records at the National Maritime Museum cover the administration of the Navy from 1688-1832 (when the Navy Board was abolished) in considerable detail. There are also a few records from 1832-1883. Together they consist of 7,497 bound volumes and a large mass of loose papers.

The majority of orders and letters are original documents, often minuted, but there are a few volumes of indexes, minute and letterbook copies of correspondence. The collection includes over 5000 Lieutenants' logs forwarded to the Navy Board in connection with the work of passing the Officers' accounts.

The Admiralty records now at the National Maritime Museum, consist of the original orders from the Admiralty to the Navy Board from 1688-1815 (ADM/A&N&RP&Q&P&OT), and the Navy Board replies from 1733-1831 (ADM/B&BP&D&DP&F&FP). Orders to the Navy Board relating to transports during the period when there was no Transport Board were bound up separately as were those relating to the special appointment of General Bentham, as Inspector General of Naval Works, during the Napoleonic War. The Navy Board letters respecting the fitting of ships from 1804-1809 were separated from the general correspondence, and bound with a chronological index at the beginning. In addition to these main series of orders from the Admiralty to the Navy Board, there are some copies of orders for the Ticket Office from 1774-1815, and some loose papers relating to the Marine Office and a few orders for the Office of Stores (ADM/J&K).

The Admiralty orders to the Victualling Commissioners from 1707-1815 (ADM/C) are included in this collection, as well as the abstract of Admiralty orders from 1694-1819 (ADM/G) and the Victualling Board's replies from 1703-1822 (ADM/H). The Admiralty orders to the commissioners for taking care of sick and wounded seamen from 1702-1806 form a complete series, supplemented by the Commissioners replies from 1742-1806 (ADM/E). Orders relating to prisoners of war were bound up separately and cover the years from 1743, some distinction being made for the different nationalities (ADM/M). Both these series of orders were continued when the Transport Boards took over the Commissioners; the former series has been preserved in this collection up to 1815 (ADM/ET), and the latter from 1796-99 (ADM/MT).

The Lieutenant's logs which total 5,205 volumes are bound according to the name of the ship, some Captain's logs being included (ADM/L). There are also bound up with some logs, accounts of expenses of paper and ticket books. The Lieutenant's log was accompanied by a certificate from his captain stating that he had complied with the printed instructions and not been absent from his ship. These journals were deposited first in the Admiralty Office and a certificate was made out, for which the chief clerk received 2s 6d.' though captains usually paid 5s 0d. The chief clerk then abstracted details of the voyage of each ship from her logs "specifying the day of her sailing - of her arrival at each port, her stay there and departure there from". The logs were then passed to the Navy Office where the clerk of the acts made out certificates "to enable the lieutenants and masters to receive their wages". It was also his duty to "arrange and keep the journals and log books of every ship that may be delivered of the proceedings from the time of such journals and log books". The logs in this collection have been preserved from the time of Pepys until 1809, when the procedure for keeping logs was altered, and contained much useful information. The logs were kept according to the nautical calendar, which counted the day as starting at mid-day, until 1805 when the civil practice was adopted.

The only records for the period after 1832, which are included in this collection, are those of the Surveyor's department for the years 1832-39. These letters, addressed to the Board of Admiralty, contain some interesting material on ship-building. There are also a number of volumes of papers relating to the preparation of naval estimates for the years 1849-1883, as far as the Victualling department was concerned.

Bad trip to Edgewood consists of, interview transcripts, research files and videos for a television documentary on US Army testing of chemical and biological warfare agents on human 'guinea pigs' between 1955 - 1975, and includes files of mainly photocopied documents, reports, scientific articles, letters and newspapers articles, with some printed brochures, as well as videotapes. There is also a video copy of Bad trip to Edgewood which was produced by Michael Bilton, Yorkshire Television, and broadcast as a First Tuesday film in March 1993.

The files focus on secret projects carried out by the US Army Chemical Corps at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Edgewood, Maryland USA, between 1955-1975, in which US Army volunteers were used to test the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), benzilates such as BZ (3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, also known a QNB) and glycolates.

The testing programs were suspended in 1975 when information about them became public. A number of volunteers claimed to have suffered long term mental health effects from the tests. They also claim they were not informed at the time of immediate or long term effects of the agents tested. In 1977 US Army notified 686 volunteers who has been tested with LSD and conducted a follow up study of their health. The LSD follow-up study report released in 1980 found 'the majority of subjects evaluated did not appear to have sustained any significant damage from their participation in the LSD experiments'.

