Collection PENNEY - PENNEY, Maj Gen Sir Ronald Campbell (1896-1964)

Key Information

Reference code

PENNEY

Title

PENNEY, Maj Gen Sir Ronald Campbell (1896-1964)

Date(s)

  • 1920-1962 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent

3 boxes or 0.03 cubic metres

Scope and content

Papers relating to his command of 1 Infantry Div, Anzio, Italy, 1944, dated 1943-1962, principally comprising correspondence and memoranda, 1943-1944; diary and typescript diary entries, 1943-1944; operation orders, tactical notes and maps, 1944; written accounts of operations carried out by 1 Div and individual regiments and battalions, 1944; correspondence relating to historical accounts of the landings, 1945-1962, notably Anzio by Wynford Vaughan Thomas (Longmans, London, 1961). Other papers relating to his life and career, 1920-1958, notably including an article by Penney on his service in Wazaristan, India, 1937, reprinted from the Royal Signals Quarterly Journal, Oct 1938 and Jan 1939; memoranda from General Staff, Shanghai, from the City Government of Shanghai and from W R Connor Green, British Embassy, Tokyo, concerning relations between the Chinese and Japanese, and the role of the British garrison in the protection of Shanghai, 1931-1933; diary, 1932, referring principally to matters affecting British troops in Shanghai; press cuttings, [1932]; anti-Japanese propaganda posters produced by the Shanghai Municipality National Salvation Committee to Resist Japan, [1932]; itinerary of Penney's movements in the Middle East and North Africa, 1941-1943; diary, 1943-1944, including description of Allied Forces HQ, Algiers, and reflections on the differences between US and British signals procedure; official and personal correspondence relating to his service as Director of Intelligence, HQ Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia, [1945].

System of arrangement

Arranged in sections as follows: miscellaneous personal papers; Bde Maj, Shanghai; Mediterranean and Middle East; Director of Intelligence, HQ Supreme Allied Commander; papers relating to Anzio landing.

General Information

Name of creator

(1896-1964)

Biographical history

Born in 1896; attended Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; commissioned into Royal Engineers, 1914; served in World War One in France and Belgium; Capt, 1917; transferred to Royal Signals, 1921; served in India, 1921-1926; Maj, 1927; Staff College, Camberley, 1928; War Office, 1929-1930; Bde Maj, Shanghai, 1931-1933; Lt Col, 1935; India, 1935-1939; North West Frontier, India, 1937; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Col, 1939; Maj Gen, 1941; Signal Officer in Chief, Middle East, 1941-1943; commanded 1 Infantry Div, Italy, 1943-1944; Director of Intelligence, HQ Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia, 1944-1945; Assistant Controller of Supplies (Munitions), Ministry of Supply, 1946-1949; Col Commandant, Royal Signals, 1947-1957; employed in London Communications Security Agency, Foreign Office, 1953-1957; died in 1964.

Custodial history

Placed in the Centre by the family in 1968.

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

  • Chinese
  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

Mainly English, but some Chinese

Finding aids

This collection level description and detailed catalogue.

Related materials

The papers of Capt Basil Liddell- Hart contain correspondence between Maj Gen (William) Ronald Penney, HQ 8 Army and Maj Gen William Watson Richards, Deputy Quartermaster General (Army Equipment), GHQ, Middle Eastern Forces, on difficulties in distribution of ordnance stores to 8 Army, May 1942 (Liddell-Hart, 15/10/4 1939-1943). Royal Signals Museum holds additional papers relating to his career.

Related descriptions

Note

Decorations: KBE, CB, DSO, MC

Alternative identifier(s)

Genre access points

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.

Script(s)

Accession area