Fonds

FULLER, Maj Gen John Frederick Charles (1878-1966)

Catalogue reference: KCLMA Fuller

What’s it about?

This record is about the FULLER, Maj Gen John Frederick Charles (1878-1966) dating from 1897-1966.

Is it available online?

Maybe, but not on The National Archives website. This record is held at King's College London: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.

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Not at The National Archives, but you may be able to view it in person at King's College London: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.

Full description and record details

Reference

KCLMA Fuller

Title

FULLER, Maj Gen John Frederick Charles (1878-1966)

Date

1897-1966

Description

Bound typescript histories of Tank Corps battalions, brigades and groups during World War One, 1914-1918, written by Tank Corps personnel in [1918-1919]. Bound volumes of official correspondence, reports, memoranda, notes, maps, photographs, operation orders, summaries of information and other papers concerning tank strategy and tactics, 1916-1918, the Battle of Cambrai, 1917, and Tanks Corps operations, 1914-1918, dated 1917-1919. Correspondence between Fuller, M Mitzakis and various military personnel relating to the use of Canal Defence Light (CDL) tanks during World War Two, 1939-1945, dated 1946. Other papers relating to his life and military career, [1889]-1965, including letters to his parents, 1897-1921, notably covering his service in South Africa, 1899-1902, and in World War One, 1914-1918; narrative diaries covering his service in South Africa, 1901-1902, and World War One, 1914-1915; book agreements, 1919, 1956-1965; correspondence with publishers, 1956, 1961-1965; newspaper cuttings, 1945, 1952, 1965-1966, including obituaries of Fuller, 1966; papers relating to the occult, notably including letters from Aleister Crowley, 1905-[1924], and manuscript and typescript texts by Fuller and others, 1910, 1926, [1930] and 1966. Bound typescript text on Gen (William) Edmund Ironside, mainly consisting of extracts from Ironside's letters to Col Roderick MacLeod, 1927-1958, compiled by MacLeod in [1959], and 'A secret service agent in South-West Africa', a bound typescript text on Ironside's service as a British agent among the Boers in German South West Africa, 1902-1904, written by MacLeod in [1965] using Ironside's notes.

Tanks

KCLMA Fuller/1/1 1916-1918 Tank strategy and Tactics I/TS

KCLMA Fuller/1/2 1917 Battle of Cambrai vol.I I/BC1

KCLMA Fuller/1/3 1917 Battle of Cambrai: vol.II I/BC2

Tank Corps Operations

KCLMA Fuller/1/4 Vol. I: 1 Brigade I/TCO1

KCLMA Fuller/1/5 Vol II: 2 Brigade I/TCO2

KCLMA Fuller/1/6 Vol. III: 3 Brigade I/TCO3

KCLMA Fuller/1/7 Vol. IV: 4 Brigade I/TCO4

Tank Corps War Histories

KCLMA Fuller/1/8 Vol. I: Battalions 1-8 I/TCWH1

KCLMA Fuller/1/9 Vol. II: Battalions 9-18 I/TCWH2

KCLMA Fuller/1/10 Vol. III: Brigades 1-6 I/TCWH3

KCLMA Fuller/1/11 Vol. IV: Experiences of Groups 1-3 I/TCWH4

KCLMA Fuller/1/12 Vol. V: HQ; workshops and carrier companies I/TCWH5

CDLS

KCLMA Fuller/2/1-77 1946 Apr-Jun Correspondance between Fuller and M. Mitzakis, and 23 officers, about the use of CDL tanks during World War II

Memorial Service

KCLMA Fuller/3 1966 Apr Memorial Service Sheet

Early Papers

KCLMA Fuller/4/1/1-17 1889-1894 Letters to his parents and drawings

KCLMA Fuller/4/2/1-12 1897-1909 Military documents

Letters to his Parents

KCLMA Fuller/4/3/1-7 1897-1898 Sandhurst

KCLMA Fuller/4/3/8-20 1898-1899 Ireland

KCLMA Fuller/4/3/21-114 1999-1902 South Africa

KCLMA Fuller/4/3/115-139b 1903-1906 India

KCLMA Fuller/4/3/139c-140 1907,1912-1913 England

KCLMA Fuller/4/3/141-233 1914-1918 World War I

KCLMA Fuller/4/3/234-239 1918-1921 England

Literary and Miscellaneous

KCLMA Fuller/4/4/1-63 1898-1963 Notebooks, diaries etc

KCLMA Fuller/4/5/1-41 1919, 1956-1965 Book agreements

KCLMA Fuller/4/5/42 1943-1966 Books and articles, receipts and expenses

KCLMA Fuller/4/6/1-48 1956,1961-1965 Correspondence with publishers

KCLMA Fuller/4/7/1-21 1914-1965 Miscellaneous Letters

KCLMA Fuller/4/8/1-40 1945-1966 Press cuttings and obituaries

KCLMA Fuller/4/9 Undated Ironside's letters to Col. R. Macleod

KCLMA Fuller/4/10 Undated Col. R. Macleod. A secret service agent in South-West Africa