There are notes and transcripts of interviews conducted with former US Army personnel who were volunteers in the research programmes, individuals involved in the running testing programs, medical experts and lawyers.

Several files relate to particular law suits including that of Sgt James B Stanley, US Army, volunteer at Edgewood during 1958. In 1977 he was informed by the army that he had been given LSD as part of the testing program. In 1987 a controversial judgement by the US Supreme Court found against Stanley, effectually granting immunity from liability for money damages for all federal officials who intentionally violate the constitutional rights of those serving in the military.

Other notable cases frequently mentioned in the files include that of Frank Olson and Harold Blauer. Dr Frank R Olson, US Army scientist at Fort Detrick, apparently suicided, on 28 November 1953. In 1975 the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (the Rockefeller Commission) revealed Olson had been given LSD without his knowledge while attending a meeting of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel eight days before his death. A civilian, Harold R Blauer died on 8 Jan 1953 after being given a lethal injection of Experimental Agent 1298 supplied by the US Army Chemical Corps to the New York State Psychiatric Institute where he was a patient. A 1975 Senate investigation revealed the facts of his death. Files also contain material on bacteriological testing by the Army and the CIA carried out in Washington DC, Florida, San Francisco, and New York. Particular reference is made to the case of Edward Nevin, a civilian, who died on 1 Nov 1950 in San Francisco as a result of a rare bacterial infection Serratia Marcescens, which coincided with a significant and unexplained outbreak of this infection between Oct 1950 and Feb 1951. In 1976 it was revealed that the US Army had conducted bacteriological warfare experiments with Serratia Marcescens over San Francisco Bay during September 1950.

There is a small amount of material relating to the role of American Citizens for Honesty in Government, a Church of Scientology sponsored organisation who campaigned during 1979 for a full investigation of the testing and storage of BZ and compensation for volunteers suffering long term effects from testing of the substance, and to chemical testing carried out in the UK at Porton Down, Wiltshire, UK and production of chemical agents at Nancekuke Base, Cornwall, and Anglo American cooperation in this area.

Papers of the Baynes and Nias Families:

Papers of Henry Compton Anderson Baynes inclusing official service documents, 1866 to 1901; an article on 'Armament of Battleships', undated; a letter, 1888, concerning Whitehead torpedoes; a few letters about Baynes's fishery protection work in the North Sea in the 1890s and three night order books, 1893, 1895 and 1901.

Papers of Sir Robert Lambert comprising official service documents, details of ships on the Pacific Station 1854 to 1860, an autobiographical outline of his career, 1810 to 1857, invitations to social events, and other personal papers.

Papers of Sir Joseph Nias, comprising letters and orders received, 1815 to 1867, and service papers, and eighteen letters from Sir William Parker to Nias while he was Senior Officer at Hong Kong, 1841 to 1842.

Papers of Sir Frederick George Denham Bedford including logs, 1852 to 1858; diaries, 1875 to 1879, and letters concerning the Huascar incident. There are no papers for Bedford's later career. In the Department of Pictures are six albums containing watercolours and photographs. Two of them cover his service in the SHAH, 1876 to 1878, and the third his career in the TRIUMPH, 1879.

Papers of Sir Geoffrey Blake covering Blake's career from 1914 but not in great depth. There are official service documents; photographs of his service in the First World War and official papers relating to his period in America; papers covering affairs in Samoa, 1930, and other items relating to the New Zealand appointment. In addition, there are semi-official and personal letters, 1937 to 1940, from Admirals Sir Dudley Pound (1877-1943), A.B. Cunningham (q.v.), Sir Charles Little (1882-1973), and Admiral Stark (1880-1972), United States Navy, 1945, as well as post-war correspondence with Admiral Stark, Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900- ), General Lord Ismay (1887-1965) and Professor Marder (1910- ). There are also some notes on the attack on Oran, 1940, and on Operation Torch, 1942.

