BEAUFOY BROWN, Capt John Frederick, RN (1910-1979)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0099 KCLMA Beaufoy Brown
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	: BEAUFOY BROWN, Capt John Frederick, RN (1910-1979)
Date(s)	: Created 1925-1979
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 2.5 boxes or 0.025 cubic metres
Name of creator(s)	: Brown | John Frederick | Beaufoy | 1910-1979 | RN Captain
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1910; educated at Marlborough House, Hove, East Sussex, and Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon; commissioned into the Royal Navy, 1927; served as Midshipman on HMS REVENGE, Flagship, Atlantic Fleet, 1927-1928; HMS RODNEY, 1928-1929, including voyage to Gibraltar, Jan-Feb 1929; HMS WALKER, 1929; HMS RODNEY, 1929-1930, including voyage to Reykjavik, Iceland, Apr-Jul 1930; Royal Naval College, Greenwich, 1930-1931; Sub Lt, 1931; Submarine Course, 1931-1932; HM Submarine OXLEY, 1 Submarine Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet, 1932-[1936]; Lt, 1933; Submarine Commanding Officer's Course, Portsmouth, 1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Capt of HM Submarine UNITY, North Sea and Atlantic, 1939-1940; Capt of HM Submarine TAKU, North Sea and Atlantic, 1940-1941; Lt Cdr, 1941; awarded DSC, 1941; Staff Officer (Administration) to Adm Sir Max Kennedy Horton, Flag Officer (Submarines), 1941-1942; Commanding Officer, HMS VARBEL II, Midget Submarine Training Base, and Training Officer, Midget Submarines, 1943-1945, including operational training and preparation of X Craft for Operation SOURCE, the attack on the German battleship TIRPITZ, Altenfjord, Norway, Sep 1943, Operation GUIDANCE, the sinking by X Craft of German merchant ship BARENFELS, Apr 1944, and Operation HECKLE, the destruction of a floating dock, Laksvaag, Bergen, Norway, Sep 1944; Lt Cdr (Submarines), HMS VARBEL, 12 Submarine Flotilla, and HMS BONAVENTURE, 14 Submarine Flotilla, operational training and preparation of X Craft for operations in the Far East, 1943-1945; awarded OBE, 1945; acting Cdr, 1945-1947; British Naval Liaison Officer, to US 7 Fleet, Far East, 1945-1946; Staff Officer to Senior Officer, Force S, HMS TAMAR II, Far East, 1946; Deputy British Resident Naval Officer, Shanghai, China, 1946-1947; awarded US Legion of Merit, 1947; First Lt, HMS BELFAST, 1947-1948; First Lt, HMS DUKE OF YORK, Flagship of V Adm Sir Rhoderick Robert McGrigor, Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet, 1948-1949; Cdr, 1948; Staff Officer to V Adm Sir Reginald Henry Portal, Flag Officer (Air), Home Fleet, HMS DAEDALUS, Royal Naval Air Station, Lee on Solent, Hampshire, 1949-1951; Executive Officer, HMS GAMBIA, Mediterranean and East Indies, 1951-1952, including service at Port Said, Egypt, during period of unrest, Suez Canal Zone, 1951; Naval War College, 1953; Executive Officer, RN Barracks, Portsmouth, 1953; Capt of HMS BOXER, 1954-1955; Capt of the Fleet, Far East Fleet, HMS TERROR, Singapore, 1955-1958; Member of the Council of King George's Fund for Sailors, 1958-1960; Deputy Director of Service Conditions, Service Conditions and Fleet Supply Duties Division, Director General of Personal Services and Officer Appointments Department, Admiralty, 1959-1960; UK Member for the Military Agency for Standardisation, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), 1960-1963; RN Aide de Camp to HM Queen Elizabeth II, 1962; retired, 1963; Campaign Director, Hooker Craigmyle and Company Limited, 1963; appointed Director, Attlee Memorial Foundation, 1968; died 1979.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers relating to Beaufoy Brown's life and RN career, 1925-1979, including scrapbook with newspaper cuttings and fifty five photographs, Aug 1927-Jul 1929, including Atlantic Fleet exercises, 1927, the loss of HM Submarine H47, off St David's Head, Pembrokeshire, following collision with HM Submarine L12, 9 Jul 1929, and photographs of HMS REVENGE, HMS FORRES, HMS RODNEY, HMS HOOD, HMS NELSON and HMS ADVENTURE, 1927-1929. Two Midshipman's journals, 26 Aug 1927-12 Jul 1930, relating to service on HM Ships REVENGE, RODNEY and WALKER, including manuscript sketches and maps, two photographs of the main armament of HMS RODNEY, and photograph of HMS CENTURION, RN radio-controlled target ship, Portland, Dorset, Nov 1928, with twelve loose photographs, 1925-1929, including HMS RODNEY, HMS STURGEON and group of Cadets, Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon, 1925. Typescript report by Beaufoy Brown on the visit to Malta of the Yugoslav training ship JADRAN, 9-11 Jul 1934. Papers and photographs relating to the development and deployment of X craft midget submarines and Chariot manned torpedoes, 1943-[1950], including sixty seven photographs relating to the training of crews for X craft midget submarine operations, 1943-1945, notably six aerial photographs, taken by 544 Sqn, RAF, of Bergen harbour, Norway, before and after Operation GUIDANCE, the sinking by X Craft of German merchant ship BARENFELS, Apr 1944, and Operation HECKLE, the destruction of a floating dock, Laksvaag, Bergen, Norway, Sep 1944; edition of The Illustrated London News, 15 Dec 1945, with article on X Craft operation against Japanese cruiser TAKAO, Singapore, Jul 1945; edition of The Dittybox, the Navy's own magazine, containing article by G V Galwey entitled 'Life in a midget submarine', Feb 1948; typescript text of lecture by Beaufoy Brown on World War Two midget submarine operations [1950]. Photograph album containing 111 photographs relating to Beaufoy Brown's service as Executive Officer, HMS GAMBIA, Mediterranean and East Indies, 1951-1952, including peace keeping patrols, Port Said, Egypt, 1951, and inspection of ship by acting Adm Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Commnder-in-Chief Mediterranean, Malta, 1952. Typescript Curriculum Vitae for Beaufoy Brown [1965], and obituary, 1979.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The collection is arranged in chronological sections as outlined above.

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.

Finding aids:

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1981.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
Nov 1999