[Major General Sir Noel Galway Holmes, Irish soldier and senior British Army officer in Second World War.] 14 typed and manuscript documents from his papers, all but one relating to his distinguished career, including reports and recommendations.

Fourteen items from the papers of Sir Noel Galway Holmes, all but the last relating to his three decades of service in the British Army, with reports and recommendations by superior officers from 1920 to 1939. (Two more items, relating to Churchill and the Second World War, are offered separately.) Considering Holmes’s central position in Churchill’s war entourage, and his pivotal role in the logistical management of the Second World War, it is unaccountable that he should not have been accorded a proper biographical account, other than an obituary in the Daily Telegraph, 29 December 1982, and entry in Who Was Who. In Sir Ronald M. Weeks’s ‘Organisation and Equipment for War’ (CUP, 1950) he is referred to in glowing terms: ‘We were fortunate in having as D.Q.M.G. (Movements) [NGH’s official title was ‘Deputy-Quarter-Master-General for Movements’] an Irishman, Major-General Sir Noel Holmes, who held the job throughout the war. Blessed with a sense of humour, a strong constitution (he was an International Rugby footballer), the power of leadership and good judgment, he played no small part in the achievement of victory.’ NHG’s career was highly distinguished, as his decorations suggest. He joined the army in 1910, served in France during the First World War, and in India between the wars. His Second World War activities were, as the two items offered separately indicate, of vital importance. At the end of the war he spent a few months as commander of Aldershot before retiring from the army in 1946. Some items worn and aged, but complete and legible, in fair overall condition. The fourteen items are placed in what is clearly the envelope in which NGH received the details of his knighthood in the New Years’ Honours List of 1946, with stamp of the Lord Chamberlain, St James’s Palace, and printed address of the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, St. James’s Palace, addressed to ‘Major General Noel G. Holmes / C.B., C.B.E., M.C., / The Garden House / Kelmead Road / Fleet / Hants’. ONE: [CV, 1910-1939] ‘Army Form B. 199A.’, giving NGH’s personal details (birth, education, ethnicity (Officer: Irish; Officer’s Father: Irish; Officer’s Mother: Irish), training, and, most prominently, ‘Particulars of Service, Records of Movements, Appointments, Promotions, Etc.’ from 1 April 1910, when he ‘Joined Special Reserve Connaught Rangers’ in ‘W. Ireland’ to 13 February 1939, when he ‘Assumed Offg. Command Tull. Brigade Area vice Bdr. Dening (on leave)’ in Jullundur. 2pp, folio and 1p, 4to. The great length of the ‘Particulars of Service’ has led someone to annotate with exclamation mark, at the end of the folio part, ‘(Continued on attached)!’ TWO: Copy of NGH’s ‘Annual Confidential Report’ (‘Army Form B. 194’) dated from Cologne, 10 August 1920. Signature illegible. Positive report. 1p, folio. THREE: Copy of NGH’s ‘Annual Confidential Report’ (‘Army Form B. 194’) by ‘W. C. G. Henneker, Major Genl. Commdg. British Troops in Upper Silesia’, dated 13 September 1921. 2pp, folio. ‘I cannot praise Major Holmes sufficiently for the manner in which he carries out his work and I am extremely fortunate in getting him as my A.A. & Q.M.G. I have just recommended him for the Staff College. Apart from his efficiency in his work he is reliable and his advice is sound. I am much indebted to him.’ FOUR: Copy of NGH’s ‘Annual Confidential Report’ (‘Army Form B. 194.’) by Brigadier Hereward Wake, dated 12 September 1931. 2pp, folio. ‘He is a first rate staff officer, with exceptional energy & ability and he has a detailed knowledge of his profession. Fit and active in mind and body. I consider he is much above the average of his rank well fitted for command, and that his early promotion (he has held a Brevet Majority since 1919) would be of advantage to the service. / He would make a useful instructor at The Staff College’. FIVE: ‘Certified true Copy’ of NGH’s ‘Annual Confidential Report’ (‘Army Form B. 194.’). Report by NGH’s ‘Immediate Commander’ Lt Col. J. B. O. Trimble, regarding period 20 April 1932 to 6 August 1932. 4pp, folio bifolium. Glowing report, ending: ‘He is very much above the average of his rank.’ The fourth page carries short endorsements by three ‘Superior Reporting Officers’. SIX: Undated manuscript endorsement of NGH. Circa 1921, when NGH was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel. No place. 1p, landscape 8vo. Begins: ‘This officer has served under me for ten months. He is considerably above the average in ability and professional knowledge, drive and zeal. he is easy to work with and is loyal and most reliable.’ Ends: ‘I strongly recommend him for promotion to Brevet Lt Col.’ SEVEN: Manuscript endorsement, in pencil, on printed form headed ‘OPINION OF SUPERIOR COMMANDERS.’ 1p, foolscap 12mo. Initialled ‘G [M?]’. Regarding ‘Major Holmes’, he concludes: ‘I concur fully in my B. G. S’s recommendation and strongly recommend him for a brevet Lt. Colonelcy.’ EIGHT: Manuscript endorsement by ‘[?] / 4 Div.’, 28 October 1930 (‘A very good Brigade Major of great Energy and ability. [...] I consider he would make a Staff College instructor.’), and General R. [W. Wigham?], 16 December 1930 (‘I endorse the remarks of the Brigadier’), on same letterhead of Headquarters, 12th Infantry Brigade and Dover Garrison, The Castle Dover. 1p, 4to. NINE: Copy, on embossed government letterhead, of endorsements for NGH’s 1931 application to join staff college, by ‘W[?] Wright’ (‘He has been a few weeks on the General Staff, but I have known him and worked with him for two to three years when he was an administration officer. He is a very promising Staff Officer having a great mind & a body physically fit, he is the type that on active service will always pull at least his own weight. In my opinion it would be to the interest of the Army as well as to him self, if he went to the Staff College.’) and ‘E. E[ardly?] / Genl. (‘I entirely endorse all that Co W. Wright says of him’). 1p, foolscap 8vo. TEN: Manuscript copy of endorsement of NGH by General J. D. Jeffreys (‘for in C. S. Comd.’) [i.e. George Darell Jeffreys (1878-1960), 1st Baron Jeffreys, described by NGH in one of the items offered separately as ‘a wonderful soldier and a very good friend’], dated 26 June 1935. 1p, 8vo. With short closed tear to crease. Begins: ‘I agree generally - / I have a high opinion of Lt Col Holmes, who is a most efficient, energetic and helpful staff officer. He is a particularly good instructor and has done remarkably good work in the organization and running of classes of instruction of officers for promotion.’ Second paragraph continues positively, while noting that NGH ‘does not “suffer fools gladly” and possibly lets drop an unguarded word now & again. A strong and determined character, he would make a very good C.O.’ ELEVEN: Undated manuscript endorsement, in red ink. 1p, 4to. Twenty lines of closely written text. Begins: ‘Lt Col. Holmes is a thoroughly efficient, highly trained & capable Commanding Officer. He takes infinite pains to keep him self up to date in every particular.’ Includes criticism: ‘He does not decentralise sufficiently, particularly in minor matters, & will not get the best out of his subordinates, unless he improves considerably in this respect. / He is not popular with his contemporaries, I think chiefly because he does not refrain from foisting his own goods (military ones) which is a pity, & they could usually be left to speak for them selves.’ Ends: ‘I consider him fit for a 1st Grade appointment (to which he has been appointed) and for a Brigade Commd.’ TWELVE: Manuscript ‘Confidential Report 1938/1939’ by ‘H.’ Dated 3 June 1939. 1p, 12mo, neatly and closely written. Positive endorsement of NGH, who ‘has ability above the average of his rank and service & is a first rate Comdr & Instructor throwing himself whole-heartedly into every thing that he undertakes. He has a quick brain, sound judgement & a strong sense of humour. I have seen a good deal of him & have not found him prone to exaggeration nor do I consider him to be unpopular with other officers, in fact the contrary.’ THIRTEEN: Carbon of typed list of conferences attended by NGH. 1p, 4to. Twenty-three dated conferences, from ‘France’, 14 to 30 October 1939, to Potsdam, 24 July 1945. FOURTEEN: Copy of Typed Letter from NGH to Lieut.-Commander J. M. A. Parker, R.N., Buckingham Palace, London. 27 November 1953; from National Coal Board, North-Eastern Division, Sheffield. 1p, 4to. Discussing ‘The visit of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh to this Division’, which was ‘certainly a “red letter” day for all of us’. ‘I need hardly say that the officials and men at the colliery were thrilled by the visit of His Royal Highness (particularly his trip underground)’.