Papers of Lt Col Robert Verelst Boyle, 1897-1943, including: Battalion standing orders of the 1st Battalion The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) (Gale & Polden, Aldershot, 1930); notes and correspondence regarding the Combined Operations Training Centre, Comox, Vancouver Island, Canada, 1942-1943; papers relating to lectures given while GSO1, HQ Combined Chiefs of Staff, USA, including: text of lecture on commandos, Economic Society, Detroit, 4 May 1942; article on commandos in Military Review, Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Jul 1942; text of lecture considering how to attack a strongly defended coast, Junior Staff College, RMC Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Aug 1942; text of lecture on commandos given to the Annual Convention of American Newspaper Editors, New York, 1942; text of lecture on ship-to-shore operations, given at the US Army Amphibious Training Centre, 1942; text of lecture on preparations for the resumption of the land offensive, given to US Army Armoured Training Centre, 1942.
Formal photographs of Combined Chiefs of Staff events at Fort Benning and Fort Jackson, USA, including photographs of FM Sir John Dill, General George Marshall, Chief of Staff, US Army, Admiral Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, Lt Gen Mark Clark and Lt Col Dennis Price, meeting troops, watching parades, demonstrations and exercises, and inspecting weaponry. Also photograph labelled 'My official yacht whilst I started and commanded the Canadian Combined Operations Training Centre at Comox, Vancouver Island, 1942-43'.Photograph album, invitation and programme of events for the Presentation of New Colours to the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire), in Famagusta, Cyprus, 7 Oct 1949.
Also items belonging to Boyle's father in law Lt Col Adrian Grant Duff: The Pathan Revolt in North-West India by H Woosnam-Mills (Civil and Military Gazette Press, Lahore, India, 1897) and Razmak station standing orders (Commercial Steam Press, Dera Ismail Khan, India, 1931).

British Army publications, 1963-2004. Volumes of the Army Field Manual including: 'The Armoured Division in Battle' (1990); 'Infantry Operations' (1990); 'Combat Service Support' (1992); 'Background to the Soviet Army' (1986); 'A Treatise on Soviet Operational Art' (1991); 'Soviet Tactics' (1991); 'Generic Enemy (Basic Forces): Operational Art' (1995); 'Operations in Specific Environments: Urban Operations' (1999); 'Battlegroup Tactics' (1990); 'The Infantry Battalion in Battle' (1990); 'Operations within the UK: Military Home Defence' (1990); 'Fighting in Built-up Areas' (1983); 'Chemical Operations' (1990); 'Cold Climate Operations' (1992); 'All Arms Tactics in Special Environments: Desert' (1995); 'Operations Other than War: Counter Insurgency Operations' (1995), 'Peacekeeping Operations' (1988) and 'Wider Peacekeeping' (1994); 'Combined Arms Operations: Formation Tactics' (1995 and 2002 Dec editions), 'Battlegroup Tactics' (1998 and 2002 Feb editions), 'Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR)' (2002 Mar), 'Countersurveillance, Opsec [operations security] and Deception' (1999 Oct), 'Operations in Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Conditions' (2002 Oct), 'Training for Operations' (1997), 'Command and Staff Procedures' (1999 and 2002 editions) and 'Tactical Guidance for Operations Other than War' (2000).

Tactical and Doctrinal publications including: 'Keeping the Peace: Doctrine' (1963 Jan); 'Tactical Doctrine and Arms Directorate: The Army Tactical Doctrine Handbook' (1985) and 'Tactical Aide Memoire' (1988); 'Joint Warfare Publication: British Defence Doctrine' (1996); 'Design for Military Operations: the British Military Doctrine' (1996); 'Army Doctrine Handbook' (2000 Jul); 'Land Component Handbook: doctrinal notes' (2004 Nov); 'Army Doctrine Publications: Command' (1995 Apr), 'Logistics' (1996 Jun and 2000 Apr editions), 'Training' (1996 Dec), and 'Soldiering - the Military Covenant' (2000 Feb).

Land Operations manuals including: 'The Fundamentals Part 1: the application of force', 'Part 2: command and control', 'Part 3: the combat arms' and 'Part 4: fire support' (1968 -1977); 'Non Nuclear Operations Part 1: formation tactics', 'Part 2: battle group tactics', 'Part 3: combat team tactics in mechanised operations', 'Part 4: crossing and breaching obstacles' and 'Part 5: air defence of the field army' (1971-1977); 'Counter-Revolutionary Operations Part 1: general principles', 'Part 2: procedures and techniques', 'Part 2: internal security' (1969 version) and 'Part 3: counter insurgency' (1969-1977); 'Nuclear Operations Part 1: nuclear fire power' and 'Part 2: tactics' (1970-1971); 'Operational Techniques Under Special Conditions Part 1: mountainous country', 'Part 2: jungle', 'Part 3: desert', 'Part 4: cold climate' (1972-1979).

Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) including: 'Army Formation Standing Operating Procedures (AFSOPs)' (1989); 'UK Land Forces: Formation Standing Operating Procedures' (1989 Jul); '1 British Corps: Standing Operating Procedures' (1991 Jan) and 'Land Component Handbook (Formation SOPs)' (2000 Sept).

