Beschreibung:

FIRST WORLD WAR ARCHIVE Maude family of Clondalkin, Co. Dublin. An important archive of letters, books and press cuttings concerning General Sir Stanley Maude (1864-1917), his nephew Marcus Maude MC of Clondalkin, Major General W.B. Hickie of Tipperary and others. Sir Stanley Maude's career represents one of the 'might-have-beens' of history. In April 1916, after service on the Western front and at Gallipoli, he was sent to Mesopotamia, and in August was appointed to command a British army which had suffered repeated defeats by the Turks, losing 10,000 troops in a humiliating surrender at Kut - the Army's worst disaster since the surrender at Yorktown 150 years before. In a few months Maude reorganised the Army, restored its morale and equipment, regained Kut and pressed on to push the Turks out of Baghdad. Hailed as 'the Victor of Baghdad', he was on the point of becoming a significant historical figure when he accepted a cup of milky coffee infected with cholera, and died within a few days. His young cousin Marcus Maude (1896-1921) served in the trenches in Flanders, and won an MC for an episode in which he repelled a German attack barefoot. He later died of dysentery in Kirkuk. The archive consists of letters to Anthony Maude of Clondalkin, mostly 1916-17, from Sir Stanley Maude in Mesopotamia and from Anthony's son Marcus in Flanders, also ten letters to Anthony Maude and his wife from Gen. Bernard Hickie, commander of the 16th [Irish] Division in Flanders to which Marcus Maude was attached, with a scrapbook of cuttings compiled by the Maude family and other documents. The principal contents include: - [Sir Stanley Maude]. Contemporary typescript copy of a letter from Arthur Brooke (of Dublin) in Mesopotamia [1916]: 'Everything has improved enormously in the last few months. A new man, Maude .. took over in August and got a move on things at once. He strikes me as being far and away the best soldier I have served under since the war began .. I should think he is just as good an organiser and administrator as K[itchener] was at his best, and far better from the fighting point of view ..'; - Sir Stanley Maude. ALS from Mesopotamia, 5.5.1916, to his cousin Anthony Maude in Dublin, 2 pp (single sheet) [with a transcript], a significant letter describing the last attempt to relieve the troops in Kut, when Maude commanded the 13th Division, prior to his appointment as overall commander in Mesopotamia. - Sir Stanley Maude. TLS from GHQ Mesopotamia, 20.3.1917, 2 pp, to Capt. Anthony Maude, congratulating him on his son Marcus' Military Cross, and outlining his own situation soon after the capture of Baghdad. 'We have had some fairly strenuous times lately, and we are still busy. However, we fairly sent the Turk to the right-about, and a few days ago we disposed of the last lot that had retreated before us from Kut some miles north of Baghdad .. We took masses of things from them, including 39 guns and any number of rifles, ammunition, equipment etc., besides close on 8,000 prisoners .. So altogether the troops are pleased, as you may imagine, and they did quite magnificently throughout. Nothing could have been finer than the dash, determination and gallantry which they displayed ..' - Two letters to Anthony Maude from Cecil [Lady Stanley] Maude, the first about an appeal for the troops in Mesopotamia, the second acknowledging his condolences on her husband's death, with another letter of condolence. - [General] Bernard Hickie of Borrisokane, Co. Tipperary, commander, 16th (Irish) Division. A collection of seven ALS to Anthony Maude, June [1916] to April 1917, one enclosing a note from another officer, with a further three ALS to Mrs. Maude, mostly concerning their son Marcus, who joined Hickie's staff as acting ADC (perhaps in response to a request from his father), also mentioning the Irish situation, various operations etc. 'I am, as you may suppose, very proud of my Division - they are real toppers, and as cheery as cheery can