War Office Letters - whereabouts in the National Archives

Discussion in 'Research Material' started by Gary Kennedy, Mar 13, 2019.

  1. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    This is a vague question as I haven't narrowed the subject down yet.

    I've seen references to information and directives being circulated by War Office Letters. These had their own reference number and normally covered a single subject.

    I was wondering if anyone can give a few pointers on where they might be found, if at all, in the WO series a Kew. I haven't done a serious search yet in case someone can give decent directions of where to start.

    Thanks,

    Gary
     
    CL1 likes this.
  2. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

  3. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    Well these are a couple that caught my eye only very recently.

    Scale of Grenades and Bombs Incendiary - WO letter 54/Misc/5010 (Infantry 1) 1st May 1944
    Platoon commanders personal weapon - WO letter 57/SA/2139 (Infantry 1) 2nd May 1944

    I think there's also another one on general ammunition scales for units but I might be confusing that with the grenades one.

    I think they are separate to ACIs, and there's the question of whether they include the annex that they often seem to refer to, or if those are kept separately.

    I must admit that I'm not sure what's in those ACI files. I know every WE had an ACI date but I'm not sure if the ACIs listed all manner of publications with titles and dates without actually including the publication. I literally stumbled across the annexes to 57/SA/2139 from June 1943 (back in the old days, when you could order a piece from the Archives and decide if you could afford it without committing to copying) that was muddled in with something else.

    Gary
     
  4. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    I agree, they don't look like they have anything to do with ACIs.

    No idea where you'd start a search, without some guesswork about which committee or group was responsible for writing the letters.
     
  5. papiermache

    papiermache Well-Known Member

    Only 504 digits away (!) but "Former Reference 57/SA/2643" is in WO32 at Kew under "General & Warlike Stores". A former reference beginning with a "57" can include all manner of "stores", not just small arms. An advance search at Kew limited to series WO32 and "warlike" and "54" also brings up a few random former file references similar to the examples given above.


    Reference: WO 32/12093
    Description:
    GENERAL & WARLIKE STORES: Small Arms (Code 45J): Rifle - Automatic or Self-loading 30" proposed development
    Date: 1946-1949
    Held by: The National Archives, Kew
    Former reference in its original department: 57/SA/2643
    Legal status: Public Record(s)
    Closure status: Open Document, Open Description
     
    CL1 and dbf like this.
  6. Aixman

    Aixman War Establishment addict Patron

    War Office Letters are different from the Army Counsil Instructions.
    The ACIs are held in TNA under WO 293 and appeared before WWII I think in a fortnightly mode, ending up in 1941 or 1942 appearing twice a week. They seem to deal with nearly everything, and the WEs appeared in a weekly mode in the end, filling each week about 4 to 10 pages only with their headlines.
    I will start in November to compare the WEs (headlines) published in the ACIs (WO 293) with the WEs I collected completely (WO 24) in order to get an idea what existed and put them in a context. Results may appear somewhere here afterwards ...
    Sorry, no idea about finding War Office Letters. I spent last week in Kew but have to admit that I had no time left looking for them. I expect them being held in a comparable way to the ACIs but might be wrong.
    Any further suggestions appreciated.
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2019
    Gary Kennedy likes this.
  7. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    Thanks for the clarification on ACIs, so they do provide something of a 'catalogue' of Army publications, each of which still has to be tracked down separately?

    I'll have a wander around Discovery and hope something looks promising...
     
  8. DannyM

    DannyM Member

    Hi,
    Attached are a few sample pages from one of the 1944 ACI held at Kew, WO 293/32.

    Regards

    Danny

    DSCF1015  b.jpg DSCF1016  b.jpg DSCF1024  b.jpg DSCF1025  b.jpg
     
  9. Aixman

    Aixman War Establishment addict Patron

    And one sample for Gary with WEs ...
     

    Attached Files:

  10. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    Thank you both very much, always wondered what they looked like!

    Gary
     

Share This Page