Cecil Chisholm - Sir John French
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Cecil Chisholm >> Sir John French
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[Illustration: FIELD-MARSHAL SIR JOHN D.P. FRENCH, G.C.B., G.C.V.O.,
K.C.M.G. _From a portrait by his son, J.R.L. French._]
SIR JOHN FRENCH
AN AUTHENTIC BIOGRAPHY
BY
CECIL CHISHOLM, M.A.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
SIR EVELYN WOOD, V.C.
AND A PORTRAIT BY J.R.L. FRENCH
HERBERT JENKINS LIMITED
ARUNDEL PLACE HAYMARKET
LONDON S.W. MCMXV
"This is the happy warrior--this is he
That every man in arms should wish to be."
_Wordsworth._
WYMAN & SONS LTD., PRINTERS, READING AND LONDON.
INTRODUCTION
BY FIELD-MARSHAL SIR EVELYN WOOD, V.C.
I regard John Denton French as the man who for the last twelve years
has been the driving force of tactical instruction in the British
Army. He made use of all the best ideas of the Generals who preceded
him in the Aldershot Command, and he was, I think, instrumental in
causing the appointment of Horace Smith-Dorrien and Douglas Haig to
succeed in turn to that nursery of soldiers.
How sound his judgment has proved to be may be discovered from the
dispatches--carefully worded--in which he describes how Smith-Dorrien
conducted the most successful retreat since that of Sir John Moore to
Corunna, 1808-9, and how Douglas Haig carried his Army across the
Aisne river in the face of the enemy's fire opposition.
From 1884-5, when as a Squadron Officer he showed marked determination
in the abortive expedition for the relief of Gordon, until 1899-1902
in South Africa, he has been the foremost man to inculcate the
"Cavalry Spirit," and unlike many advocates of that spirit, he has
never become a slave to the idea. He has been at pains to teach the
Cavalry soldier that when he can no longer fight to the best advantage
in the saddle, he is to get off his horse and fight on foot. This is a
marked feature of his military genius.
He is intensely practical; and he is possessed of great moral and
physical courage which never fail to assert themselves in the face of
the most difficult situations. They were conspicuously shown during
the Boer War when, with an extraordinary determination, he formed up
his men on their tired and exhausted horses and advanced in extended
order, galloping through the Boers in position, and reaching Kimberley
as the result of his heroic determination.
When, in the earlier part of this War, things were not going well, I
was asked to give my opinion of our chances of success. I said that I
did not think that our prospects were then bright, but although many
men had gone "Hands up" before John French, he would never put up his
own, whatever happened.
EVELYN WOOD, F.-M.
_November 10_,
1914.
PREFACE
In writing this biography of Field-Marshal Sir John French I have been
deeply indebted to many of his personal friends for helping me with
first-hand impressions of our General in the Field. A number of
military writers have been almost equally helpful. Among those to whom
I owe sincere thanks for personal assistance are Lady French, Mr.
J.R.L. French, Mrs. Despard, Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, Field-Marshal
Sir Evelyn Wood, General Bewicke Copley, Colonel E.K. Aylener, Colonel
Kendal Coghill, Colonel Charles E. Warde, M.P., the Editor of the
_Army and Navy Gazette_, Mr. Percy J. King, the Editor of the
_Regiment_, Mr. Frederick W. Carter, Mr. Leonard Crocombe and Mr. S.R.
Littlewood, who put valuable material at my disposal.
I shall be very grateful for any further biographical particulars,
stories, or corrections for incorporation in subsequent editions: all
communications should be addressed to me, care of my publishers.
C.C.
_The outside wrapper is reproduced from a drawing by E. Oakdale,
by courtesy of Mr. Holbrook Jackson, Editor of "T.P.'s Weekly_."
