The Papers of Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope

Curriculum vitae:

7 Jan 1883: Born, Dublin, son of Professor D.J. Cunningham.

Educated Edinburgh Academy and Stubbington House, Fareham

1897: Entered Royal Navy, HMS Britannia

1900: Naval brigade, South African War

1915: Commanded HMS Scorpion in Dardanelles Campaign

1929: Married Nona Byatt

1932: Naval ADC to HM George V

1934-36: Rear-Admiral, Mediterranean Fleet

1937-38: Vice-Admiral, Mediterranean Fleet

1938-39: Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty; Deputy Chief of Naval Staff 1939 KCB

1939-42: Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean

1941: Admiral

1942: Naval Commander-in-Chief, Expeditionary Force, North Africa

1943: Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Admiral of the Fleet

1943-46: First Sea Lord, Chief of Naval Staff

1945: Kt

1946: Created Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope OM

12 June 1963: Died

The collection held at Churchill College includes a typescript copy of the book by Oliver Warner "Cunningham of Hyndhope, Admiral of the Fleet; A Memoir" and many of the letters and reminiscences used in Warner's research (Sections 1-3); additional Cunningham correspondence (Sections 5 and 6); material relating to 'A Sailor's Odyssey' (Cunningham's autobiography, Section 4); and Commander McHattie's reminiscences of Cunningham and article on HMS Chakla in 1979 (Section 7). The collection is concluded by a short biographical note on Cunningham provided by Captain Roskill in Section 8.

The collection was received in 6 stages between 1967 and 1979 from various sources, the results of a programme of active collection of material by Stephen Roskill who sought to build up a 'collection of Cunningham papers subsidiary to the main collection at the British Museum.'

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, CUNN

Churchill Archives Centre also holds the Papers of Captain David B N Mellis RN, which consist of letters from Cunnningham to Mellis, many relating to the Royal Naval Pipers Society (reference GBR 0014 MELL. The British Library, Manuscript Collections holds Cunningham's correspondence and papers (reference GB 0058 Add MSS 52557-84).

The collection has been catalogued. Copies of the catalogue are available in the reading room at Churchill Archives Centre, at the National Register of Archives in London and on the Janus website http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

This collection level description and catalogue was prepared by Natalie Adams at Churchill Archives Centre in June 2005 using information from an original catalogue to the papers (1981).