IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1996 Private Papers
Held at: Honourable Artillery Company
Title: Private Papers Collection at the Honourable Artillery Company
Date(s): 1859-1994
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 40 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Honourable Artillery Company | 1685-
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
In 1537, the Overseers of the Fraternity or Guild of St George received a Charter of Incorporation from King Henry VIII. The purpose of this Guild was to improve the defence of the realm and maintain the science and feat of shooting long bows, cross bows and hand guns. The Guild became known as 'the gentleman of the Artillery Garden', after its practice ground in Spitalfields, then simply as the Artillery Company. At this time 'artillery' referred to archery and other missile weapons, and 'great artillery' to guns. The courtesy prefix 'Honourable' was first used in 1685 and officially confirmed by Queen Victoria in 1860.
Captains of the Artillery Garden provided officers for the London Trained Bands, a citizen militia. Members of the Company fought on both the Royalist and Parliamentary sides during the Civil War of 1642-1649.
In the early 17th century, the City of London Court of Aldermen appointed the chief officers and paid the professional soldiers who trained the members of the Company. The Company's role in restoring order to the City of London following the Gordon Riots of 1780 prompted the gift of its first cannon by the City Corporation and led to the creation of an Artillery Division.
In 1860, control of the Company moved from the Home Office to the War Office and in 1889, a Royal Warrant gave the Secretary of State for War full control of the Company's military affairs.
The Light Cavalry was formed in 1861 as a reconnaissance unit for the infantry, becoming a horse battery in 1891 and accounting for the Regiment's link with the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA). In 1979 the Court agreed to reconstitute the Light Cavalry for ceremonial tasks. The Company became part of the newly formed Territorial Army with the passing of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act in 1907. Its property and privileges are protected by the Honourable Artillery Company Act 1908. A detachment of the HAC Metropolitan Special Constables was formed in 1919. In the following year the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers was formed.
The HAC received its first Battle Honour 'South Africa 1900-02' for service in the Boer War, where almost two hundred members of the Company served, mainly with the City Imperial Volunteers as infantry, mounted infantry and in a Field Battery. Two Infantry Battalions and five Batteries of the HAC fought in World War One, serving in France, Italy, Aden, Egypt and Palestine. Three members were awarded the Victoria Cross. The Infantry Battalion of the HAC became an Officer Cadet Training Unit at the beginning of the World War Two. The 11th and 12th HAC Regiments of RHA served in North Africa and Italy, while the 13th HAC Regiments of RHA fought in France, Holland and Germany. The Company also provide a Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment and two Heavy Anti-Aircraft Batteries of the Royal Artillery. Nearly four thousand Company members who received commissions during World War Two, of whom over seven hundred lost their lives.
In 1947 the Company was reorganised into an Infantry Battalion and two Royal Horse Artillery Regiments. The Territorial Army became the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve from 1967 until 1980, when it resumed its original name. The HAC was reorganised into four squadrons that formed part of the British Army in the Rhine in 1973.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
