Lindsay introduction

Reference code: GB99 KCLMA Liddell Hart
Title: LINDSAY, Maj Gen George Mackintosh (1880-1956)
Dates of creation of material: 1916-1948
Level of description: file
Extent: 0.08 m³ or 8 boxes

Related pages:

Papers of Maj Gen George Mackintosh Lindsay (1880-1956), 1916-1948

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Born 1880; educated at Sandroyd and Radley; joined the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia), 1898; commissioned into the Rifle Brigade, 1900; served in Second Boer War, South Africa, 1900-1902; Lt, 1901; Capt, 1906; Adjutant, Customs and Docks Rifle Volunteers, 1907-1908; Adjutant, 17 (County of London) Bn, London Regt, 1908-1911; Instructor, School of Musketry, Hythe, 1913-1915; served in UK, France and Flanders, World War One, 1914-1918; Maj, 1915; Instructor, Machine Gun School, Wisque, France, 1915; General Staff Officer 2, Machine Gun Corps Training Centre, Grantham, Lincolnshire, 1915-1916; Bde Maj, 99 Infantry Bde, 2 Div, 1916-1917; posted to the Machine Gun Corps, 1917; awarded DSO, 1917; Chief Instructor, Machine Gun School, France, 1917-1918; Brevet Lt Col, 1918; Army Machine Gun Officer, 1 Army, France, 1918; Commanding Officer, 41 Bn, Machine Gun Corps, Germany, 1919; awarded CMG, 1919; graduated from Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1920; Commander, 1 Armoured Car Group, Iraq, 1921-1923; transferred to the Royal Tank Corps, 1923; Lt Col, 1923; Chief Instructor, Royal Tank Corps Central Schools, Bovington, Dorset, 1923-1925; Col, 1925; Inspector, Royal Tank Corps, War Office, 1925-1929; member of the Mechanical Warfare Board, 1926-1929; Aide de Camp to King George V, 1928-1934; Brigadier General Staff, Egypt Command, 1929-1932; Commander of 7 (Mechanised Experimental) Infantry Bde, Southern Command, 1932-1934; Maj Gen, 1934; General Officer Commanding the Presidency and Assam District, India, 1935-1939; awarded CB, 1936; Col Commandant, Royal Tank Regiment, 1938-1947; retired, 1939; re-employed by Army, 1939; General Officer Commanding 9 (Scottish) Div, 1939-1940; Deputy Regional Commissioner for South Western Civil Defence Region, 1940-1944; retired from Army, 1944; Commissioner for the British Red Cross and Order of St John, North West Europe, 1944-1946; awarded CBE, 1946; died, 1956.

PROVENANCE

The collection was given to Liddell Hart during their years of correspondence, 1926-1956, and was incorporated into Liddell Hart's reference material. The Liddell Hart collection was purchased by King's College London in 1973.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The papers mainly relate to Lindsay's life and career, 1880-1956, notably his service as Chief Instructor, Royal Tank Corps Central Schools, Bovington, Dorset, 1923-1925, Inspector, Royal Tank Corps, War Office, 1925-1929, and Commander of 7 (Mechanised Experimental) Infantry Bde, Southern Command, 1932-1934. For the 1920s and 1930s there is a rich series of correspondence with Col Charles Noel Frank Broad, Lt Col Frederick Elliot Hotblack, Brig Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart and Liddell Hart, all of whom were leading figures in the development of British armoured forces, the mechanisation of the Army, tank design and improvements to military training. The series includes original notes and memoranda by both Lindsay and his correspondents. Lindsay's correspondence with Gen Sir Archibald Percival Wavell, 1935-1944, covers armoured tactics, the mechanisation of cavalry and Wavell's visit to the USSR to observe Red Army manoeuvres, Sep 1936 (15/12/14). The papers on Lindsay's appointment as Brigadier General Staff, Egypt Command, 1927-1932, include memoranda by Gen Sir George Fraser Milne, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and Maj Gen Sydney Capel Peck on the future organisation of mechanised units in Egypt (15/12/7). Notable photographs in the collection include a series on Lt Col Giffard Le Quesne Martel's 'mechanical coffin' one man armoured carrier, 1934 (15/12/16).

ARRANGEMENT

The papers of Maj Gen George Mackintosh Lindsay constitute section 15/12 of the papers of Capt Sir Basil Liddell Hart. The papers were used by Liddell Hart in his research for The Tanks: The History of the Royal Tank Regiment (Cassell, London, 1959; Praeger, New York, 1959). The original order was retained by Liddell Hart and subsequently when the whole of the Liddell Hart archive was originally catalogued by Stephen Brooks between 1973 and 1975. This arrangement has been retained in the present catalogue, Jan 1998.

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE

Access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

Copyright

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.

Language

English

RELATED MATERIAL

Related units of description

General correspondence with Capt Sir Basil Liddell Hart, 1926-1956 (Ref: LH 1/448). Papers of Maj Gen Robert Clive Bridgeman, 2nd Viscount Bridgeman include lecture texts and notes by Lindsay on armoured support for infantry, 1933-1934 (Ref: Bridgeman 5/1-10).

Associated material

The Tank Museum holds official papers, 1915-1935.

Related publications

Details of Lindsay's influence in the development of armoured warfare in the British Army is discussed in Liddell Hart's The Tanks: The History of the Royal Tank Regiment (Cassell, London, 1959; Praeger, New York, 1959).