Handbooks, guidebooks and manuals including: 'Administration in the Field' (MOD, 1975); 'Umpiring the Effects of Artillery Fire: A Guide for Umpires of All Arms' (1981); 'Administration in War', (MOD, 1984); 'Medical Interoperability Handbook' (German/English version) (1986 Feb); 'Data Protection Act 1984: A Guide to the Act' (MOD, 1987 Aug); 'Manual of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence Training on Land' (1988); 'Staff Officers Handbook' (1988); 'Unit Guide to the Administration of Personnel in War' (1989); 'Instructions for the Handling of Prisoners of War' (MOD, 1990); 'The Manual of Joint Warfare Volume VIII (JSP 7): Military Psychological Operations' (1992); 'Unit Battlefield Countersurveillance' (1994 Jun); 'Generic Enemy (Genforce) Handbook: Rest of the World Enemy (ROWEN)' (1995); 'Military Aid to the Civil Community in the United Kingdom' (1997); 'Generic Enemy (Genforce) Handbook: Mobile Forces' (1997); 'Staff Officers' Handbook' (2000 Jul); 'ABCA: Coalition Logistics Handbook' (Quadripartite Advisory Publication, 2003 Jun).

Training guides including: 'Training for War: the Principles and Organisation of Training, Individual Training, Collective Training and Territorial Army' (1981).

Publications by other military forces including: 'On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom', by Col G Fontenot, LTC EJ Degen and LTC D Tohn (Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2004); Royal Netherlands Army Doctrine Publications: 'Military Doctrine' (1996), 'Combat Operations Against an Irregular Force' (2003), and 'Peace Operations' (1999).

The papers relating to Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian all date from 1798 when he was second in command of the Cape of Good Hope station. They include official correspondence relating mainly to the day to day running of the station but particulaly to the mutiny and subsequent Court Martial concerning the East Indiaman, PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. The papers relating to Sir Hugh's son, Hood Hanway Christian, are more extensive. Apart from an order book from 1812, when Christain was the governor of the Spanish fort at Castro, they are mostly official correspondence from the period 1824-1828. These relate to the supression of the slave trade and various disciplinary proceedings together with correspondence from the Navy Board. There is a small amount of personal correspondence including letters from Sir Richard Keats and Sir Edward Pellew.

Papers of Sir Julian Stafford Corbett, comprising correspondence with publishers including Longmans and Macmillans; manuscript drafts, working papers, notes and essays, lecture notes for the Royal Naval War College, Portsmouth, reports, press cuttings for his Naval reviews. Also included is correspondence from Naval Officers, Corbett's parents, from his wife E.R.C (previously Edith Rosa Alexander), the Fisher Correspondence and letters to Sir John Pakington, Admiralty, 1858/9, including a series of letters from Sir Houston Stewart to Pakington.

Papers of Gp Capt Albert Peter Vincent Daly on his Army and RAF service, 1910-1945; comprising papers on service as Private with 1st Canadian Expeditionary Force, Aug-Dec 1914; notebook 'My Experiences with the British Expeditionary Force, France, 1915' giving account of service with 4th Connaught Rangers, 6-11 May 1915; transcripts of letters to his mother, 1914-1918; copy of Daily Sketch, 13 July 1915, containing paragraph on Daly; papers on service with 8 Sqn and 29 Sqn, Royal Flying Corps, Western Front, 1916-17, including account of being shot down by Lt Werner Voss on 1 Feb 1917, and subsequent imprisonment as prisoner of war; cutting from German newspaper (with English translation), 24 April 1918, article by W Scheuermann, 'Richthofen's Last Flight' on the death of Baron Von Richthofen; papers on service with RAF, 1919-1939, including copy of The London Gazette, 1 Aug 1919, containing list of officers granted permanent commissions in the RAF; service with Inter-Allied Aeronautical Commission, Bulgaria, 1920; service with 60 Sqn, North West Frontier Province India, 1922-1923, including two "Blood Chits"; and service as Air Attaché, British Embassy, China, 1930, including Chinese passports; account of service in World War Two, as Station Commander, RAF Marham, 1937-1940, St Athan, Wales, 1940-1942; Base Commander, North Africa and Italy, 1942-1944; President of Courts Martial, Italy, 1944-1945; Representative of British Red Cross, Sweden, 1945; photographs of Daly, his decorations and of RAF Marham, 1939, with Fairy Hendons of 38 Squadron and Handley Page Harrows of 115 Squadron

