Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1916-1953 (Creation)
Level of description
Subseries
Extent
2 boxes
Scope and content
Papers relating to Maj Gen Sir Percy Hobart's life and career, 1926-1953, including typescript texts of five lectures by Hobart on tank warfare, Staff College, Quetta, India, 1926. Papers relating to Hobart's command of 1 Tank Bde, Southern Command, 1934-1937, including typescript memoranda on training and development of armoured forces, 1935-1936; letter from Gen Sir (William) Edmund Ironside, Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Command, on Royal Tank Corps recruitment, 1936. Papers relating to Hobart's service as Deputy Director of Staff Duties (Armoured Fighting Vehicles), War Office, 1937, including typescript notes and memoranda on the organisation and deployment of armoured units and on mechanisation in the British Army, with notes on tactics by Gen Sir John (Theodosius) Burnett-Stuart, General Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Command, 1937. Papers relating to the Armoured Div, Egypt (later renamed 7 Armoured Div), Western Desert, 1939-1942, including typescript training report by Hobart entitled 'The Armoured Division, Egypt', May 1939; typescript and manuscript reports, accounts and correspondence relating to Operation BATTLEAXE, Libya, Jun 1941, including letter to Hobart from Brig Charles (Frederic) Keightley, commanding 30 Armoured Bde, on the necessity for a 6 pounder gun, Dec 1941; typescript account of 7 Armoured Div operations in Libya by Maj Gen William Henry Ewart Gott, General Officer Commanding, 1942. Papers relating to Hobart's command of 79 (Specialised) Armoured Div, North West Europe, 1944-1945, including typescript 79 Armoured Div operational bulletins on Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of German occupied France, and the Normandy campaign, Jun-Aug 1944; bound printed edition of 'Final Report, 79 Armoured Division', published by 21 Army Group, with accounts on Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of German occupied Europe, Jun 1944; Operations VITALITY and INFATUATE, the battle for the Scheldt Estuary, Sep-Nov 1944 and Operation PLUNDER, the Rhine Crossing, Mar 1945. Correspondence with Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart, 1942-1944.
System of arrangement
The collection forms section 15/11 of the papers of Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart. The papers are arranged as described above.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born in India, 1885; educated at Clifton College, Bristol and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers, 1904; served in India with 1 Bengal Sappers and Miners, 1906-1915; Lt, 1907; Mohmand Expedition, North West Frontier, India, 1908; served on the Staff for the Delhi Durbar, India, 1911; Capt, 1914; served in France, Flanders, Mesopotamia and Palestine, World War One, 1915-1918; served with the Indian Corps at Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge and Festubert, Western Front, 1915; awarded MC, 1915; General Staff Officer 3, Indian Expeditionary Force, Western Front, 1915-1916; transferred to 3 Div, Mesopotamia, 1916; wounded, Mesopotamia, 1916; awarded DSO, 1916; Brevet Maj, 1918; posted to 8 Bde in Palestine and served in the Megiddo campaign, 1918; awarded OBE, 1919; graduated from Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1920; General Staff Officer 2, War Office, 1920-1921; Bde Maj, Waziristan force, North West Frontier, India, 1921-1922; Maj, 1922; Brevet Lt Col, 1922; transferred to Royal Tank Corps, 1923; Instructor at Staff College, Quetta, India, 1923-1927; Brevet Col, 1928; Lt Col, 1930; Commanding Officer 2 Bn, Royal Tank Corps, 1931-1933; Col, 1933; Inspector, Royal Tank Corps, 1933-1936; commanded 1 Tank Bde, Southern Command, 1934-1937; Deputy Director of Staff Duties (Armoured Fighting Vehicles), War Office, 1937; Director of Military Training, War Office, 1937-1938; Maj Gen, 1937; General Officer Commanding Armoured Div, Egypt, 1938-1939; awarded CB, 1939; retired, 1940; joined Local Defence Volunteers (later renamed the Home Guard), Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, 1940; Deputy Area Organiser, Local Defence Volunteers/Home Guard, South Midland Area, 1940-1941; re-employed by Army, 1941; served in UK and North West Europe, World War Two, 1941-1945; General Officer Commanding 11 Armoured Div, UK, 1941-1942; General Officer Commanding 79 (Specialised) Armoured Div, 1942-1945; created KBE, 1943; Commander of the Specialised Armour Development Establishment, Suffolk, 1945-1946; retired from Army, 1946; representative Col Commandant, Royal Tank Regiment, 1947-1951; Lieutenant Governor, Royal Hospital, Chelsea, 1948-1953; died 1957.
Repository
Custodial history
The collection forms section 15/11 of the papers of Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart which were purchased by the Centre in 1973.
Language of material
Script of material
Related materials
Publication note
The life and career of Hobart is described in Armoured Crusader by Kenneth John Macksey (Hutchinson, London, 1967). Macksey also contributed a useful essay on Hobart's career in Churchill's Generals , edited by John Keegan (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1991). Churchill's secret weapons. The story of Hobart's funnies by Patrick Delaforce (Hale, London, 1998).