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION iii
PREFACE v
CHAPTER I
EARLY DAYS
A Kentish Celt--A Rebellious Boy--Four Years in the
Navy--With the 19th Hussars--"Captain X Trees"--A
Studious Subaltern--Chafing at Home--The First
Opportunity 1
CHAPTER II
WITH THE NILE EXPEDITION
A Forlorn Hope--Scouting in the Desert--The Battle of
Abu Klea--Metammeh--The Death of Gordon--A Dangerous
Retreat--"Major French and His Thirteen Troopers" 10
CHAPTER III
YEARS OF WAITING
Second in Command--Maintaining the Barrow
tradition--The Persistent Student--Service in
India--Retires on Half-pay--Renewed
Activities--Rehearsing for South Africa 23
CHAPTER IV
ELANDSLAAGTE AND RIETFONTEIN
The Unknown Commander of Cavalry--Who is General
French?--Advancing without Reinforcements--"This is
your Show, French"--The White Flag--The
Chess-Player--The Victor in Anecdote 32
CHAPTER V
THE TIDE TURNS
White's Dash from Ladysmith--Nicholson's Nek--The
Reverse at Lombard's Kop--A Cavalry Exploit--French's
Dramatic Escape from Ladysmith 45
CHAPTER VI
THE CAMPAIGN ROUND COLESBERG
The Fog of War--A Perilous Situation--Damming "The
Flowing Tide"--Shows His Genius as a Commander--A
Campaign in Miniature--Hoisting Guns on Hilltops--The
Fifty-mile Front--Saving the Situation 52
CHAPTER VII
THE DASH TO KIMBERLEY
French's Pledge--The Task--The First Shell--"Hemmed
in"--"We must break through"--The Lancers' Charge--In
and Out of Kimberley--The Surrender of Cronje 67
CHAPTER VIII
ROUNDING UP THE BOERS
French in the Modder--At Bloemfontein--French and the
Artist--An Ambush--Doing the Impossible Again--Short
Shrift with Barberton Snipers---Some French Stories 82
CHAPTER IX
WORK AT HOME AND RESIGNATION
At Aldershot--Driving Training at High Pressure--
General French is "fairly well pleased"--Strenuous
Manoeuvres--Chief of the Imperial General
Staff--Ulster and Resignation 97
CHAPTER X
HIS BELIEF IN CAVALRY
The Lessons of the Boer War--Cavalry _v_. Mounted
Infantry--A Plea for the Lance--The Cavalry
Spirit--Shock Tactics still Useful 106
CHAPTER XI
THE MODERN MARLBOROUGH
Europe's Need--The Plight of France--A Delicate
Situation--The Man of "Grip"--A Magnificent Retreat 116
CHAPTER XII
FRENCH, THE MAN
A Typical Englishman--Fighting at School--Napoleon
Worship--"A Great Reporter"--Halting Speeches and
Polished Prose. A South African Coincidence--Mrs.
Despard and the Newsboy--The Happy Warrior 121
Index 149
SIR JOHN FRENCH
CHAPTER I
EARLY DAYS
A Kentish Celt--A Rebellious Boy--Four Years in the
Navy--With the 19th Hussars--"Captain X Trees"--A Studious
Subaltern--Chafing at Home--The First Opportunity.
"If I don't end my days as a Field-Marshal it will not be for want of
trying, and--well, I'm jolly well going to do it." In these words,
uttered many years ago to a group of brother officers in the mess room
of the 19th Hussars, Sir John French quite unconsciously epitomised
his own character in a way no biographer can hope to equal. The
conversation had turned upon luck, a word that curiously enough was
later to be so intimately associated with French's name. One man had
stoutly proclaimed that all promotion was a matter of luck, and French
had claimed that only work and ability really counted in the end. Yet
"French's luck" has become almost a service proverb--for those who
have not closely studied his career. Luck is frequently a word used to
explain our own failure and another man's success.
Not that success and John French could ever have been strangers. There
are some happy natures whose destiny is never in doubt, Providence
having apparently planned it half a century ahead. Sir John French is
a striking instance of this. Destiny never had any doubt about the
man. He was born to be a fighter. On his father's side he comes of the
famous old Galway family of which Lord de Freyne, of French Park, Co.
Roscommon, is now the head. By tradition the Frenches are a naval
family, although there have been famous soldiers as well as famous
sailors amongst its members. There was, for instance, the John French
who fought in the army of King William, leading a troop of the
Enniskillen Dragoons at Aughrim in 1689.
Sir John French is himself the son of a sailor, Commander J.T.W.
French, who on retiring from the Navy settled down on the beautiful
little Kentish estate of Ripplevale, near Walmer. Here John Denton
Pinkstone French was born on September 28, 1852, in the same year as
his future colleague, General Joffre. His mother, a Miss Eccles, was
the daughter of a Scotch family resident near Glasgow.
