Lives of the First World War
Discover, explore and remember millions of personal stories from the First World War
"Lions led by Donkeys?"
"Lions led by Donkeys?"
The name and inspiration for this Community comes from a research project at the University of Birmingham. ‘Who were all these generals anyway?’ This question, asked one spring evening at an extra-mural class in Wolverhampton, encouraged John Bourne, of the University's Centre for War Studies, to begin researching the hundreds of Generals who took part in the leadership of the British Army during WW1. Most people interested in the Great War are familiar with the names of a handful of senior commanders: French, Haig, Allenby, Byng, Plumer, Rawlinson. And probably familiar with the questionable verdict that many were ‘donkeys’ who sent their lion-hearted men to brutal deaths on squalid battlefields, the state of which they were culpably ignorant and from whose deprivations they were comfortably remote. But what about the totality of general officers in an army of 60 divisions and two million men? Who were they? How many were there? How were they chosen, promoted and dismissed? A group of researchers set out to discover the answers to these questions under the name of the Abbots Way Research Group. The fruits of this research are now being written up in a book, with contributions not only from John Bourne but also from Simon Robbins, Andrew Godefroy, Bryn Hammond and Professor Peter Simkins. The group has identified 1,257 Western Front generals. This "Lives of the First World War" community will include those on Peter Bourne's list, together with some of the other Generals who led forces in other theatres of WW1. The website for the "Lions led by Donkeys" project is here: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/warstudies/research/projects/lionsdonkeys/index.aspx
Created by: , Bryan5462
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Born 1873
Died 1940
British Army Cadet Royal Military Collage Sandhurst
Indian Army Captain Staff Corps
British Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Indian Army/ Staff
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More about Herbert William Jackson -
Born 1867
British Army Major Royal Engineers Cavalry Division
British Army Brigadier General Chief Engineer, Royal Engineers
More about Arthur Grant Bremner -
Born 1879
Died 1954
British Army Major Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Temporary Brigadier General Royal Artillery Staff
Australian Imperial Force Brigadier General Royal Artillery
More about Stuart Milligan Anderson -
Born 1877
Died 1947
Australian Imperial Force Major 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, Australian Field Artillery Gallipoli
Australian Imperial Force Colonel temporary Brigadier General GOC 5th Australian Divisional Artillery
More about Alfred Joseph Bessell-Browne -
Born 1867
Died 1917
British Army Brigadier General GOC 8th Cavalry Brigade
More about Charles Bulkeley Bulkeley - Johnson -
Born 1868
Died 1924
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Field Artillery 55th Battery
British Army Brigadier General CRA, 1st Division, British Armies in France
More about Garnier Norton Cartwright -
Born 1866
Died 1939
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Horse Artillery
More about James Frederick Noel Birch -
Born 1875
Died 1944
British Army Acting Colonel 2nd Brigade Headquarters
British Army Captain 15th Hussars
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Machine Gun Corps "B" Battalion, Heavy Brigade
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More about Anthony Courage -
Born 1868
Died 1952
British Army Captain Royal Engineers
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Engineers
British Army Lieutenant Royal Engineers
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More about George Peabody Scholfield -
Born 1869
Died 1927
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Norfolk Regiment 1st Battalion
British Army Brigadier General Norfolk Regiment 1st Battalion
More about John William Vincent Carroll -
Born 1859
Died 1943
British Army Colonel Staff
British Army Brigadier General DA&QMG V Corps
British Army Brigadier General AAG Aldershot Command
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More about Alfred Edward John Cavendish -
Born 1863
Died 1942
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Garrison Artillery
British Army Brigadier General GOC Heavy Artillery, Canadian Corps
British Army Temporary Brigadier General GOC 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade
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More about Arthur Cecil Currie -
Born 1872
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Engineers
British Army Gentleman Cadet at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Royal Engineers
Royal Navy Lieutenant Colonel Royal Naval Division Engineers Gallipoli
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More about Arthur Basil Carey -
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Temporary Brigadier General Royal Irish Rifles
More about T P Barrington -
Born 1871
Died 1918
British Army Major and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel /Temporary Brigadier General Royal Engineers
More about Duncan Sayre Macinnes -
Born 1874
Died 1948
British Army Major Staff
British Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Staff
British Army Brigadier General GOC 61st Brigade
More about James Kilvington Cochrane -
Born 1866
Died 1944
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Garrison Artillery
British Army Brigadier General CRA, XVII Corps
More about Charles Watson Clark -
Born 1870
Died 1934
British Army Major Royal Field Artillery
British Army Captain Royal Field Artillery
British Army Lieutenant Royal Artillery
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More about Ernest Wright Alexander -
Born 1866
Died 1958
British Army Lieutenant Colonel King's Liverpool Regiment 20th Battalion (4th Liverpool Pals)
British Army Brigadier General GOC 175th Infantry Brigade
British Army Brigadier General GOC 24th Brigade
More about Horace Walter Cobham -
Born 1860
Died 1932
Indian Army Brigadier-General 27th (Bangalore) Brigade
Indian Army Lieutenant General Staff Corps
Indian Army Colonel, temporary Brigadier General 33rd Indian Infantry Brigade
More about Richard Wapshare