Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1940-1985 (Creation)
- 1917-1925 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
10 boxes (0.10 cubic metres)
Scope and content
Papers relating to AM Sir Frederick Beresford Sowrey's life and career, 1940-1985, including manuscript meeting notes taken by Sowrey, on night air attacks, 17 Sep 1940; typescript lectures, notes and correspondence relating to course on Allied Defence at Royal College of Defence Studies, 1950; two volumes of typescript speeches by Chief of the Air Staff, ACM Sir Thomas (Geoffrey) Pike, Mar 1961-Jun 1962; typescript notes from the RAF School of Work Study, relating to management training [1962]; personal correspondence, 1968-1972, relating to Sowrey's service as Director, Defence Policy, Ministry of Defence, 1968-1970, and Senior Air Staff Officer, RAF Training Command, 1970-1972; typescript delegation list for '5 Power meeting on Defence', Canberra, Australia, Jun 1969; timetables and guest lists for Battle of Britain commemorations, Sep 1971-Sep 1972; typescript notes and memoranda relating to the introduction of management by objectives into RAF Training Command, 1972; RAF Finningley graduation ceremony brief and speech notes, Feb 1972; notes and correspondence relating to prospective book on RAF vehicles, 1974; personal correspondence, 1974-1977, mostly relating to Sowrey's service as Director General, RAF Training, 1975-1977; invitations and souvenir booklet relating to the Royal Review, HM Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, 1977; personal correspondence, 1977-1979, relating to Sowrey's service as UK Representative, Permanent Military Deputies Group CENTO (Central Treaty Organisation); typescript report by Sowrey entitled 'The use of existing national resources in the UK defence effort', Ministry of Defence, 1979; typescript article 'Western military capability in the Middle East', for publication in NATO's 15 Nations, with correspondence, 1980; typescript text of speech by Sowrey on the future of the military (later published in Survival), 1982; conference papers and correspondence relating to colloquium on contingency operations, Centre for Defence Studies, Aberdeen University, 1982-1983; unpublished Royal United Services Institute study entitled 'Defence of the vulnerable society', chaired by Sowrey, 1983-1985. Also, correspondence, dated 1917-1925, relating to a claim by Sowrey's father, Gp Capt Frederick Sowrey, of a £1000 reward for shooting down a German Zeppelin in World War One [1917].
System of arrangement
The arrangement of the papers is broadly chronological.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born 1922; educated at Charterhouse; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; joined RAF, 1940; flying training in Canada, 1941; Fighter Reconnaissance Sqn, European theatre, 1942-1944; Flying Instructors School, 1944; Airborne Forces, 1945; 615 (County of Surrey) Sqn, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, 1946-1948; Fighter Gunnery School, 1949-1950; Commanding Officer, 615 Sqn, 1951-1954; awarded AFC, 1954; RAF Staff College, Bracknell, Berkshire, 1954; Chiefs of Staff Secretariat, 1955-1958; Commanding Officer, 46 Sqn, RAF, 1958-1960; Personal Staff Officer to ACM Sir Thomas (Geoffrey) Pike, Chief of the Air Staff, 1960-1962; Commanding Officer, RAF Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 1962-1964; Imperial Defence College, London, 1965; awarded CBE, 1965; Senior Air Staff Officer, Middle East Command (Aden), 1966-1967; awarded CB, 1968; Director of Defence Policy, Ministry of Defence, 1968-1970; Senior Air Staff Officer, RAF Training Command, 1970-1972; Commandant, National Defence College, 1972-1975; Director General, RAF Training, 1975-1977; UK Representative, Permanent Military Deputies Group CENTO (Central Treaty Organisation), 1977-1979; created KCB, 1978; Research Fellow, International Institute of Strategic Studies, 1980-1981; Chairman, Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society, 1981-1993; Member, Board of Conservators, Ashdown Forest, since 1984; Chairman, Victory Services Association, 1985-1989; Chairman, RAF Historical Society, 1986-1996; President, Victory Services Association, 1989-1993; Trustee, Guild of Aviation Artists, since 1990; Trustee, Amberley Chalk Pits Museum, since 1990; Vice Chairman, Board of Conservators, Ashdown Forest, 1991-1993; President, Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society, since 1993; Life Vice President, RAF Historical Society, 1996. Publications: Contributited to D Day Encyclopedia , edited by David G Chandler and James Lawton Collins, Jr (Simon Schuster, New York, 1994).
Repository
Custodial history
Placed in the Centre by AM Sowrey in 1995 and 1996.
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 from open material for research purposes only.
Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, via the Archives.
Language of material
Script of material
Alternative identifier(s)
Subjects
Place access points
People and Organisations
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.