Papers relating to the military career of Gp Capt Montague Ellis Dawson, 1940-2003, including copies of three letters home describing bombing raids, 1940; account, 'The raid on the SCHARNHORST, La Pallice, 24th July 1941', describing a daylight bomb attack on the German cruiser SCHARNHORST for which Dawson was awarded the DFM, with annotated sketch map and navigation log relating to the raid, Jul 1941, and two letters from Harry Drummond, the pilot of the raid, 1970; essay 'An outline of my service experience and some lessons from it', prepared for a course at RAF Staff College, Bracknell, 1950; reminiscences for Dawson's 50th wedding anniversary, including list of Dawson's various postings; copy of obituary, 2003. Also typescript memoir by J Ralph Wood: 'My War Memories', detailing career in the Royal Canadian Air Force, 1939-1944.

Papers of the Elliot family including:

Papers of Lord Gilbert Elliot, 1st Earl of Minto, comprising sixty-two volumes and covering the official correspondence of Lord Minto when he was Commissioner at Toulon and Viceroy of Corsica. In addition, there is an account of the attack and defence of Toulon, 1793, a journal for March 1794, a few loose papers and some correspondence between Elliot, Nelson and Lady Hamilton.

Papers of Lord Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Earl of Minto consisting of correspondence and papers covering the period when he was First Lord of the Admiralty. There are forty volumes of in-letters and some draft replies in his own hand including the letters from commanders connected with the events of the Carlist war, 1836 to 1841. There are also loose papers which consist of reports and memoranda and correspondence on a wide variety of naval topics. Further naval papers of the 2nd Earl form part of the Minto collection in the National Library of Scotland.

Papers of Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet, content is mainly official and consists of account rolls of the Treasurer of the Chambers, 1762 to 1770, and an account made as Treasurer of the Navy, 1776 to 1777. There are some miscellaneous papers and a few letters, some personal and some official, relating to the settlement of Elliot's naval accounts. There are other papers relating to Elliot as Treasurer of the Navy and as Lord of the Admiralty in the National Library of Scotland.

Papers of George Eliott, consisting of three cases of orders and letters relating mainly to the siege of Gibraltar.

Papers of of Hugh Elliot consisting of diplomatic correspondence, 1803 to 1806, and contain sixty-two letters from Nelson (q.v.), together with drafts and copies of Elliot's replies and correspondence with Admiral Collingwood (q.v.). There are also intelligence reports and other material which throw light on the diplomacy of the Neapolitan Court.

Papers of Adm John Elliot, consisting only of one volume, containing a biographical note and seventy-two letters sent mostly by Elliot to his father or brother, 1745 to 1805. There are also letters received, including some from Lords Sandwich (q. v.) and Barham (q.v.). Also included is a description by Captain Erasmus Gower (q.v.) of Lord Macartney's Embassy to China in 1793 and another of the First of June, 1794.

Three logs kept by Willaim Elliot between 1803 and 1810.

Papers of Sir William Wordsworth Fisher. This small collection of memoranda and letters, 1912 to 1936, consists of Fisher's ideas and opinions on policy rather than of material closely related to his career. The subjects covered include First World War operations, antisubmarine warfare, the Disarmament Conference, 1929 to 1930, comments on Invergordon, 1931, and papers concerning relations with Egypt and the Fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1919 to 1922, and in 1936.

Diaries of Wilhelm Hollitscher, a Jewish refugee in England, 13 Jun 1939-16 Oct 1943. Hollitscher begins his diaries by remembering his last days in Vienna, but soon turns to a discussion of the political news of the day. In this case a secret meeting between Hitler and Mussolini. Hollitscher is furious about Hitler's treachery, abandoning South Tyrol as a gift to Mussolini. From this time on Hollitscher chronicles the political, and later, military developments and the diaries become a history of the period seen through the eyes of a Jewish emigrant living in England. The tense months leading up to the war, the declaration of war and the war itself are described. Likewise is the landing of Rudolf Hess; the bombing of English towns and later of German ones; Stalingrad; and even events in the Pacific and China.

Comments on the political situation are regularly interspersed with notes on family and friends, most of whom, seem to have escaped Austria. Letters written and received and the more mundane events of daily life at Petts Wood are recorded faithfully.

Hollitzer is very conscious of the fate of the Jews in Germany, Austria and Poland and he notes any news he receives. On the fourth anniversary of his arrival in England he is grateful for four years of a 'blessed old age' and for the fact that his children and grandchildren are safe and healthy. In 1943 he mentions heart troubles, difficulties in sleeping and cramps. The diaries close rather abruptly on 6 October 1943.

