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

WILSON, Louis Edward (1884-1973)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Wilson, LE

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

Title: WILSON, Louis Edward (1884-1973)

Date(s): 1914-1959

Level of description: Collection level

Extent: one box, one file and one oversized box or 0.02m3

Name of creator(s): Wilson | Louis Edward | 1884-1973

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1884; Confidential Liaison Officer, B B Chemical Co Ltd (Bostick), Leicester, 1940-1945, coordinating efforts of BB Chemical, the Ministries, the Armed Forces and various industrial organisations to develop waterproofing for armoured vehicles, particularly in preparation for D Day; died 1973.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Louis Edward Wilson, 1914-1959, relating to World War One Fundraising Tank Campaign and to the waterproofing of tanks during World War Two, including: booklet, The German Raid on the Hartlepools, December 16th 1914, with photographs of bomb damage and list of the dead, 1914; correspondence, photographs, brochures, programmes, invitations and publicity material relating to the National Tour around the UK of the Tank Campaign of the National War Savings Committee, 8 Jan 1917-19 Dec 1919; letters from Maj Gen Sir Ernest Swinton, contributor to the invention of the tank and first commander of the Tank Corps, 18 Aug 1922-18 Jul 1945; correspondence concerning Wilson's career and the process of tank waterproofing, 14 Sept 1939-28 Jun 1946 and 3 Jan 1959; papers relating to tank waterproofing, 1940-1945, including: notes on supplies for the Dieppe raid, Aug 1942; notes taken from minutes of Tank Committee meetings, Aug 1942-Jun 1943; lists of companies manufacturing tanks, 1945; summary of the uses of Bostik in tank wading, Aug 1940-Jan 1945; `A Tank Goes for a Swim', illustrated article from Picture Post, 21 Oct 1944; German aerial photograph of Coventry, showing Armstrong Siddeley aircraft engine works, Oct 1940; photographs of tank landings on manoeuvres in the UK, 1943, in Sicily and Italy, 1943, and in Normandy, 1944; booklets containing waterproofing and wading instructions, 1943-1944, for tanks including the Churchill Mk I, II, III, and IV; Light Tank M5, M5A1 and Howitzer motor carriage with radio equipment; Sherman Mk III and Mk V; Stuart Mk III and Mk V; Car, Scout and Humber Mk I and II; Armoured Car and Humber Mk I, II, III and IV; Valentine Bridgelayer; Armoured Car, Staghound; Churchill AVRE; Churchill ARV; Centaur Mk IV; 3in gun motor carriage M10; Carriers; Crusader, Gun Tractor Mk I; Cromwell Mk I, II, IV, V, VI and Centaur Mk I, III, IV. Also copy of We Planned the Second Front by Maj John Dalgleish (Gollancz, 1945) with mention of the waterproofing efforts.

ACCESS AND 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.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

A detailed file list is available on request.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family, Oct 1992

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

MISC 14 contains leaflets concerning asbestos compound waterproofing of Allied tanks and vehicles for Operation OVERLORD, 1944, and the AG WOODS papers include leaflets on waterproofing of vehicles and equipment, 1944.

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

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


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Amphibious warfare | Warfare | Military engineering
Military equipment | Equipment
Operation Overlord (1944) | Military operations | Military engineering
Tanks | Motor vehicles | Vehicles | Transport
War | International conflicts
World War One (1914-1918) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)
World War Two (1939-1945) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)

Personal names
Swinton | Sir | Ernest Dunlop | 1868-1951 | Knight | Major General | military historian
Wilson | Louis Edward | 1884-1973

Corporate names

Places
Coventry | Warwickshire | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Italy | Western Europe | Europe
London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Normandy | France | Western Europe | Europe