KCLMA Fuller/4/11/1-25 1966-1967 Last letters to Fuller; letters of condolence to Mrs Fuller

Occult

KCLMA Fuller/4/12/1-84 1905-1924 Letters from Aleister Crowley and others

KCLMA Fuller/4/13 1910 [Meredith Starr?] Diary

KCLMA Fuller/4/14 1926 Fuller: 'The Hidden Wisdom of the Illuminati' (novel)

KCLMA Fuller/4/15 1930 Fuller: Four-dimensional man

KCLMA Fuller/4/16 1966 Fuller: Introduction to catalogue of Crowley books

KCLMA Fuller/5 [c.1960] Two photographs of Fuller signed by Victor Mitzakis

Later additions

KCLMA Fuller/6/1 1961 Draft letter to Liddell Hart

KCLMA Fuller/6/2 1934-5 Correspondence between Fuller and NP MacDonald

KCLMA Fuller/6/3 1936 Major General Wake's opinion of Fuller's Memoirs of an Unconventional Soldier

KCLMA Fuller/6/4 1964 Letter from Liddell Hart about generalship of Julius Caesar

List of Abbreviations

A[SYMBOL: therefore] occult

AA and Qmg Assistant Adjutant and Quarter-Master General

ACM Air Chief Marshall

ADAS Assistant Director Army Signals

ADGT Assistant Director-General of Training

Adv Advance

AF Admiral of the Fleet

AVM Air Vice Marshall

BAOR British Army of the Rhine

BBC British Broadcasting Corporation

Ede Brigade

Bde Maj Brigade Major

BEF British Expeditionary Force

Bn Battalion

CAS Chief of the Air Staff

CCS Combined Chiefs of Staff

CDLs Canal Defence Lights, tanks produced to dazzle

CDS Chief of the Defence Staff

CGS Chief of the General Staff

CID Committee of Imperial Defence

CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff

C-in-C Commander-in-Chief

cm centimeters

cmdg, comdg, commanding

cmdr commander

CO Commanding Officer

COS Chiefs of Staff [sub-committee of the Cabinet or War Cabinet]

Coy Company

cttee committee

DAAG Deputy Assistant Adjutant General

DCGS Deputy Chief of the General Staff

DCIGS Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff

DDSD Deputy Director of Staff Duties

D-day 6 June 1944, date of the allied landings in Normandy, 6.30 a.m.

DDGArm Deputy Director General Armament Production

DDGT Deputy Director General of Training

DMO Director of Military Operations

DOS Director of Ordnance Services

DRAC Director Royal Armoured Corps

DST Director of Staff Training

DTSD Director of Training and Staff Duties

FM Field Marshall

FSR Field Service Regulations

GAN Groupe des Armées du Nord

GAR Groupe des Armées de la Réserve

GOC General Officer Commanding

GQG Grand Quarter Général (French GHQ)

GS General Staff

GSO 1, 2, 3, General Staff Officer, first, second and third class

GS 'I' General Staff Intelligence

GSGS Geographical Section General Staff

HMS His/Her Majesty's Ship

HMSO His/Her Majesty's Stationary Office

HQ Headquarters

'I' Intelligence

IA Indian Army

Inf Infantry

M.M.M. occult

MGC Master General of the Ordnance

MGC Machine Gun Corps

MGGS Major General General Staff

MS Manuscript

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

NCO Non-commissioned Officer

OC Officer Commanding

p, pp. page, pages

p/c postcard

PIAT Personal infantry anti-tank [weapon]

PM Prime Minister

Q Branch Quartermaster General's Branch

RA Royal Artillery

RAF Royal Air Force

RE Royal Engineers

RFC Royal Flying Corps

RMA/C Royal Military Academy/College [Sandhurst]

RN Royal Navy

RTR Royal Tank Regiment

RUSI Royal United Service Institution

SD and T Staff Duties and Training

SMO Senior Medical Officer

SNO Senior Naval Officer

SPCK Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge

SO Staff Officer

SS Steam Ship

S[SYMBOL: therefore]S[SYMBOL: therefore] occult

TLS Times Literary Supplement

U.K. United Kingdom

UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

VCIGS Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff

Arrangement

Arranged in the following sections: tank histories and bound volumes of documents concerning tank strategy and tactics, Tank Corps operations and the Battle of Cambrai, correspondence conccerning Canal Defence Light tanks; early papers; letters to his parents; literary and miscellaneous; occult; later accessions.

