Download this summary catalogue (PDF) ›PIRIE, ACM Sir George Clark (1896-1980)

Identity statement

Reference code(s)

GB0099 KCLMA Pirie

Title

PIRIE, ACM Sir George Clark (1896-1980)

Date(s)

Created 1918-1978

Level of description

collection level

Extent and medium of the unit of description (quantity, bulk, or size)

1 box or 0.01 cubic metres

Context

Administrative / Biographical history

Born 1896; served in World War One, 1914-1918; commissioned into 3 (Reserve) Bn, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), 1914; Lt, 1915; Capt, 1916; served with Royal Flying Corps, 1916-1918; service with 34 Sqn, Royal Flying Corps, Western Front, 1917; served in Palestine, 1917-1918; awarded MC, 1918; transferred to RAF, 1918; relief of Diwaniyah, Iraq, 1921; RAF Staff College, Andover, Hampshire, 1925; service in Iraq, 1928; Wg Cdr, 1932; Air Staff Officer, Directorate of Operations and Intelligence, Department of the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Ministry, 1934-1937; Gp Capt, 1937; Air Attaché, Washington DC, USA, 1937-1940; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Air Officer Commanding Northern Ireland, 1941; Air Officer in charge of Administration, Middle East, 1941-1943; awarded CBE, 1942; awarded CB, 1943; Director General, War Organisation, Air Ministry, 1943-1945; Deputy Allied Air Commander-in-Chief, South East Asia, 1945-1946; created KBE, 1946; Allied Air Commander-in-Chief, South East Asia, 1946-1947; Inspector General, RAF, 1948; Member, Air Council for Supply and Organisation, 1948-1950; ACM, 1949; Head of Air Force Staff, British Joint Services Mission to the USA, 1950-1951; retired, 1951; created KCB, 1951; Chairman, Air League of the British Empire, 1955-1958; died 1980.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1981.

Content & structure

Scope and content

Photograph album with 61 photographs of RAF service in Haifa, Palestine, and Baghdad, Iraq, 1917-1918 and 1928. Three notebooks containing extracts from Pirie's diaries, 1923-1945, 1946-1966 and 1967-1976. Eight letters of thanks, relating to Pirie's success as Allied Air Commander-in-Chief, South East Asia, and Inspector General, RAF, 1947-1949, including letter from V Adm Rt Hon Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Jul 1947. Scrapbook of press cuttings relating to a visit to Canada by RAF Detachment, 1934. Edition of Oculi Exercitus. No 6 Squadron by Flying Officer C D Stewart RAF (Zavallis Press, Nicosia, Cyprus, 1963), published to commemorate 6 Sqn's Fiftieth Anniversary, 31 Jan 1964. Seventeen photographs, 1917, 1946-1947, including group of officers, 34 Sqn, Royal Flying Corps, Western Front, 1917, and Pirie's departure parade as Allied Air Commander-in-Chief, South East Asia, 1947. Personal correspondence, 1964-1978, including letter and typescript article by Eric W Cockcroft entitled 'My experience as a World War One RFC/RAF pilot', Nov 1978.

System of arrangement

The collection is arranged in sections as outlined above.

Conditions of access & use

Conditions governing access

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

Conditions governing reproduction

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/scripts of material

English

Finding aids

Summary guide entry online at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/htm.top

Allied materials

Existence and location of originals

King's College London College Archives

Related units of description

The papers of Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart include correspondence with Pirie, 1949 (Ref: LH 1/576); notes on talks with Pirie on conscription, defence organisation, plans for a strategic bomber force and the Royal Navy, Mar 1949 (Ref: LH 11/1949/10).

Notes

Note

Decorations: KCB, KBE, MC, DFC

Description control

Rules or conventions

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

This catalogue is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. This catalogue may be updated from time to time in order to reflect additional material and/or new understandings of the material.