The Royal Armouries First World War Archives

The Royal Armouries First World War Archives.

Types

Ø Personal archives

Ø Newspapers

Ø Photographs, Stereoscopic photos

Ø Official manuals and publications

Ø Miscellaneous

Personal Archives

· Lance Sgt. Thomas Queenan, 1st West Yorkshire Regt., killed in action 1916, from Holbeck, Leeds.

· William Forth, taken prisoner of War, from Leeds.

· Misc. records of Sergeant Major J. G. S. Adam, 12th London Regiment.

· Diary of Captain Edward Stone, 2nd Dragoon Guards - Western Front 1914.

· Correspondence, books, letters and ephemera of Lieutenant Colonel G. K. Maurice - Officer commanding 8th Field Ambulance, 3rd Division Western Front 1914-18.

· Letters from Rifleman Frank Stump to brother in Paris- 1917-18.

· Notebook of J. M. Y. Trotter relating to his training at Godstone Grenade School 1917.

· Letter from Corporal Cecil Sparkes 1916.

· Copies of extracts from war diary of George Wright, 1915-17.

Newspapers

· Illustrated War News (1914-1918)

· Punch (1841-1984)

· The Daily Sketch (1914-1918)

Photographs

· 31 photographs of British troops and German prisoners of war

· 300 stereoscopic photographs (American) in three boxes with viewer

· 350 photographs- misc of home front and front line

First World War Military Manuals

Applin, R.V.K. (1915). Machine-Gun Tactics. London: Hugh Rees Ltd.

Bostock, J. (1913). The Machine Gunners’ Handbook, including the Vickers Light Gun. London: W.H. Smith & Son.

Bostock, J. (1915). How to Instruct in Aiming and Firing. Aldershot: Gale & Polden.

Bostock, J. (1915). The Machine Gunners’ Handbook, including the Vickers Light Gun. London: W.H. Smith & Son.

Bostock, J. (1916). The Machine Gunners’ Handbook, including the Vickers Light Gun. London: W.H. Smith & Son.

Charteris, N.K. (1915). Some Lectures and Notes on Machine Guns. London: W.H. Smith & Son.

Clutterbuck, H. (1913). Musketry lectures: Being a Refresher Coursearranged for Officers of the Auxiliary Forces. London: Hugh Rees Ltd.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Admiralty. Royal Naval Air Service. Anti-Aircraft Corps. London Division. (1914). Notes and orders for officers.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Admiralty. (1915). Handbook on ammunition. By authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1909). Musketry Regulations, part 1 (reprinted , with amendments, 1912). London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1910). Musketry Regulations, part 2 (reprinted, with amendments, to 31st October 1914). London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office.(1914). Infantry Training (4-Company Organization). London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1916). Field Service Pocket Book, 1914 (reprinted with amendments, 1916). London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1916). Notes for Infantry Officers on Trench Warfare. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1916). Machine Gun Training, part 2 (provisional). London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1916). Notes on the employment of Machine Guns in Desert Warfare in Egypt. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1916). Training of Aerial Machine Gunners. London: General Staff.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1916). Consolidation of Trenches, Localities and Craters After Assault and Capture, With a Note on Rapid Wiring. London: General Staff.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1917). Notes and Rules for Barrage Fire with Machine Guns. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1917). Infantry Machine Gun Company Training (provisional). London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1917). Infantry Machine Gun Company Training. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1917). Provisional notes on firing at aircraft with machine guns and other small arms. London: Army Printing and Stationary Services.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1917). Text Book on Aerial Gunnery. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1917). Instructions on Bombing, part 1: British and German Bombs. London: General Staff.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1917). Instructions on Bombing, part 2: Training and Deployment of Bombers. London: General Staff.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1917). Tactical Summary of Machine Gun Operations No. 1: October 1917. Army Printing and Stationary Services.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1917). Tactical Summary of Machine Gun Operations No. 2: November-December 1917. Army Printing and Stationary Services.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1918). Notes for Instructors on the Use of the Rifle. London: General Staff.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1918). Machine-Gun Squadron Drill. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1918). The Employment of Machine Guns, Part 1: Tactical. Army Printing and Stationary Services.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1918). The Employment of Machine Guns, Part 2: Organization and Direction of Fire. Army Printing and Stationary Services.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1918). Officers Training Corps Miniature Range Course. London: General Staff.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1918). R.A.F. Instructional Notes on the Lewis Gun. London: General Staff.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1918). Fighting in the Air. London: General Staff.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. General Staff. War Office. (1919). Machine Gun Training, part 1. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. War Office. (1912). Regulations for Army Ordnance Services (part 1) reprinted with amendments published in Army Orders up to 1st October, 1914. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. War Office. (1912). Instructions for Armourers in the care, repair, browning & c., of small-arms, machine guns, “parapet” carriages, and for the care of bicycles (reprinted with amendments, 1916). London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. War Office. (1914). Handbook of artillery instruments. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. War Office. (1914). Regulations for Army Ordnance Services part 2: instructions for Laboratories and Laboratory Operations, Examinations of Explosives and Ordnance. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. War Office. (1915). Treatise on Ammunition. London: HMSO.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland. War Office. (1917). Addendum to Treatise on Ammunition, 2nd proof of uncorrected copy of October 1917. London: HMSO.

