GRANT, Gen Sir Charles John Cecil (1877-1950)

Various military papers, mainly dating from the nineteenth century, including standing orders, despatches and a paper by Gen Sir Frederick Roberts on Russia, all probably collected by Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1805-1811, 1871-1885, 1918-1921. Correspondence and papers relating to Lt Gen Sir Robert Grant (see above), including material concerning his career, and correspondence from Gen Sir Henry Redvers Buller, 1900. Letters and papers of Charles John Cecil Grant, notably correspondence with Rosebery, mainly letters written whilst on active service on the Western Front, World War One, 1914-1927, French Gen Maxime Weygand, including comments on the Versailles Treaty and the death of French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, 1919-1948, and Lt Gen Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese, 3rd Bt, on military operations in Italy during World War Two, 1943-1944. Copies of diary entries and notes written by Charles John Cecil Grant whilst serving as a liaison officer to French Headquarters on the Western Front, World War One, Mar-Nov 1918.

Gen Sir Charles John Cecil Grant; born 1877, son of Robert Grant; entered Coldstream Guards, 1897; Lt, 1898; served Second Boer War, South Africa, 1899-1902; Adjutant, 1902-1905; Capt, 1903; Bde Maj, Brigade of Guards, 1909-1912; General Staff Officer, Grade 3, War Office, 1912-1913; Maj, 1913; served World War One, 1914-1918; Bde Maj, 3 Infantry Bde, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), 1914; General Staff Officer, Grade 2, General Headquarters, 1914-1915; General Staff Officer, Grade 1, and temporary Lt Col, 12 Div, 1915-1917; Brevet Lt Col, 1916; General Staff Officer, 3 Army, 1917; temporary Brig Gen commanding 1 Infantry Bde, 1917-1918; Brig Gen, General Staff, attending General Headquarters French army, as a liaison officer between Gen Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, 1918-1919; Brevet Col, 1919; Lt Col commanding 3 Bn, Coldstream Guards, 1919-1921; temporary Col, General Staff, Egypt, 1921-1925; Col, 1922; commanding 137 (Staffordshire) Bde, Territorial Army, Northern Command, 1925-1927; commanding 8 Infantry Bde, Southern Command, 1927-1930; Maj Gen, 1930; General Officer Commanding 53 (Welsh) Div, Territorial Army, Western Command, 1930-1932; General Officer Commanding, London District, 1932-1934; Lt Gen, 1934; Gen, 1937; General Officer Commanding in Chief, Scottish Command, and Governor of Edinburgh Castle, 1937-1940; retired, 1940; Col, The King's (Shropshire Light Infantry), 1930-1946; died 1950. Lt Gen Sir Robert Grant, GCB; born 1837; father of Charles John Cecil Grant; educated Harrow and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; 2nd Lt Royal Engineers, 1854; Lt, 1854; transferred to Jamaica Command, West Indies, 1857-1858; Fort Adjutant at Belise, British Honduras, 1858-1859; Aide de Camp to Lt Gen Sir William Fenwick Williams, Commanding Officer of British Forces, British North America, 1859-1865; 2nd Capt, 1860; passed Staff College, 1861; Capt, 1867; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Royal Engineers, Army Headquarters, 1871-1876; Maj, 1872; Commander, Royal Engineers, Aldershot Command, 1877-1880; Lt Col, 1878; Commander Royal Engineers, Plymouth Sub-district, Devon, 1880-1881; Commander, Royal Engineers, Woolwich District, 1881-1883; Col, 1882; Commander, Royal Engineers, Northern British District, 1884-1885; Commander, Royal Engineers, First Sudan Expedition, 1885; Deputy Adjutant General, Royal Engineers, Army Headquarters, 1886-1891; temporary Maj Gen, 1889; temporary Lt Gen and Maj Gen, 1891; Inspector General of Fortifications, 1891-1898; Lt Gen, 1897; Commissioner of Royal Hospital, Chelsea, 1903; died 1904.

Arranged in sections as above.

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

The collection was originally part of the Pitchford Manuscripts, mainly created by the Ottley family of Pitchford Hall, Shropshire, to which Victoria Alexandrina Grant, Charles John Cecil's mother, was heiress. The bulk of the Pitchford Mss were deposited in the National Library of Wales by Charles John Cecil Grant from 1932 onwards. In 1963, the residue of the family papers, still kept at the Hall, were listed for the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and, with the exception of the military documents, which were placed in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives in 1980, transferred to the National Library of Wales in 1985.

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.

The Pitchford Manuscripts, which contain a few items relating to the Grant family, are held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. The National Library of Scotland has most of the papers of Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery. The Imperial War Museum, London, holds papers of Gen Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese, 3rd Bt.

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.

Related papers held at the Centre are those of Lt Gen George Sidney Clive, (Ref: GB 99 KCLMA Clive G S), FM Sir John Greer Dill, and Gen Sir John Theodosius Burnett-Stuart.