Related material

Papers of Sir Basil Liddell Hart include correspondence with Fuller, 1920-1966 (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Liddell Hart 1/302). The Centre also holds a quantity of Macleod's papers (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Macleod and GB99 KCLMA Liddell Hart 15/14). Special Collections Department, Rutgers State University, New Brunswick, USA, has a more substantial collection of Fuller's papers including correspondence, 1893-1966, drafts of published works and scrapbooks of newspapers and periodicals, cuttings, reviews and articles, 1920-[1966]. Royal Armoured Corps and Royal Tank Regiment Museum holds his diary, 1914-1918. The papers of Harold Montgomery Belgion at the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge University (Ref: BLGN) include correspondence with Fuller. The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regimental Museum, Headington, holds his journal, 1917-1918. The India Office Library holds a letter to Lt Gen Sir Alexander (Stanhope) Cobbe, Secretary of Military Department, India Office, 1921, relating to the use of tanks in India (Ref: L/Mil/7/1/133). The papers of Karl Van Wieganel at the Hoover Institution, Stanford, USA, also include correspondence with Fuller. J. F. C. FULLER PAPERS AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT, New Brunswick, NI, USA. Box number 1. File of letters received, etc., 1893-1926. 2. File of letters received, etc., 1927-1945. 3. File of letters received, etc., 1946-1965. Letters received relating to Fuller letters in Sunday Express, Jan. - July, 1945. R. U. Press "Fuller" correspondence, 1957-1964. 4. Italy-Abyssinian "Diary" [diary-reminiscence], 1935. "Report on India" [diary-reminiscence], 1926. Publication agreements and contracts, 1928-1957. Materials withdrawn from Fuller library books received by R. U. L. Biographical data. 5. Notes on fortifications. Published and unpublished items relating to Aleister Crowley. Drafts of published and unpublished works (articles, reports, short stories). 6. Drafts of published works (articles, reports, reviews, etc.). 7. Drafts of published works (The Generalship of Julius Caesar). 8. Drafts of published works (The Conduct of War, 1789-1960). 9. Drafts of published works (The Generalship of Alexander the Great). 10. Drafts of published works, (The Foundation of an Imperial Army) and The Foundation of War). 11. Galleys of published works. Printed reviews of published books (clippings). Clippings. 12. Clippings. Photographs of twentieth-century battlefields. Photographs of World War I tanks. Photographs of Fuller family and friends. 13. Bibliography of Fuller library books received by R. U. L. Published articles, pamphlets, reports, reviews, etc. 14. Published articles, pamphlets, reports, reviews, etc. 15. Printed miscellany. 16. Printed miscellany. 17. Printed miscellany. Extraneous unpublished writings. 18. Miscellany (maps and charts). SCRAPBOOKS 1. Scrapbook of newspaper and periodical reviews (clippings) of Fuller's early books, 1920-1924; also letters received. 2. Scrapbook of newspaper and periodical reviews (clippings) of Fuller's early books, etc., 1924-1926; letters included. 3. Scrapbook of newspaper and periodical reviews (clippings) of Fuller's early books, etc., 1925-1927; letters included. 4. Scrapbook of newspaper and periodical articles (clippings) by Fuller relating to World War I, tank warfare, and the condition of British military forces, 1917-1935. 5. Scrapbook of newspaper and periodical articles (clippings) by Fuller relating to World War I, the Spanish Civil War, the Italo-Abyssinian War, and the British Military establishment, 1935-1938; letters included. 6. Scrapbook of newspaper and periodical articles (clippings) by Fuller relating to the Spanish Civil War and World War II, 1937-1941; letters included. 7. Scrapbook of newspaper and periodical articles (clippings) by Fuller relating to World War II, 1941-1944; letters included. 8. Scrapbook of newspaper and periodical articles (clippings) by Fuller relating to World War II and warfare of the future. 1944-1961; letters included. 9. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings collected by A. Fuller relating to the Revolution of 1848 in France, 1848.

Held by

King's College London: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Language

English

Creator(s)

<persname>Fuller, John Frederick Charles, 1878-1966, scientist</persname>

Physical description

12 boxes or 0.12m³

Access conditions

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Immediate source of acquisition

Presented to the Centre by Fuller in 1965. Additional papers were purchased in 1969 and 1995.

