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Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

EDMONDS, Brig Gen Sir James Edward (1861-1956)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Edmonds

Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Title: EDMONDS, Brig Gen Sir James Edward (1861-1956)

Date(s): Created 1827-1838, 1852, 1879-1881, 1890-1957

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 13 boxes or 0.13 cubic metres

Name of creator(s):

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in 1861; educated at King's College School, London and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; entered Royal Engineers, 1881; Capt, 1890; Major, 1899; Instructor, Royal Military Academy, 1890-1896; Staff College, 1896-1897; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Intelligence Division, War Office, 1899-1901; publication of Handbook of the German Army (HMSO, London, 1900); served in South Africa, 1901-1902; Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General, Intelligence Division, War Office,1904-1908; publication of A history of the Civil War in the United States, 1861-1865 (with Henry Spencer Wilkinson) (Methuen and Co, London, 1905); Lt Col, 1906; Secretary to British Delegation to Geneva Conference, 1906; British Delegate to Red Cross Conference, 1907; Col, 1909; General Staff Officer Grade 1, War Office, 1909-1910; General Staff Officer Grade 1, 4 Div, 1911-1914; publication of Land warfare: an exposition of the laws and usages of war on land for the guidance of officers of His Majesty's Army (with Lassa Francis Lawrence Oppenheim (War Office publication, 1912); served at General HQ, BEF, 1914-1918; Deputy Engineer-in-Chief, BEF, 1918; Officer in charge of Military Branch, Historical Section, Committee of Imperial Defence, 1919-1949; publication of Military operations: France and Belgium (13 volumes) (HMSO, London, 1922-1948) and Military operations: Italy (with Henry Rudolph Davies) (HMSO, London, 1949), parts of the official history of World War One; publication of A short history of World War One (Oxford University Press, London, 1951); died in 1956.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers created or collected by Edmonds during the course of his life and career, dated 1827-1838, 1852, 1879-1881, 1890-1957, principally comprising typescript memoirs covering his life and career, 1861-1951, and notably concerning his work at the Royal Military Academy, 1890-1896, and in the Intelligence Division of the War Office, 1899-1901, 1904-1908, his service in South Africa, 1901-1902, and in World War One, 1914-1918, at the Geneva Conference, 1906, as General Staff Officer, 4 Div, 1911-1914, and in the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence, 1919-1949, written in [1951]; correspondence with Rt Hon Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, 1922-1954, relating to Churchill's book The World Crisis, 1911-1918 (Thornton Butterworth, London,1923-1929, abridged and revised, 1931); letters from FM Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig and his wife, 1903-1939, mainly relating to Edmonds' work on the official history of World War One; correspondence with Maj Gen Sir Ernest (Dunlop) Swinton, 1919-1950; texts of lectures,[1908-1947], notably relating to the American Civil War, 1861-1865, laws of war and the organisation of intelligence and information in warfare; typescript and printed articles, 1893-1957, mainly relating to World War One; official army handbooks and reports by Edmonds and others, 1899-1918, 1945; papers related to World War One collected by Edmonds, dated 1900, 1907, 1914-[1945]; presscuttings, [1906-1943], mainly concerning political and military developments and international relations; photographs, 1895-1918, mainly of Edmonds with Army colleagues.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: Mosly English, but some German

System of arrangement:

Arranged in the following sections: early papers and papers relating to Staff College; correspondence; memoirs(first draft); lectures; writings by Edmonds; papers relating to World War One; miscellaneous writings by Edmonds and others;newspaper cuttings; second accession (later draft of memoirs and photographs).

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be provided forresearch use only. Requests to publish original material should besubmitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for MilitaryArchives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Summary guide available on-line athttp://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/top.htm, and in hard copy in the Centre'sreading room.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1968 and 1993.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

An additional accession of three books from Edmonds' library was presented to the Centre byProfessor Peter James Marshall in 1992. These now form part of the Centre's library, which is available for consultation in the readingroom. The papers of Gen Sir Edward Louis Spears at the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge University, include correspondence with Edmonds, 1924-1956 (Ref: SPRS). Cabinet Office papers held at the Public Record Office include Edmonds'correspondence files as official historian of World War One (Ref: CAB 45).

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Date(s) of descriptions: Jan 1997


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
American Civil War (1861-1865) | Civil war | Political movements
Colonial conflicts | Colonial countries | Political systems
Diaries | Nonfiction | Prose | Literary forms and genres | Literature
Military education | Higher science education
Military history | History
Military intelligence | Warfare | Military engineering
Military theory | Higher science education
Officers | Armed forces | State security
Personnel | People by occupation | People
Photographs | Visual materials
Second Boer War, 1899-1902 | Wars (events)
War | International conflicts
World War One (1914-1918) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)
Civil wars (events)
International relations
Military organizations
Military science
Primary documents

Personal names
Churchill | Sir | Winston Leonard Spencer | 1874-1965 | Knight | statesman
Haig | Douglas | 1861-1928 | 1st Earl Haig | Field Marshal x Haig | 1st Earl
Swinton | Sir | Ernest Dunlop | 1868-1951 | Knight | Major General | military historian

Corporate names
British Army

Places
Geneva | Switzerland | Western Europe | Europe
London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
South Africa | Southern Africa
USA | North America
Americas
Caribbean