Download this summary catalogue (PDF) ›ROWELL, Sir (Herbert Babington) Robin (1894-1981)

Identity statement

Reference code(s)

GB0099 KCLMA Rowell

Title

ROWELL, Sir (Herbert Babington) Robin (1894-1981)

Date(s)

Created 1915-[1921], [1970-1980], 1983

Level of description

collection level

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

6 files

Context

Administrative / Biographical history

Born in 1894; educated at Repton School and City and Guilds Engineering College, University of London; began apprenticeship with shipbuilders Hawthorne, Leslie and Company, 1912; joined Royal Engineers, 1915; transferred to Royal Flying Corps, 1915, and served in UK with 1 Reserve Aeroplane Sqn and with the BEF in France with 8 and 12 Sqns, 1915-1916; Capt, 1916; worked as experimental pilot for Aircraft Directorate, and later Designs Department of the Air Board, [1918-1921]; carried out first tests on man-dropping parachutes from an aeroplane, and designed the necessary casting-off gear; joined staff of Alfred Holt and Company, where he was involved in repairing and reconditioning company ships; rejoined Hawthorne, Leslie and Company, becoming a director in 1922, and serving as chairman, 1943-1965; died in 1981.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1995.

Content & structure

Scope and content

Copies of papers and photographs relating to his military career, 1915-[1921], dated 1915-[1921], [1970-1980] and 1983, principally comprising letters to his father, 1915-1916; his flying log book, 1915-1917, covering his service with 1 Reserve Aeroplane Sqn, Royal Flying Corps, UK and with 8 and 12 Sqns, BEF, France; notes and texts of lectures relating to aerial combat tactics, produced by instructors at the Royal Flying Corps School of Aerial Gunnery, 1916; his diary, 1918, including details of his work [as an experimental pilot with the Aircraft Directorate and the Air Board]; notebook containing notes on the performance of various aircraft, [1918-1921]; 'Memoir of service with the Royal Flying Corps, 1915 and 1916', written in [1970-1980].

System of arrangement

6 files

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

This Summary Guide

Allied materials

Existence and location of originals

King's College London College Archives

Notes

Note

Decorations: Kt, CBE, AFC

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.