JENKINS, Cdr Humphrey Leoline, RN (1903-1993)

Scope and Content

Papers relating to Jenkins' early RN service, 1932-1941, including four editions of HMS E;ERPRISE magazine The 'Prise wail, 1932-1934, including accounts of service in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf; thirteen uncaptioned photographs of aircraft carrier operations, Mediterranean Fleet [1936]; two punishment registers in French, taken from the French battleship PARIS, at Plymouth, Devon, when the ship was commandeered by the Royal Navy to prevent its use by the Vichy French or German forces, Jul 1940; edition of printed booklet German law and German lawlessness. An address by General Sikorski before the University of St Andrews (St Andrews University Press, St Andrews, Fife, 1941), signed and dedicated to Jenkins by the Polish Prime Minister in exile, Gen Wladyslaw Sikorski, 1 Jun 1941. Papers relating to Jenkins' command of 5 Minesweeping Flotilla, Mediterranean, Adriatic and Aegean, 1944-1946, including printed chart of waters off the southern coast of France entitled 'Operation DRAGOON...Areas swept by Fifth Minesweeping Flotilla and 2nd Div 31st ML (Motor Launch) Flotilla, 15th-21st Aug 1944'; typescript diary entitled '5th MSF (Minesweeping Flotilla) - Diary', 12 Jul-17 Sep 1944, containing account of the 5 Minesweeping Flotilla's role in Operation DRAGOON, the Allied invasion of southern France, Aug 1944; typescript copies of official reports by Jenkins on Operation MANNA, Minesweeping off the coast of Greece, 30 Oct 1944, and Operation SINUS, Minesweeping in the Gulf of Salonika, Nov 1945. Papers relating to a visit by Jenkins to the Royal Naval Armament Depot, Kauri Point, New Zealand, 1954, including album containing 41 photographs and two manuscript maps of the Depot, 1954; sixteen captioned photographs of the destruction of cordite on the beach at Kauri Point, and HMNZS ENDEAVOUR and HMNZS STAWELL at anchor at Kauri Point, New Zealand, 1954. Manuscript copy of letter from Capt Richard Fortescue Phillimore, RN (an uncle of Jenkins, and later Adm Sir Richard Fortescue Phillimore), commander of HMS INFLEXIBLE, 2 Battlecruiser Sqn, Grand Fleet, to his wife, 9 Dec 1914, containing a detailed account of the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 8 Dec 1914; six postcards relating to the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet, interned at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, 21 Jun 1919, including German battleship BAYERN, battlecruiser DERFFLINGER, and cruiser NUREMBURG, Jun-Jul 1919; edition of The Grand Fleet: a wartime sketch book by John Coleridge (Medici Society, London, 1920).

Administrative / Biographical History

Born 1903; educated at RN College, Osborne, Isle of Wight, and RN College, Dartmouth, Devon; Midshipman, 1921; served on HMS VALIANT, Devonport, 1921-1922; acting Sub Lt, 1923; Promotion Course, RN College, Greenwich, 1924; Sub Lt, 1924; HMS IROQUOIS, China Station, 1925-1926; Lt, 1925; Specialist Navigation Course, 1928; HMS ROSEMARY, Fishery Protection Flotilla, 1929-1930; HMS BIDEFORD, Persian Gulf, 1932; Navigating Officer, HMS ENTERPRISE, 4 Cruiser Sqn, East Indies, 1932-1934; Lt Cdr, 1933; Navigating Officer, HMS KEMPENFELT, Flotilla Leader, 2 Flotilla, Home Fleet, and Mediterranean Fleet, 1934-1937; Navigating Officer, HMS NEWCASTLE, 2 Cruiser Sqn, Home Fleet, 1937-1939; participated in Operation FISH, the transfer of stocks of gold bullion and securities from the UK to Canada on board HMS REVENGE, Jul 1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Cdr, 1939; Navigating Officer and Executive Officer, HMS REVENGE, Home Fleet, Force H, and Eastern Fleet, 1939-1944; commanded 5 Minesweeping Flotilla, HMS LARNE, HMS WELFARE and HMS FLY, Mediterranean, Adriatic and Aegean, 1944-1946; commanded mine clearance operations for bombardment vessels, Operation DRAGOON, the Allied invasion of southern France, Aug 1944; served at HMS LOCHINVAR, Minesweeping Base, Port Edgar, Fife, 1946-1948; Commander of Dockyard and Assistant King's Harbour Master, HM Dockyard, Portland, Dorset, 1948-1949; Commander of the Dockyard and Deputy Superintendent and King's Harbour Master, HM Dockyard, Gibraltar, 1949-1950; Superintendant of the Dockyard, HMNZS PHILOMEL, Auckland, New Zealand, 1952-1953; retired 1953; awarded OBE, 1954; died 1993.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in sections as outlined above.

Access Information

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Acquisition Information

Placed in the Centre by the family in 1999.

Other Finding Aids

Summary guide entry on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/archives/cats/, and detailed catalogue available in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

Alternative Form Available

Notes by Jenkins have been copied by the Imperial War Museum, London.

Conditions Governing Use

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.