MS 907

Reference code

MS 907

Title

Henry Dundas archive

Level

Sub-fonds

Administrative / Biographical history

Dundas, Henry Lancaster Nevill (1897-1918)

Henry Dundas was raised in Midlothian in Scotland, the only son of Robert Nevill Dundas and Cecil (née Lancaster). He attended Horris Hill, and came to Eton in 1910 as an oppidan scholar. Dundas became Captain of the Oppidans and Captain of his House (Mr Marten's). On leaving Eton he had secured a place at Christ Church, Oxford but joined the Scots Guards in 1915 and was sent to the Western front in France in May 1916. He was promoted to Captain soon afterwards, and was awarded the Military Cross in October 1917 and two Bars, one of them posthumous. He was killed in action on the Hindenburg Line, near the Canal du Nord on 27th September 1918.

After his death, Henry Dundas’s parents Nevill and Cecil, his sister Anne and nephew Simon Carey added further papers relating to Henry to his archive.

Date

c.1905 - 2022

Extent & medium

8 boxes, 1 photograph album and 1 portfolio

Content description

The archive comprises Henry Dundas' school papers and his personal papers kept during the First World War, which include letters, diaries, notebooks, military papers; and a variety of family papers on Henry Dundas accumulated since his death, including research papers for his father Nevill's published memoir and his nephew Simon Carey's personal memoir

Provenance

The papers were created by Henry Dundas, added to by his family after his death and deposited in Eton College Library in 2015 and 2022.

Arrangement

The archive is divided into the following series:

MS 907 01: School papers
MS 907 02: Wartime letters
MS 907 03: Notebooks
MS 907 04: Military papers
MS 907 05: Family papers relating to Henry Dundas

Associated material

Eton College Library also holds a letter from Henry Dundas to 'Tuppy' Headlam in the G. W. Headlam archive, MS 598 01.
Eton College Photographic Archive holds a photograph of Henry Dundas as a boy, PA-A. 143:104-2014.

Existence and location of originals

Henry Dundas’ original grave marker cross, his war medals and walking stick were deposited by his family in the Guards Museum in London.

Existence and location of copies

The Guards Museum and Library has digitised copies of Dundas' letters from the Western Front, as well as copies of some of his wartime notebooks & diaries, with permission for regimantal use. A copy of the digitised images has also been added to the family papers in MS 905 05 21. The images from this DVD have also been transferred to Eton College Library Digital Image Collection.