BISHOP, Maj Gen Sir (William Henry) Alexander (1897-1984)

Scope and Content

'Look back with pleasure', typescript memoirs covering his life and career, 1897-1965, notably his service in Mesopotamia and Palestine, 1915-1918, India, 1919-1925 and 1957-1962, Africa, 1939-1944, Germany, 1945-1950, and Cyprus, 1964-1965, written in 1971.

Administrative / Biographical History

Born in 1897; educated at Plymouth College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; served with Dorset Regt in Mesopotamia and Palestine, 1915-1918; served in India, 1919-1925, War Office, 1933-1935, and Colonial Office, 1937-1939; served in East Africa, North Africa, and West Africa, 1939-1944; Col, 1941; Brig, 1941; Maj Gen, 1944; Director of Quartering, War Office, 1944-1945; Deputy Director-General, Political Warfare Executive, Ministry of Information, 1945; Chief of Information Services and Public Relations, Control Commission, Germany, 1945-1946; Deputy Chief of Staff, Control Commission, Germany, 1946-1948; Regional Commissioner, Land North Rhine/Westphalia, 1948-1950; Assistant Secretary, Commonwealth Relations Office, 1951; Principal Staff Officer to Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 1953-1957; British Deputy High Commissioner in Calcutta, 1957-1962; Director of Information Services and Cultural Relations, Commonwealth Relations Office, 1962-1964; British High Commissioner, Cyprus, 1964-1965; retired, 1965; died in 1984.

Arrangement

2 volumes

Access Information

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

Acquisition Information

Presented to the Centre by Bishop in 1980.

Other Finding Aids

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

Alternative Form Available

Imperial War Museum and Queen Elizabeth House Library, Oxford.

Separated Material

Liddle Collection, Leeds University: typescript recollections of World War One service as 2nd Lt, Dorset Regt, Mesopotamia. Imperial War Museum Department of Documents: additional memoirs, 'Humorous tales from the Army and the Civil Service', written in 1983; reports and correspondence relating to the Control Commission, Germany, and post-war German reconstruction, 1945-1950; correspondence relating to his service in India, 1960-1962; correspondence relating to his service in Cyprus, 1964-1965.

Conditions Governing Use

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 Archive Services.

Corporate Names