HUNT, Brig (Henry Cecil) John, Baron Hunt of Llanfair Waterdine (1910-1998)

Copies of detailed manuscript notes on Hunt's life and military career, 1924-1953, including sporting achievements and details of mountaineering expeditions, especially the British Everest Expedition, 1952-1953.

Born 1910; educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military College Sandhurst; passed out first from Royal Military College Sandhurst and awarded King's Gold Medal and the Anson Memorial Sword, 1930; commissioned into 2 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 1930; served in Tidworth, Wiltshire, 1930; posted to 1 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, Lucknow, India, 1931; Lt, 1933; seconded to Indian Police with local rank of Capt, Bengal, 1934-1935; service in Burma with 1 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 1935-1938; qualified as Interpreter in French and German, 1936; Capt, 1938; seconded to Indian Police with local rank of Capt, Bengal, 1938-1940; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; awarded Indian Police Medal, 1940; Maj, 1940; Second in Command, 10 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps (2 Rangers), 1942-1943; Chief Instructor, Commando Mountain and Snow Warfare Training Camp, Braemar, Aberdeenshire, 1943; Commanding Officer, 11 Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps, Italy and Palestine, 1944; Lt Col, 1944; awarded DSO, 1944; commanded 11 Indian Infantry Bde, Italy and Greece, 1944-1945; awarded CBE, 1945; Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1946; General Staff Officer 1, Joint Planning Staffs, Middle East Land Forces, 1946-1948; Joint Services Staff College, 1949; Western Europe's Commanders-in-Chief Committee, 1950-1951; Col, 1951; Allied Land Forces, Central Europe, 1951-1952; Col, General Staff, Headquarters 1 (British) Corps, 1952; Leader of British Everest Expedition, Tibet, 1952-1953; Knighted, 1953; Assistant Commandant, Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1953-1955; awarded Founder's Medal, Royal Geographical Society, 1954; awarded Lawrence Memorial Medal, Royal Central Asian Society, 1954; President, National Association of Youth Clubs, 1954-1970; commanded 168 Infantry Bde, Territorial Army, 1955-1956; retired as Hon Brig, 1956; President, The Alpine Club, 1956-1958; Director, Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, 1956-1966; President, Britain and Nepal Society, 1960-1975; Rector, Aberdeen University, 1963-1966; President, Climbers' Club, 1963-1966; President, British Mountaineering Council, 1965-1968; Life Peer, 1966; Chairman, Parole Board for England and Wales, 1967-1974; Personal Adviser to Prime Minister Rt Hon (James) Harold Wilson during Nigerian Civil War, 1968-1970; President, The National Ski Federation, 1968-1972; President, Council for Volunteers Overseas, 1968-1974; Chairman, Advisory Committee on Police in Northern Ireland, 1969; President, Rainer Foundation, 1971-1985; Member, Royal Commission on the Press, 1974-1977; President, National Association of Probation Officers, 1974-1980; President, Royal Geographical Society, 1977-1980; created KG, 1979; Chairman, Intermediate Treatment Committee, 1980-1985; President, Council for National Parks, 1980-1986; joined Social Democratic Party, 1981; joined Social and Liberal Democrats, 1988; President, National Association for Outdoor Education, 1991-1993; awarded King Albert I Memorial Medal for Mountaineering, 1994; died 1998. Publications: The ascent of Everest (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1953); Sir John Hunt's diary (Everest 1953) [1953]; Our Everest adventure. The pictorial history from Kathmandu to the summit, with Christopher Brasher (Brockhampton Press, Leicester, 1954); translation with Wilfrid Noyce of Starlight and storm. The ascent of six great north faces of the Alps by Gaston Rbuffat (Dent, London, 1956); The red snows. An account of the British Caucasus Expedition , 1958, with Christopher Brasher (Hutchinson, London, 1960); Nigeria. The problem of relief in the aftermath of the Nigerian civil war. Report of Lord Hunt's mission. (HMSO, London, 1970); Hunt Report on Mountain Training, July 1975 (British Mountaineering Council, Manchester, 1975); Life is meeting (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1978); editor of My favourite mountaineering stories (Lutterworth Press, Guildford, Surrey, 1978); In search of adventure [1989].

1 file

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

Copies made by the Centre from originals loaned by the family in 1999.

Summary guide entry on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/archives/cats/, and detailed catalogue available in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

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.

The papers of Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart include correspondence with Hunt, dated 1953-1954, relating to reviews of The ascent of Everest (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1953) (Ref: LH 9/6/32), and newspaper cuttings relating to the ascent of Mount Everest by Edmund (Percival) Hillary and Sherpa Tensing Norkey, Jun 1953 (Ref: LH 15/5/21)