: Private papers of members of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) comprising diaries, notebooks, letters, photographs, drawings, scrapbooks, trench maps, film, audio recordings and papers of
CSM Dudley William Abraham (1904-1975), 1923-1948; Capt. Francis Bryant Adams (died 1870) 1859-1870; Pte Herbert Jordan Adams (died 1912), 1859-1886; Lt Sylvester Ferdinand Alexander, 1917-1919; Lt-Col. Edward John Amoore (1877-1955), 1908-1916;
Bdr James Alexander Bailey (1888-1969); 1681-1889; Dvr Alex Baird, 1916-1919; Col. Leslie Arthur Barber (1905-1991), 1927-1938; Lt Francis Harold Barnes (1894-1990) and Hugh Michael Francis Barnes Yallowley (né Barnes) (born 1928), 1990-1997; Capt. Cecil John Barton (1891-1982), 1908-1918; Sgt Albert Bates (died 1972), 1916-1917; Lt-Col. Hadrian Bayley (1873-1931), 1900, 1915-1919; Capt. John Malcolm Beaven (1906-1987), 1927-1979; Gnr Charles Edward Henry Booth (died 1974), 1915-1919; Sgt Walter John Bradley (died 1975), 1915-1926; Lt Charles Cooper Brissenden (died 1964), 1915-1917;
Bdr Arthur Sydney Challis (died 1973), 1917-1919; Bdr Sidney Victor Clifford, 1917; Major Richard Charles Cole (1874-1965), 1938-1941; Capt. Charles Arthur Leonard Collins (1905-1988), 1956-1986; Gnr Frederick Ignatius Connolly (1895-1975) and Gnr Joseph Eugene Connolly, 1917-1919; Lt-Col. Percie Cyril Cooper (1874-1958), 1900-1945; Major John Viall Crisp (died 1996), 1942-1945; Major Roger Cyril Croxton (1906-1986), 1925-1983; Pte Louis Edward Cutbill (1879-1968), 1903-1904;
Sgt Wilfred Dixon, 1900-1911;
Brig. Newlyn Mason Elliot (1890-1969) 1917-1929; Col. William Evans (1849-1937) 1895-1907;
Capt. Alfred Harman Fleuret (1882-1950), 1915-1918; Major John Robert Freeman (born 1933), c.1956-1978;
Lt-Col Alan Young Garrett (1903-1969), 1928-1933; Col. Graeme Elder Gilchrist (born 1934), c.1964-1982;
Lt-Col Reginald Leonard Haine (1896-1982), c.1914-1918; Pte George Frederic [?] Harris, 1914-1915; Major Horatio Harris, (1879-1970), 1903; Sgt-Major Charles Hickman, 1876-1879; Pte Adrian Keith Graham Hill (1895-1977), 1916-1919; Lt John Henry Houghton (1890-1954), 1912-1919; CSM Maurice Hovenden, (c.1887-1950) 1914-1919; Flight Cadet Edward Hoyle, 1916-1919; Capt. Arthur Gordon Somerset Huddart (1886-1971), 1905-1927;
Brig. Frank Robertson Wordsworth Jameson (1893-1965) 1914-1918, 1990; Pte Bertrand Johnson, 1910-1921; Brig. Roy Frank Johnson (1887-1978), c.1956-1958; Lt Frederick William Justen (1861-1903), 1881-1894;
Capt. Albert Edward Keech (1882-1963), 1914-1944; Capt. Philip Paul Kelly (1906-1943), 1926-1933; Saddler-Sgt James Colyer Kendall (1872-1961), 1900-1951; 2nd Lt Edward Hertslet William Wingfield King (born 1878), 1900-1914;
Dvr Clement Lake (1888-1943) 1915; Pte John Christie Leslie (1907-1942), 1925-1926; Lt-Col. Malcolm Stuart Lewis (died 1971), 1914-1919; Dvr Thomas King Lougheed, 1915-1919;
Sgt Harold Goldsmith Mansfield (born 1879), 1915-1916; Major Alexander McKenzie (died 1893), and his sons- Francis Fuller McKenzie and Lt John Alexander McKenzie, 1866-1899; Major Gilbert McMicking (1862-1942), 1900-1902; Sgt Frederic Hugh Mather, 1914-1919, 1962; Major William Rex Middleton (1910-2000), 1993; Dvr Robert Norman Minton (1892-1964) 1906-1952; Lt Arthur Williams Mitchell (born 1850), 1888-1889; Lt Bernard Moeller (1872-1901) 1900-1902; Sgt Arthur James Mordin (1877-1928), 1902; Lt Roy Petherbridge Mugford (born 1885), 1903-1913; Capt. Gerald Frank Thompson Murnane (1874-1947), 1900-1921;
Col. Henry William O'Brien (1893-1979), 1917; Lt-Col. Terence O'Brien (1900-1948), 1922-1930; General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor (1889-1981), 1917-1919; Capt. Alan Graham Orr (1907-1994), 1926-1994;
Capt. John Michael Page (born 1916), 1941-1945; Pte John Dainty Palmer, 1911-1964; Flight Lt Richard Harold Harman Pawsey (1916-2003), 1953-1955; Pte Reginald Charles Purkiss (died 1968), 1916-1918;
