John French

I was born in Ripple, Kent, tried the Navy, but the horse and country claimed me. In South Africa I rode hard: the relief of Kimberley, then the manoeuvre that closed the net before Paardeberg. Those exploits carried me to high command and to the Inspectorate of Cavalry, where I pressed for better training and a clearer eye for ground, even as the battlefield was outgrowing the sabre.

In August 1914 I took a small BEF across the Channel. We fought at Mons, marched back under pressure in the Great Retreat, then turned with our allies at the Marne and gripped the Aisne. It was a new war of trenches and shells; I wore cavalry spurs while learning to husband rifles and guns. Relations with Kitchener and with Joffre were exacting, supplies were thin, and armies were swelling behind us.

At Ypres we kept the Channel ports, but at a fearful price paid by tired battalions. In 1915 we tried to seize the initiative: Neuve Chapelle, the gas clouds at the Second Ypres, and finally Loos. Strategy pulled one way, munitions another, and the results were uneven. After Loos I yielded command to Haig and took charge of the Home Forces.

In Ireland, 1918–1921, I enforced security during rebellion while politicians argued toward settlement. It cost me friends at home and quarrels within my own family; my sister Charlotte marched on the other side. I was created Earl of Ypres in 1922. In '1914', my memoir of the first campaign, I set down why I acted as I did. I died three years later at Deal. Ask me what I would alter, and what I would not.