[Page Heading: PLAYING WITH SOLDIERS]
Of the boy's home life at Ripplevale very little is known. He was the
sixth child and the only son of the family. Both his parents dying
while he was quite young, he was brought up under the care of his
sisters. But there is no reason to suppose that he was therefore
spoilt; for one of these ladies shared in a remarkable degree the
qualities of energy and determination which were to distinguish her
brother. Young French's earliest education was largely guided by this
gifted sister, who is now so well known in another field of warfare as
Mrs. Despard.
It is extremely difficult to say what manner of boy the future
Field-Marshal was. Only one fact emerges clearly. He was high-spirited
and full of mischief. Everything that he did was done with the
greatest enthusiasm, and already there were signs that he possessed an
unusually strong will.
Inevitably games quickly took possession of his imagination. Very soon
the war game had first place in his affections. He was perpetually
playing with soldiers--a fascinating hobby which intrigued the curious
mind of the rather silent child. French, in fact, was a very normal
and healthy boy, with just a touch of thoughtfulness to mark him off
from his fellows.
He was not, however, to enjoy the freedom of home life for very long.
At an early age he was sent to a preparatory school at Harrow, which
he left for Eastman's Naval College at Portsmouth. After the necessary
"cramming" he passed the entrance examination to the Navy at the age
of thirteen. In the following year (1866) he joined the _Britannia_ as
a cadet. Four years of strenuous naval work followed. But like another
Field-Marshal-to-be, Sir Evelyn Wood, the boy was not apparently
enamoured of the sea. As a result he decided to leave that branch of
the service.
That action is typical of the man. He is ruthless with himself as well
as with others. If the Navy were not to give scope for his ambition,
then he must quit the Navy. Already, no doubt, his life-long hero,
Napoleon, was kindling the young man's imagination. But the English
Navy of those days gave little encouragement to the Napoleonic point
of view. It was bound up with the sternest discipline and much red
tape. If rumour speaks true young French was irritated by the almost
despotic powers then possessed by certain naval officers. So he boldly
decided at the age of eighteen to end one career and commence another.
To enter the sister service he had to stoop to what is dubbed the
"back-door," in other words a commission in the militia. It seems
rather remarkable that one of our most brilliant officers should have
had this difficulty to face. Incidentally it is a curious sidelight on
the system of competitive examinations. But there are several facts to
remember. Sir John French's genius developed slowly. One does not
figure him as ready, like Kitchener, at twenty-one, with a complete
map of his career. In these days he was probably more interested in
hunting than in soldiering. The man who is now proverbial for his
devotion to the study of tactics was then very little of a book-worm.
Indeed he seems to have shown no special intellectual or practical
abilities until much later in life.
[Page Heading: THE "DUMPIES"]
In 1874 he was gazetted to the 8th Hussars, being transferred three
weeks later to the 19th. At that time the 19th Hussars was scarcely a
crack regiment. With two other regiments raised after the Indian
mutiny it was nicknamed the "Dumpies," owing to the standard of height
being lowered, and it had yet to earn the reputation which Barrow and
French secured it. About John French the subaltern, as about John
French the midshipman, history is silent. No fabulous legends have
accumulated about him. Presumably the short, firmly-built young
officer was regarded as normal and entirely _de rigeur_ in his
sporting propensities.
The subaltern of the 'eighties took himself much less seriously than
his successor of today. The eternal drill and the occasional
manoeuvres were conducted on well-worn and almost automatic
principles. As a result, the younger officers found hunting and polo
decidedly better sport. Few or none of them were military enthusiasts;
and study did not enter largely into their programme. It entered into
French's--but only in stray hours, often snatched by early rising,
before the day's work--or sport--began.
Despite constant rumours to the contrary, there can be no question
that French was a most spirited young officer and a thorough
sportsman. He at once earned for himself the sobriquet of "Capt. X
Trees," as a result of his being a "retired naval man." To this day
among the very few remaining brother officers of his youth, he is
still greeted as "Trees."
As might be expected, French showed no desire to pose as "the glass of
fashion or the mould of form." He never attempted to cultivate the
graces of the _beau sabreur_. His short square figure did not look
well on horseback and probably never will. But he was admitted to be a
capable horseman and to have "good hands." Although not keen on polo
he was very fond of steeplechasing. Of his love for that sport there
is ample proof in the fact that he trained and rode his own
steeplechasers.
