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 1859
Died 1918
British Army Colonel Army Medical Service
British Army Surgeon General Royal Army Medical Corps
British Army Major General Royal Army Medical Corps
More about William George Birrell -
Born 1861
Died 1924
British Army Major General Indian Army
More about Arthur Edward Aitken -
Born 1856
Died 1936
British Army Colonel Essex Yeomanry
British Army Brigadier General Essex Yeomanry
British Army Brigadier General London Regiment 2nd Battalion
More about Richard Beale Colvin -
Born 1863
Died 1915
British Army Colonel Temporary Brigadier General Headquarters Staff
British Army Brigadier General Headquarters Staff
British Army Brigadier General General Staff formerly Manchester Regiment Cdg 38th Infantry Brigade
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More about Anthony Hugh Baldwin -
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Sussex Regiment
British Army Brigadier General Suffolk Regiment
More about Samuel Eyre Lloyd -
Born 1872
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Engineers
British Army Major Royal Engineers
British Army Brigadier General Army General Staff General Head Quarters
More about William Robertson -
Born 1855
Died 1933
British Army Major General Army Service Corps
British Army Lieutenant General IG Communications, British Armies in France
More about Frederick Thomas Clayton K -
Born 1858
Died 1919
British Army Colonel Staff
British Army Major General Staff, Deputy Quartermaster General at General Headquarters
More about Charles Tyrwhitt Dawkins, K. -
Born 1864
Died 1925
British Army General Staff
More about Henry Seymour Rawlinson -
Born 1877
Died 1947
British Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel/Temporary Brigadier General Royal Engineers
British Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel/Temporary Brigadier General Staff
British Army Major Royal Engineers
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More about John Charteris -
Born 1860
Died 1915
British Army Major General Staff
British Army Major General General Staff
More about Henry Newport Charles Heath -
Born 1867
Died 1947
British Army Colonel Temporary Brigadier General Royal Engineers
British Army Colonel Temporary Brigadier General Staff
British Army Lieutenant General Royal Engineers
More about Edwin Henry De Vere Atkinson -
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Temporary Brigadier General Royal Irish Rifles
More about T P Barrington -
Born 1866
Died 1939
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Horse Artillery
More about James Frederick Noel Birch -
British Army Brevet Colonel Temporary Major General Royal Artillery
British Army Brevet Colonel Temporary Major General Staff
More about C E D Budworth -
Born 1864
Died 1959
Indian Army Lieutenant Colonel Head Quarters Staff
British Army Major General General Officer Commanding the Yeomanry Division, Egyptian Expeditionary Force Late 35th Scinde Horse, Indian Army
More about George De Symons Barrow -
Born 1880
Died 1936
British Army Temporary Brigadier General General List
British Army Temporary Major General GOC 9th (Scottish), 39th and 63rd (Royal Naval) Divisions Late Kings Royal Rifle Corps
More about Cyril Aubrey Blacklock -
Born 1866
Died 1941
British Army Colonel Army Service Corps Asst.-Director S. & T.
British Army Major Army Service Corps
British Army Second Lieutenant Army Service Corps
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More about Arthur Long -
Born 1876
Died 1955
British Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel/Temporary Brigadier General Royal West Kent Regiment
British Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel/Temporary Brigadier General Staff
More about Charles Bonham-Carter -
Born 1869
Died 1921
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Leicestershire Regiment 2nd battalion leicest Battalion
British Army Colonel Army Service Corps
British Army Major General Commands and Staff
More about Charles Guinand Blackader