MS 994

Reference code

MS 994

Title

Papers of and relating to Stephen Spring-Rice

Level

Sub-fonds

Administrative / Biographical history

Stephen Edward Spring-Rice (1920–1942) was born in London, the son of Edward Dominick Spring-Rice and Margaret Lois Garrett Jones (née Garrett). He was educated at Sunningdale School (1928–1933) and at Eton College as a King’s Scholar (1933–1935). In 1939 he became an Exhibitioner at King’s College, Cambridge, but after only a few weeks he enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in December 1939 as a Midshipman. He trained at submarine school in 1940. He served on various ships and submarines as Navigating officer. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in February 1942 and was second-in-command of HM Submarine P 48. He was killed on 25 December 1942, aged 22, when the submarine was sunk by Italian torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tunis after attacking a convoy.

Date

1928-2020

Extent & medium

2 boxes containing 11 files and 1 item

Content description

Papers of and relating to Stephen Spring-Rice, including letters written during his school years at Sunningdale and Eton; correspondence with family and friends especially during his service with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1939–1942; papers concerning his death in the sinking of HM Submarine P48 in December 1942; and later correspondence regarding the location of the submarine in 2018

Provenance

In the possession of Stephen Spring-Rice until his death, then kept and added to by his mother Margery and niece Lucy Pollard

Arrangement

Original order imposed by Dr Lucy Pollard has mostly been maintained.

Physical characteristics

Papers were quarantined for more than two weeks summer 2025.

Publication note

Lucy Pollard: Margery Spring Rice: Pioneer of Women’s Health in the Twentieth Century (2020) and online digital access via OpenBook publishers, chapter 7 Margery Spring Rice - 7. War Again (1936–1945)