Papers of Peter Johnson, 1885-1973, documenting his life until the immediate post-war period. It includes school reports, family correspondence, documents relating to naturalisation, papers relating to his service in military intelligence, and papers relating to the former Jewish population in Hildesheim, where he was stationed at the end of the war.

Papers of Joseph Langland, undated, comprise copies of his poems about Buchenwald and Hiroshima entitled 'Buchenwald near Weimar'; 'The Lotus Song'; 'A Hiroshima Lullaby' and a copy of an entry from Who's Who in America.

Papers of Lord Terence Lewin. The bulk of the collection relates to the period following Lewin's retirement from the Navy. There are substantial numbers of lecture notes, together with correspondence concerning Defence policy and organisation, the Falklands conflict, the George Cross Island Association, the Siege of Malta anniversary and memorial and various maritime societies. Also featured are a small amount of naval documents, including midshipman's journals from HMS VALIANT, Order books for HMS CORUNNA, URCHIN and HERMES, Lewin's paybook from 1949 and his 'metioned in dispatches' certificates. Also included are a folder concerning the loss of HMS SOMALI, (a destroyer that was torpedoed and then broke in two whilst being towed by HMS ASHANTI), photo albums of the aircraft carrier, HMS HERMES, and a notebook kept by Lewin as Chief of Defence Staff during the Falklands campaign. The 'Personal Papers' section includes school reports and certificates, together with honours such as his Barony, Grant of Arms and Warrant of Appointment. The collection is also well served with photos of Lewin at varying stages of his career.

Report, dated 1946, prepared by the Civil Defence Department, Home Office, on a flying bomb incident at Lewisham, 28 Jul 1944; and draft report, apparently prepared for Deptford Borough Council, on rocket incidents in the borough, 1944-1945.

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.

Papers of Sir Frederick Thomas Michell. They are a collection of commissions, appointments and letters which cover Michell's whole career, although the Crimean papers are the most numerous; these include landing orders, 1854, and orders for the bombardment of Sebastopol.

Papers of Charles Wadsworth Murray, including notebooks dealing with his time at Stornoway and contain information about German submarine warfare. There are lists of ships lost and of those that engaged enemy submarines and accounts of the loss or surrender of submarines. There are also three manuscripts unrelated to the main collection, consisting of an order book of Captain Richard Grindall, 1801 to 1805; a Navy Prize Office register, 1803 to 1820, and a log of the REVENGE, Captain Sir John Gore, Mediterranean, 1812 to 1813.

The collection, consisting of nineteen volumes, relates to the administration of the Navy, naval policy during the war with France, 1690 to 1698, and questions of Admiralty jurisdiction, and falls into four main groups. The first, of six volumes, contains letters received by William Blathwayt between 1690 and 1703; they concern the conduct of the war and questions of naval administration, including some, 1697 to 1703, from Josiah Burchett, Secretary of the Admiralty (1666?-1746). The second group of four volumes relates mainly to the time of the Dutch Wars when Robert Southwell was a Commissioner for Prizes. It contains drafts, orders and precedents relating to the Commission, 1661 to 1705, as well as a volume devoted to the legal problems of wrecks, 1687 to 1705. There are also some letters from Blathwayt to Robert Southwell for this period. The third group of four volumes contains letters by Lord Nottingham, 1690 and 1692 to 1693, to Blathwayt and Sir Robert Southwell, some with draft replies. Apart from reporting on naval affairs, there are later private letters, 1711, 1716, and Irish affairs, 1703, are also mentioned. The final four volumes are miscellaneous in nature, including a volume relating to the conduct of the war, 1695 to 1697; a working reference book on the proceedings of the Commission of Prizes, 1665 to 1667; and two volumes of miscellaneous papers relating to all the subjects mentioned above, 1674 to 1708.

Papers of Sir James Porter, almost entirely comprising letters to his family, 1889 to 1913, and include accounts of various battles during the South African War. There are some Gallipoli signals and letters arranging for hospital trains, 1914 to 1917. Also included in the collection are about one hundred letters relating to the family, into which Porter married, of Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets M W Cowan (1830-1903).

Hymn sheet in German, used in a memorial service in March 1939 at Potters Bar Cemetery.

Papers of Sqn Ldr Cyril Edward Roberts comprising his memoirs [1988] covering the period 1909-1987, including his service as confidential clerk under Gen Sir Richard O'Connor, 1937-1941 in Palestine and Egypt, annotated with notes by Roberts, and personal letters from O'Connor to Roberts, 1963-1981.

