Letters and papers of Margaret Grant Reid, mainly relating to the retreat from Oslo in 1940 and family life in war-time Britain
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Letters and papers of Margaret Grant Reid, mainly relating to the retreat from Oslo in 1940 and family life in war-time Britain
Classmark: MS 708
Creator(s): Reid, Margaret Grant (1912-1974)()
Date(s): 1938-1980
Language: English; Norwegian
Size and medium: 34 items, 32 of which are stored in 4 boxes. 2 outsize envelopes are on shelf
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/5777
Description
Margaret Grant Reid (1912-1974), one of the daughters of Alexander Christie Reid, medical practitioner of Nottingham, graduated from Girton College, Cambridge, in 1934. She joined the Civil Service and was eventually posted to the British Embassy in Berlin (1938-1939) as clerk to Major F E Foley. Upon the outbreak of war in 1939 they were transferred to Oslo. She distinguished herself in the retreat from Oslo in 1940 in the face of the German invasion of Norway, and was subsequently awarded the MBE and the Norwegian Krigsmedaljen. Having safely returned to England, she married Lt Col Cuthbert de Renzy Martin, a widower, in 1942; they both died in1974. Shortly after her return from Norway she wrote an account of the retreat and that together with her letters home from Berlin and Oslo form the core of this collection. Her later war-time letters give an intimate picture of family life in those difficult times. The collection also includes numerous miscellaneous documents mainly relating to
Norway in 1940, and press-cuttings of that campaign collected at the time by her mother. The letters and papers of the 1970s are mostly concerned with her resolve to publish her account of the Norwegian campaign. Unfortunately she did not live to see it accomplished but her old friends Mrs Catherine M Charlton and General Leif Crawford Rolstad saw a Norwegian version through the press in 1980. The Library is very greatly indebted to Mrs de Renzy Martin's family and to Mrs Charlton for presenting these papers, and to Professor David Dilks through whose tireless good offices the gift was made.
Biography or history
Margaret Grant Reid was later Margaret de Renzy-Martin
System of arrangement
The MS 708 catalogue is based on an historic inventory, created in 1985. The arrangement of material does not necessarily represent the original order of the archive and it is considered partly processed by an archivist. When making requests to consult, please be aware that there may be discrepancies between description and physical arrangement. The retrievable unit for this collection is file level.
Access and usage
Access
This collection is subject to various access conditions. Please see individual catalogue descriptions for further details on access.