Biographical material collected by Donald McLachlan relating to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound

Pound was born in August 1877 at Wroxall on the Isle of Wight, and educated at Fonthill School, East Grinstead, and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

He had a varied early naval service before being promoted to the rank of Commander in 1909 and appointed as an instructor at Naval Staff College in 1913. He was promoted again to Captain in December 1914 and served at the Admiralty, under "Jackie" Fisher (First Sea Lord). He was subsequently Flag Captain of the Grand Fleet in "HMS Colossus", and saw action at the battle of Jutland in May 1916. In 1917 he was appointed Director of Operations (Home).

In 1920 he was given command of the battle cruiser "HMS Repulse". In 1922 he returned to the Admiralty as Director of Plans Division. In 1925 he was named chief of staff to Admiral Sir Roger Keyes (Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet) and appointed Rear Admiral. He then spent two further years in the Admiralty as Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff from 1927 to 1929. From 1929 to 1931 he commanded the Battle Cruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet.

In 1932 he served as a naval representative to a League of Nations Advisory Commission on disarmament, before being appointed as Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel. He was subsequently appointed Admiral, 1935; temporary Chief of Staff, Mediterranean, 1935-36; Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, 1936-39; Admiral of the Fleet, 1939; First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, 1939-43; and an appointment in 1941 as First and Principal Naval ADC to the King.

He died in October 1943.

Donald McLachlan was a editor for "The Times", "The Economist" and "The Telegraph". He served in Naval Intelligence during the Second World War.

Pound's own papers were destroyed (by burning), shortly after World War Two, by his fellow admirals Cunningham and Geoffrey Blake.

Presented to Churchill College by Dr McLachlan, (son of Donald McLachlan)

The Papers are owned by Churchill College, Cambridge

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, Biographical material collected by Donald McLachlan relating to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, DUPO

Copies of this finding aid are available at Churchill Archives Centre, at the Historical Manuscripts Commission in London and on the Janus website: http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

This collection (fonds) level description and summary catalogue was prepared by Andrew Riley of Churchill Archives Centre in January 2005. Additional information was obtained from Pound's entry in "Who Was Who, 1897 - 1996" (A&C Black). The catalogue was retroconverted by Madelin Terrazas in December 2009.