Imperial War Museum. Department of Printed Books (London). (1997). British trench warfare, 1917-1918: a reference manual (General Staff, War Office). London: Imperial War Museum.

Imperial War Museum. Department of Printed Books (London). (1998). Trench fortifications, 1914-1918 : a reference manual. London: Imperial War Museum.

Ironside, H.A. (1914). The Machine-Gun: its drill, signals, and control. London: Hugh Rees Ltd.

James, D. (1914). Notes on Musketry Instruction and Miniature Range Shooting. London: Forster groom & Co.

James, D. McG. (1915). Instruction in the Machine Gun. London: Forster Groom & Co.

McLaglen, Leopold. (1917). Bayonet Fighting. New York: National Military Publishing Co.

Ordnance College. (1915). .303-inch Machine Guns and Small Arms: Nomenclature of parts, Stripping, Assembling, Action, Jams, Misfires, Failures, and Inspection of. London: HMSO.

Ordnance College. (1917). .303-inch Machine Guns and Small Arms: Nomenclature of parts, Stripping, Assembling, Action, Jams, Misfires, Failures, and Inspection of. London: HMSO.

Price, J.E. (1913). Lectures on Musketry Training. London: Forster Groom & Co.

Robinson, E.H. (1914). Rifle Training for War. London: Cassell & Co.

R.N. Gunnery School, Chatham. (1918). Notes on Gunnery for Defensively Armed Merchant Vessels, Trawlers and Drifters. Chatham: Wood & Co., Naval andf Military Printers.

Solano, E. John. (1915). Musketry, .303 and .22 cartridges: elementary training, visual training, judging distance, fire discipline, range practices, field practices. London: John Murray.

Solano, E. John. (1915). Machine Gun Training (.303 and .22 cartridges): organization, section drill, tactical handling, fire control, annual course. London: John Murray.

Miscellaneous

· A History and Record of Barnbow- national shell filling factory, Leeds. Research compiled by Mr. D. Astin, Crossgates.

· Official correspondence about the Tower of London during the war, inc. memorial plaque to staff.

· Maps of Belgium and France including one with trenches marked.

· Munitions of war: a record of the work of the B.S.A. Company during the world war, 1914-1918, compiled by George H. Frost. - Labardor: I.D. Skennerton, 1999.

· The Ministry of Munitions journal. - London: Ministry of Munitions, 1916-18. No. 1 (Dec. 1916) - No. 20 (July 1918)

· Copies of radio messages relating to end of First World War, 11th Nov 1918, message from King praising efforts of officers and men of the Royal Navy.

· ‘Minute book of the Llanddessant Branch of the No-Conscription Fellowship’ October 1916.

· Correspondence addressed to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the subject of the protection of troops in action in particular following his article in The Times, 4th August 1916

The Royal Armouries library is open Monday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm.

If you wish to see something in particular then it is best to book ahead so documents can be made ready.

Contact: Stuart Ivinson 0113 220 1832. E-mail: