| Description | Papers of Gilbert Washington Rolls, former Clerk to Rawmarsh Urban District Council (1961-1974). Material relates to Mr. Rolls' work as Clerk to Rawmarsh Urban District Council, and in other official capacities as Solicitor to Rotherham Rural District Council, and later Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. Also includes personal papers, comprising research notes relating to the Second World War and Falklands War, material accrued in connection with Mr.Rolls' service in the Army, short literary works, and various pieces of ephemera retained through personal interest.
Biography:
Gilbert Washington Rolls was born on 4th February 1917, possibly in Ashton-Under-Lyne, Lancashire. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and later attended Hertford College, Oxford between 1937 and 1940, where he gained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Law. It was at this stage that Rolls joined the war effort by being accepted for duties in the Field Security Police, Intelligence Corps. These duties were classed as Special Intelligence and related to naval activity, particularly enemy losses and enemy naval movements. During active service, Rolls spent three years overseas and attained the rank of Corporal, before being de-mobilised in July 1946.
It is not clear exactly how Rolls employed himself in the years immediately following the Second World War, but between 1953 and 1961 (if not beforehand), he worked as Assistant Solicitor to Rotherham Rural District Council. He then assumed the role of Clerk to Rawmarsh Urban District Council in 1961, and continued to work in this capacity until his position was rendered obsolete by local government reorganisation in 1974 (see 41-UD/1/5). As a result, Rolls returned to work as a solicitor, this time in the Department of Legal & Administrative Services for the newly created Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, where he remained until at least the early 1980s. During this time, he also engaged in private research projects relating to naval activity in the Second World War and the Falklands War, producing statistics and notes which he then donated to the Intelligence Corps Museum, Ashford, Kent, and the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth (see 41-UD/8/3/1-2). He died in 1988, aged 71.
Sources:
41-UD/8/3/4 - 'Papers relating to Gilbert Washington Rolls' Active Service during the Second World War' (17 Feb 1938-15 Aug 1947).
41-UD/8/2 - 'Solicitor's Papers' (Jan 1953-1981). |