[Page Heading: A DIFFICULT TEAM]
One of his best horses was a mare called "Mrs. Gamp," which he lent on
one occasion to a brother subaltern--now Colonel Charles E. Warde,
M.P. for Mid-Kent. Riding with his own spurs on French's mare, Colonel
Warde was one of three out of a field of four hundred to live through
a Warde Union run which was responsible for the death of six hunters
before the day was over.
Young French also became a very good whip. Along with Colonel H.M.A.
Warde--now the Chief Constable of Kent--he had a thrilling adventure
in coach driving. When the regiment first started a coach it was
necessary to bring it from Dublin to the Curragh. The two subalterns,
neither of whom had ever driven four horses before, commandeered four
chargers belonging to brother officers. One of the animals was a
notorious kicker. But they took them up to Dublin and drove the coach
twenty-eight miles down to the Curragh next day, arriving there alive
and with no broken harness!
At that time French differed from his fellow officers probably rather
in degree than in temperament. Although a very keen sportsman he did
not put sport first. Colonel C.E. Warde, one of his closest friends,
gives the following description of the man. "Although he never
attempted to go to the Staff College he was continually studying
military works, and often, when his brother subalterns were at polo or
other afternoon amusements, he would remain in his room reading Von
Schmidt, Jomini, or other books on strategy. I recollect once
travelling by rail with him in our subaltern days, when after
observing the country for some time, he broke out: 'There is where I
should put my artillery.' 'There is where I should put my cavalry' and
so on to the journey's end."
In spite of these evidences of a soldier's eye for country, there is
nothing to show that French had developed any abnormal devotion for
his work. He was interested but not absorbed. In 1880 a captaincy and
his marriage probably did something to make him take his career more
seriously. His wife, Lady French, was a daughter of Mr. R.W.
Selby-Lowndes, of Bletchley, Bucks. They have two sons and a daughter.
A few months after his marriage he accepted an adjutancy in the
Northumberland Yeomanry. For four uneventful years he was stationed at
Newcastle, where the work was monotonous and the opportunities almost
_nil_.
[Page Heading: THE WAITING GAME]
Naturally the young man fretted very much at being left behind with
the Yeomanry when his regiment was ordered to embark for Egypt in
1882. And he never rested until he was allowed to follow it out in
1884. It was in many ways a new 19th which the young officer re-joined
in Egypt. The regiment hurried out in 1882 had at last come under a
commander of real genius in Colonel Percy Barrow, C.B., and in that
commander French was to find his first real military inspiration. It
is difficult to judge what his future might have been but for this one
man and the Nile Expedition, which proved the turning point in
French's career as it did in that of his regiment.
Then, as ever, French was a man who had to wait for his opportunities.
He was thirty-two years of age before he saw this, his first piece of
active service. Where Kitchener found, or made, opportunities for
military experience, French was content to wait the turn of events. So
it has been all through his life. He has never forestalled Destiny; he
has simply accepted its call. But when an opportunity presented itself
he always seized it, and the Nile Expedition was no exception to the
rule. Major French, without Staff College training, without the usual
diplomas, was to prove himself once and for all a master tactician.
CHAPTER II
WITH THE NILE EXPEDITION
A Forlorn Hope--Scouting in the Desert--The Battle of Abu
Klea--Metammeh--The Death of Gordon--A Dangerous
Retreat--"Major French and His Thirteen Troopers."
Sir John French's first experience of actual warfare was a bitter one.
If ever the British Government bungled one of their military
enterprises more thoroughly than another, it was the Nile Expedition
of 1884-5. What began as a forlorn hope ended in complete failure, and
in three short months French experienced the miseries of retreat, of
failure, and of work under an invertebrate War Office.
To this day no one has ever justified the hidden processes of logic by
which the Government responsible came to the conclusion that the
Soudan must be evacuated. It is true that the Mahdi, Mohammed Ahmed,
had won considerable successes against our forces since his appearance
in 1881. But no army of any dimensions had ever been opposed to his
"Divine powers." Why Gordon should have been entrusted with the
evacuation is not so doubtful. W.T. Stead and other journalistic
pundits conceived him to be the man for the task, however much Egypt's
ruler, Lord Cromer, might differ from their verdict. So to Khartoum
Gordon was sent with an all too small band of followers. Presumably
the authorities imagined that the man who had worked miracles in China
with neither men nor money would settle the Soudan on equally
economical terms. But the Mahdi's black braves were other mettle than
the yellow men, as Gordon himself well knew from his past experience
in the Soudan.