Unpublished finding aids

Detailed catalogue available in hard copy in the Centre's reading room, with personal names, geographical and subject indexes.

Administrative / biographical background

Born in 1878; educated at Malvern College and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, 1897-1898; 2nd Lt, Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 1898; served in South Africa, 1899-1902; attended Staff College, Camberley; served as adjutant to a territorial battalion; General Staff Officer Grade 3, 2 Army HQ, Home Forces, 1914; General Staff Officer Grade 3, 7 Corps, France, 1915; General Staff Officer Grade 2, 37 Div, 7 Corps, France, 1916; General Staff Officer Grade 2, 3 Army HQ, France, 1916; General Staff Officer Grade 2, Heavy Branch (later Tank Corps) HQ, France, 1916; General Staff Officer Grade 1, 1917; planned tank attack at Cambrai, Nov-Dec 1917; Lt Col, 1918; planned tank operations for autumn offensives of 1918; devised Plan 1919 for a full-fledged mechanised-air offensive; Chief Instructor, Staff College, Camberley, 1922; published Military Assistant to Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1926; commander of an experimental brigade at Aldershot; Senior Staff Officer, 2 Div, 1927-1930; Maj Gen, 1930; retired pay, 1933; associated with Sir Oswald Moseley's Union of British Fascists, 1933-1934; became military correspondent for the London Daily Mail, 1935; died in 1966.

Copies information

The Centre holds two additional copies of Macleod's texts on Ironside (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Macleod 1/2 and 1/3 and GB99 KCLMA Liddell Hart 15/14).

Publication note(s)

The star in the West: a critical essay upon the works of Aleister Crowley etc. (Walter Scott Publishing Co, London and Felling on Tyne); Hints on training territorial infantry from recruit to trained soldier (Gale and Polden, London, 1913); Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918 (John Murray, London, 1920); The reformation of war (Hutchinson and Co, London, 1923); Yoga. A study of the mystical philosophy of the Brahmins and the Buddhists (W Rider and Son, London, 1925); Sir John Moore's system of training (Hutchinson and Co, London, 1925; British light infantry in the eighteenth century (Hutchinson and Co, London, 1925); The foundations of the science of war (Hutchinson and Co, 1926); Imperial defence, 1588-1914 (Sifton Praed and Co, London, 1926); Atlantis: America and the future (Kegan Paul and Co, London, 1926); On future warfare (Sifton Praed and Co, London, 1928); The generalship of Ulysses S. Grant (John Murray, London, 1929); India in revolt (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1931); The dragon's teeth (Constable and Co, London, 1932); War and Western civilization, 1832-1932 (Duckworth and Co, London, 1932); Generalship: its diseases and their cure (Faber and Faber, London, 1933); Grant and Lee: a study in personality and generalship (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1933); Empire, unity and defence (Arrowsmith, Bristol, 1934); The Army in my time (Rich and Cowan, London, 1935); Memoirs of an unconventional soldier (Nicholson and Watson, London, 1936); The first of the league wars (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1936); The last of the gentlemen's wars (Faber and Faber, London, 1937); Towards Armageddon (Lovat Dickson, London, 1937); The conquest of red Spain (Burns, Oates and Co, London, 1937); The secret wisdom of the Qabalah (Rider and Co, London, 1937); Decisive battles of the United States (Hutchinson and Co, London, 1942); Decisive battles (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1939-1940); Machine warfare (Hutchinson and Co, London, 1941); Armoured warfare (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1943); Watchwords (Skeffington and Son, London, 1945); Thunderbolts (Skeffington and Son, London, 1946); Armament and history (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1946); The Second World War (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1948); The decisive battles of the Western world and their influence upon history (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1954- 1956); The generalship of Alexander the Great (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1958); The conduct of war, 1789-1961 (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1961); Julius Caesar: man, soldier and tyrant (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1965). The diary of his service in South Africa formed the basis for his book The last of the gentlemen's wars (Faber and Faber, London, 1937).

Record URL

https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/842e7246-cf9d-46da-98dc-b80ae91c9b42/

Catalogue hierarchy

9,271 records

This record is held at King's College London: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

You are currently looking at the fonds: KCLMA Fuller

FULLER, Maj Gen John Frederick Charles (1878-1966)

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FULLER, Maj Gen John Frederick Charles (1878-1966)

What’s it about?

Is it available online?

Can I see it in person?

Full description and record details

Catalogue hierarchy

This record is held at King's College London: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

You are currently looking at the fonds: KCLMA Fuller