Major Norman Harold Radford (died 1968), 1922-1924; Lt-Col. Stanley Naysmith Rae (1913-1993), 1945; Capt. Edward John Reed (1913-2001), 1939-1945; Capt. Richard Mervyn Edmund Reeves, 1914-1915; Capt. John Douglas Reid (1891-1951), 1914-1935; Sgt Anthony Ifor Herbert Richards (1926-2003), 1948-1975; Lt Andrew John Riggs (1874-1958), 1900; Major Philip Edmund Riley (1899-1994), 1937-1938; Major Michael John William Russell (1907-1989), 1937-1938; Major Richard Dean Russell (1884-1984), 1905-1972;
Pte John Eric Saunders (born 1896), 1916-1918; Major John Alban Fane Sewell (born 1917), 1941-1945; Capt. William Sewell (born 1894), 1914-1918, 1964; Pte/Gnr Herbert Trevor Sherwood (1880-1952), 1899-1910; Lt-Col John Bamford Smith (1886-1987), c.1908-1986; Cpl Ferdinand Isidore Raphael Spielmann (born 1880), 1903; Sgt Laurence Spooner (born 1885), 1915-1918; Lt-Col. Edward Fraser Stanford (1885-1944), 1915-1919; Pte Leslie Stubbings, 1915-1919;
S B B Thresher, 1910-1912; Sgt Alan Clare Tucker, 1916-1918;
Major George Goold Walker (1882-1955), c.1922-1947; Gnr Stanley Ward (born 1897), 1916-1919; Dvr Charles Stanley Watts (born 1896), 1917-1993; Gnr Harold Arthur Wildsmith, c.1917-1918; Pte Percy Stone Willats (1889-1966), 1917-1919; Major Alexander Adam Wink (1875-1949), 1900; Capt. Francis Eric Wood (died 1975), 1914-1915; Pte Joseph Charles Wood (died 1923), 1903; Major Charles Woolmer-Williams (1851-1932), 1886; Major Douglas Brice Worley (1902-1992), 1920-1976; Major Geoffry Ernest Worssam (1902-1994), 1920-1929;
Gnr Frederick Dan Young (died 1985), 1915-1944.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
As listed above.
Conditions governing access:
By appointment only. Contact the Archivist, Honourable Artillery Company, Armoury House, City Road, London EC1Y 2BQ. Administrative records less than 30 years old are not available.
Researchers are requested to consult microfilm copies where they exist, rather than original material.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies available subject to condition of material, and copyright restrictions.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Unpublished detailed location lists for Company Archives and Private Papers collections, 2003; Unpublished List of the Regimental Photograph Albums, compiled by Col H F A Jackson, [1976]; Detailed catalogues for private papers of Major Alexander McKenzie, Major Roger Cyril Croxton, and Captain John Malcolm Beaven, compiled by Clare Barrett, 2002.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Collections of private papers have been acquired variously by donation and purchase. For details of acquisition, see unpublished Draft Summary Catalogue of Private Papers, 2003.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of copies:
Copies of HAC Journals held at the British Library, Imperial War Museum, National Army Museum and the Royal Artillery Historical Research Centres, Firepower - The Royal Artillery Museum, James Clavell Library, Royal Arsenal, London.
Related material:
Papers relating to the regiments military activities held by the The National Archives-Public Record Office, Kew.
Publication note:
Honourable Artillery Company, 1537-1987, G Goold Walker, HAC, 1986; The History of the Honourable Artillery Company, Vol 1 & 2, G A Raikes, London, Bentley, 1878-1879; The History of the Honourable Artillery Company, Anthony Highmore, London, 1804;
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Abbreviations denoting military ranks: Bdr - Bombardier; Brig.-Brigadier; Capt.-Captain; Col.-Colonel; CSM- Company Sergeant Major; Dvr-Driver; Gnr-Gunner; Lt-Lieutenant; Pte-Private; Sgt-Sergeant
Archivist's note: Sources: Historical Manuscripts Commission's On-Line National Register of Archives; The Honourable Artillery Company, HAC, 2001.
Compiled by Alison Field as part of the London Signpost Survey Project.
Date(s) of descriptions: October 2003