Beneath the ruins of the Cloth Hall at Ypres, in the last, gloomy days of 1914, sat an old soldier on a white horse : Field Marshal Sir John French, tears streaming down his face, watched the remnants of the "Old Contemptibles" (Regular Army) file past him after their place in the fighting line had been taken by the territorials (Home Defense Force which volunteered almost to a man for service abroad). Last week, Death carried off this famous soldier in his 73d year. He died of complications arising from an operation for appendicitis performed last March. Little more than a fortnight ago, Lord Oxford and Asquith (ex-Premier Herbert H. Asquith) paid tribute in a speech to Field Marshals Lord Haig and Kitchener, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Jellicoe, General Sir John Cowans ("best Quartermaster since Moses") and ex-Premier George as "the five great men [British] of the War." The name of Lord Ypres (Sir John French) was not mentioned, but neither were those of Lords Beatty, Allenby and Northcliffe, Sir Henry Wilson and numerous other Britons. Lord Oxford may, unhappily, have been too conscious of his own lack of initiative in 1914 in meeting Sir John's persistent cry for shells, and the subsequent criticism that the latter leveled at him in his book 1914, to be entirely impartial. Whatever his faults, the deceased Field Marshal will ever be remembered as the Commander-in-Chief of those gallant heroes who, in 1914, fought overwhelming odds from Mons to Ypres, perished rather than surrender. Their sacrifice on the fields of Flanders was a main contribution to the saving of Ypres (pronounced eepre)—which the British Tommy called "Wipers"—and the Channel ports and helped to hold up the mighty advance of the German military machine. Marshal Ferdinand Foch has written of French: "In him Great Britain found a grand soldier. He kept his troops up to the level of Wellington." John Denton Pinkstone French was born in Kent of Irish parents. He began his career at an early age by joining the Navy, in which his father was a captain. Four years later, he transferred to the Army, joined the 19th Hussars. He rose steadily to the rank of a colonel, retired at the age of 41, an officer without distinction. He was fished out of the half-pay pool by General Sir George Luck to write a cavalry book, which was subsequently called "a masterpiece of lucid explanation and terse precision." His literary ability had undoubtedly saved him from obscurity and earned for him the half true sobriquet of "the luckiest man in the Army." Later events proved the Army to be the luckier.
French continued his ascent to the top with painstaking, plodding slowness. In the South African War, he was recognized as a commander of great ability, returned home after the peace and was knighted. At the beginning of the World War, having been created a Field Marshal in 1913, he commanded Britain's first expeditionary force. In 1915, he retired in favor of Sir Douglas Haig, returned to England, assumed command of the vast armies stationed in Britain. He was made a viscount, chose the name of Ypres, accepted the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland and held that position until 1921, when he retired from official life, receiving from the King the title of Earl.