Papers of Schwarzheide concentration camp, 1990s, comprise copies of documentation regarding its bombing, including various short articles on the subject; details of the units employed in the bombing raids; maps of the camp and environs and correspondence with archives regarding relevant holdings.

Signals Collection comprising two East India Company signal books. The first is a printed signal book of 1783 entitle 'A Collection of Signals for the use of the ships in the Service of the United East India Company'; a sheet of coloured flags has been loosely inserted, but the book was not issued. There is also a manuscript volume of signals issued by Captain Alexander Montgomerie to the fleet under his command, St Helena to England, 1794.

153 volumes of sailing and fighting instructions include the majority of those listed in Sir Julian Corbett, Signals and instructions (Navy Records Society, 1908). In addition, there are many examples of those issued to smaller squadrons rather than fleets. The earliest is a printed copy of 1673 issued to James Duke of York (1633-1701). There is a copy of 1691 by Admiral Russel (1653-1727), issued in 1702. Subsequent sets show the development which took place up to the Seven Years War. From 1756 onwards additional and supplementary instructions became more numerous. The collection also contains several versions of instructions for ships in convoy, 1708 to 1815. In addition to these single items, there are sets in the personal collections. The most extensive, of thirty-four volumes, is that of Admiral Duncan (q.v.), 1760 to 1799, including signals and instructions issued during the American War, convoy instructions for 1782 and a number of sets from the 1790s. Other sets of significance include those of Vice-Admiral Duff, 1748 to 1762, including convoy instructions, 1756 and 1758, and printed instructions for disembarking and re-embarking troops, which were issued by Admiral Rodney (1719-1792) for the landings at marinique, 1762; of Rear-Admiral Clements, 1758 to 1770; and of Captain Lord Longford, 1779 to 1780.

120 printed and manuscript signal books and signal logs. 1711 to 1816. The earliest signal book is a manuscript volume compiled between 1710 and 1711. This contains additional signals made by Sir John Norris (c 1670-1749) in the RANELAGH. The format of this volume is very similar to the printed signal book of 1714 by Jonathan Greenwood. There are some manuscript examples produced privately by individual officers usually with a thumb index for quick reference, dating from the mid-eighteenth century. There are also printed signal books for 1790, 1793, 1795, 1798 and The General Signal Book of 1799, 1808 and 1816. During the 1790s the printing of signal books became general practice. There are various examples (which include day and fog signals), night signals, instructions and additional instructions, which were usually issued in sets. For example, the collection has a set issued in 1793 by Admiral Lord Hood to the Mediterranean fleet. There is a similar set issued by Sir John Jervis in 1794 while in the West Indies. Most of the printed books which were issued have additional signals inserted in manuscript. The manuscript signal books are copies kept by officers who were not issued with a printed signal book, and preferred their own copy for easy reference; they are therefore usually pocket size. This practice was forbidden because of the danger of the code falling into enemy hands. However, there are a number of these in the collection and they often contain additional information, such as orders of battle and sailing, keys to both the British and French systems of coastal signals, pendant lists, etc. Many are finely executed and some are illustrated. There is a manuscript signal book used at the battle of the Nile, based on the 1795 edition entitled 'Day and Night Signal Book, Horarry, Fog etc.' by Midshipman (later Commander) Charles Claridge (fl 1798-1823) in the DEFENCE. This has a short diary at the back of the volume describing the battle and an order of battle and an order of battle and sailing. A manuscript copy of Lord Howe's (q.v.) code of 1793 is also included; this contains a list of signals for identifying coasts and headlands, caricatures, a sea song and drawings of naval vessels. The collection contains a group of signal books issued for use in a particular area; they include volumes for Barbados, 1820, Plymouth, 1797 and St Helena, 1817. There are also three signal logs, one of which was kept in the VICTORY, 1804.