[Page Heading: THE SLEEPER WAKES]
Reaching Khartoum on February 18, 1884, he quickly discovered how
perilous the defeat of Baker Pasha at El-Teb had made his position. He
at once warned his superiors, but nothing was done. In April he found
Khartoum besieged, but even that did not startle the Home authorities
from their lethargy. At length, however, the Government realised that
to allow their General to perish at the hands of the Dervishes might
be to forfeit their prestige in Egypt. Lord Wolseley was accordingly
instructed to relieve Khartoum at all costs.
Those instructions were more easy to give than to obey. Wolseley
decided to send a flying column across the desert from Korti to
Metammeh and thence to Khartoum; and a second up the Nile. With the
luckless flying column went part of the 19th Hussars, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Barrow. Major French was second in command.
On December 30, General Herbert Stewart's little force, with its
thousand odd men and two thousand camels, was on parade for inspection
near Korti. At first there was some doubt as to how the camels would
stand the attack of the Mahdi's wild warriors.
"In order to test the steadiness of our camels as regarded noise and
firing, the 19th Hussars one day at brigade drill charged on the
unprotected mass of camels, cheering and yelling. Everybody expected
to see them break their ropes and career wildly over the desert. The
only result was that one solitary camel struggled to his feet, looked
round and knelt down again; the others never moved an eyelid.
"That was satisfactory: and as firing into them with blank cartridges
and over them with ball had already been tried ... with no visible
result, the general opinion was that they would stand charging niggers
or anything else in creation with equanimity. Sad to say we came to
the conclusion that it was want of brains _pur et simple_ that caused
our steeds to behave thus docilely: any other animal with a vestige of
brain would have been scared to death, but, as it was, no one
regretted their deficiency."[1]
[Page Heading: THE KITCHENER WAY]
Before the corps set out from Korti, Sir Herbert Stewart sent for the
chief men at Ambukol who knew the desert route. Showing them money he
asked whether they would act as guides. This they refused to do. Said
Stewart, "You will come anyway. If you like to ride to Metammeh tied
on your camels well and good; if you prefer not being lashed on, you
will get these nice presents." They agreed to go! So they were sent to
ride ahead of the column, guarded by some of the 19th, who had orders
to shoot if they attempted to fly. But no such effort was made.
The rest of the 19th had more arduous work to do. During the whole
weary march they were far ahead of the column scouting.
"On coming to a plain with hills in the distance, you'd see various
specks on the tops of the furthest hills, and with the help of your
glasses discover them to be the 19th. Sir Herbert (Stewart) was
immensely pleased with them and pointed them out to me as being the
very acme of Light Cavalry."[2]
The column itself was almost half-a-mile in length, even when by night
it marched in close order. It was a strange sight to see the camels,
with long necks outstretched, swaying across the desert towards the
horizon, both the men and their ostrich-like steeds enveloped in a
huge cloud of dust. A wind storm arose more than once, flinging
blinding clouds of sand in the men's faces. On New Year's Eve,
however, the soldiers shouted themselves hoarse with "Auld Lang Syne"
as they plodded wearily along the moonlit desert.
Very soon the cavalry had an opportunity to distinguish themselves. On
the following day a halt was called "to allow the indefatigable 19th
to find out the reason of a faint light burning far off on the
plain.... They returned with several natives, a string of camels and
several loads of dates. They had found ... the natives bivouacked for
the night, surprised them, captured as much loot as possible and
bolted the rest."[3]
After a fortnight's marching the column came in touch with the enemy
at Abu Klea. At this time French's work was peculiarly dangerous. He
spent night after night in the desert in solitary watching and waiting
for the Dervishes.
On January 16 the 19th Hussars were sent to reconnoitre. They
reported that the Mahdi had mustered considerable force between the
British camp and the wells. Stewart determined to fight his way
through to the wells at any cost. Leaving a very small force to hold
his camp, he formed his main body into a square, in which form it
advanced. No sooner had the advance begun than the enemy opened a
terrific fire. Yet the square pushed on, despite constant halts
necessary to assure its formation remaining intact, as the guns were
hauled over the rutty and uneven surface of the desert.
Soon, however, the Dervishes rushed to the attack, and Stewart found
himself outnumbered by four to one. The attack was delivered with
appalling force. The Arabs' shouts as they rushed forward have been
described by an eye-witness as like the thunder of the sea.
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