Over half the signal books in this category are French; the other nations represented are Spain, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Sweden and Turkey. There are eighteen volumes, 1754 to 1885, the majority of which are printed with manuscript annotations. Of the French volumes, the earliest is a signal book kept in 1754 by the pilot of LA ROSE, in the squadron of Le Comte de Gallissoniere (1693-1756). The volume has a thumb index of coloured flags and is illustrated with watercolours of fleet manoeuvres. There is also an English translation of the signal book issued by the Comte D'Ache (1700-1775) to his fleet while in the East Indies in the ZODIAQUE, 1757 to 1759; a signal book issued by the Comte D'Orvilliers (1708-1792) in 1779; and a printed signal book of 1787 issued by the Marquis de Nieul, in which the names of the vessels in the squadron have been scratched out, but the twenty flags and ten pendants have been coloured. The Revolutionary War period is represented by three signal books issued for the navy of the Republic in 1799 and 1801. Only one has actually been issued and gives a key to the flags. In addition, there is a handbook for a coastal semaphore between Bayonne and Flushing; published in 1807, the system was invented by an artillery officer named Depillon and built ca.1803. The category also includes two signal books for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies; one was issued in c 1784 by John (later Sir John) Acton (1736-1811), the other in 1816; a Spanish book of signals and instructions printed in Cadiz in 1765 and issued by the Marques de la Victoria; another Spanish volume for 1781 for the fleet of Don Luis de Cordova; and two Swedish volumes, 1795 and 1796. The Turkish signal book is naval, 1885, and the format is similar to a French or an English volume. There is also a Dutch volume of flags rather than signals which was compiled c 1687; it is described on the title page as 'The Flagbook of Captain Paulus van der Dussen' (1658-1707).

Seven volumes concerned with naval signalling, telegraphic and merchant shipping codes, 1787 to 1822. The earliest volume is by Captain (later Admiral) Phillip Patton (1739-1815); in 1787 he published 'A system of signals combining the method commonly used in theBritish Navy...with a numerary method'. As far as is known this was never used, since preference was given to the code invented by Lord Howe. Patton employed two methods: one was the old idea of the meaning of the flag being governed by the position of the hoist and the other gave each flag a fixed numerical value. A new arrangement of Howe's day and night signals and instructions was made in 1792 by John McArthur (1755-1840), while secretary to Lord Hood, and printed in 1793. McArthur also published a comprehensive plan in c 1804, entitled 'Thoughts on several plans combining a system of Universal Signals by day and night', of which there is also a copy. There is a lithographed copy, made in 1822, of 'Practical Rules for making Telegraphic Signals with a description of the two-armed telegraph invented in 1804' by Lieutenant-Colonel Pasley (1780-1861); he put forward a system of sending messages by land using a pole with two moveable arms. A similar manuscript of ca.1820 is by Lieutenant (later Commander) Poynter Crane (1782-1879).

Notebooks comprising lists of air-raid warnings in London, giving details of times, dates and areas affected, with related newspaper cuttings pasted in.

Papers of Sir Cecil Fiennes Thursby. The papers include a number of official orders and reports, some relating to Thursby's time as Captain of HMS SWIFTSURE in 1909. Many more concerned with the Dardenelles campaign, especially the Gallipoli landings and subsequent evacuation. Also present in the collection are British Adriatic Reports for 1916-17, reports on the 1917 Conference of Corfu, letters to Thursby during his time in the Eastern Mediterranean and reports on the use of submarine chasers.

Between 1962 and 1965 Captain Vaughan presented his father's collection of original documents, mainly relating to the operations of Plymouth and Gibraltar dockyards and to victualling, 1678 to 1832. In 1978 Mrs I. M. Vaughan presented some official and private papers and the reminiscences of her late husband, Captain H R H Vaughan, together with the residue of her father-in-law's papers. The documents relating to Plymouth dockyard mainly consist of individual letters extracted from the yard's official administrative records. They consist of letters to the yard commissioner from the Admiralty, 1695 to 1832; from the Navy Board, 1695 to 1820; from the dockyard officers, 1695 to 1816; from sea officers, 1696 to 1828; from the Commissioners of Victualling, 1716, 1824 to 1831; from the Plymouth Victualling Office, 1697 to 1779; letters from the yard commissioner to the Admiralty, 1697 to 1701, contained in a complete letterbook; to the Navy Board, 1706 to 1708; orders to yard officers, 1809; standing orders 1678 to 1766, contained in one volume; letters to the yard officers from the Navy Board, 1694 to 1758; officers' reports to the Navy Board, 1696 to 1791; accounts of ships' stores, 1713 to 1793; Admiralty letters to and from naval officers, 1696 to 1832. The documents relating to Gibraltar yard include two of the Commissioner's letterbooks containing letters to the Victualling Commissioners and naval officers, 1755 to 1763, and to yard and naval officers, 1803 to 1805. Instructions and specifications relating to victualling are contained in one volume, c 1820. The papers of H R H Vaughan include a journal of a voyage from Bombay to Basnah, 1928; some private letters received, 1929 to 1931; copies of official intelligence reports to the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies station, concerning affairs in the Persian Gulf, 1929; a copy of the official report of the Flag Officer, Narvik, April to June 1940; and his own handwritten reminiscences 1911 to 1945.