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 1862
Died 1944
British Army Major General Commandant General of the Rhodesian Forces
More about Alfred Hamilton Mackenzie Edwards, Kbe -
Born 1866
Died 1944
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Royal Garrison Artillery
British Army Brigadier General CRA, XVII Corps
More about Charles Watson Clark -
Born 1872
Died 1942
British Army Major Royal Artillery
British Army Colonel Royal Artliiery
British Army Brigadier General Royal Garrison Artillery
More about Ben Atkinson -
Born 1864
Died 1956
British Army Colonel 179th Infantry Brigade
British Army Brigadier General 179th Infantry Brigade
British Army Brigadier General Welsh Reserve Brigade TF
More about Edward William David Baird -
Born 1881
Died 1947
British Army Major Hertfordshire Regiment 1st Battalion
British Army Brigadier General GOC 68th Infantry Brigade
More about Henry Page Croft -
Born 1882
Died 1918
British Army Captain Royal Engineers
British Army Major General List
British Army Brigadier General BGGS (Intelligence), British Armies in France
More about Edgar William Cox -
Born 1876
Died 1920
British Army Captain Somerset Light Infantry
British Army Lieutenant Colonel Staff
British Army Brigadier General
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More about Ryves Alexander Mark Currie -
Born 1876
Died 1933
British Army Major and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel/Temporary Brigadier General Wiltshire Regiment
British Army Major and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel/Temporary Brigadier General Commands and Staff
British Army Major Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire) Regt.
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More about Cyril Darcy Vivien Cary-Barnard -
Born 1859
Died 1934
British Army Brigadier General Army Pay Department
British Army Honorary Major General Paymaster-in-Chief, British Armies in France
More about Claude Arthur Bray -
Born 1877
Died 1932
British Army Lieutenant Colonel and Brevet Colonel /Temporary Major General Scots Guards
British Army Lieutenant Colonel and Brevet Colonel /Temporary Brigadier General GOC 37th Infantry Brigade
British Army Major General GOC 68th Division
More about Albemarle Bertie Edward Cator -
Born 1873
Died 1954
British Army Major Manchester Regiment
British Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Manchester Regiment
British Army Lieutenant Essex Regiment 1st Battalion
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More about Barnett Dyer Lempriere Gray Anley -
Born 1857
Died 1940
British Army Lieutenant General Indian Army
British Army Lieutenant General GOC Southern Army in India
More about Charles Alexander Anderson -
Born 1862
Died 1952
British Army Major General Commander Royal Artillery, 2nd Army
More about Christopher Reginald Buckle -
Born 1861
Died 1937
British Army Colonel/Temporary Brigadier General General Headquarters Staff
British Army Brigadier General GOC Wessex Reserve Brigade
British Army Brigadier General GOC 147th Infantry Brigade
More about Edward Fitzgerald Brereton -
Born 1863
Died 1939
British Army Brigadier General Staffordshire Infantry Brigade
British Army Brigadier General GOC 137th (Staffordshire) Infantry Brigade
British Army Brigadier General GOC, 118th Infantry Brigade
More about Walter Bromilow -
Born 1878
Died 1959
British Army Major Royal Munster Fusiliers
British Army Brigadier General Chief General Staff Officer, Gallipoli
More about Cecil Faber Aspinall -
Born 1860
Died 1948
British Army Brigadier General 36th Infantry Brigade
Indian Army Major 32nd Punjab Pioneers
British Army Brigadier General GOC 36th Brigade 12th Division
More about Harry Benn Borradaile -
Born 1861
Died 1934
British Army Brigadier General GOC 4th Cavalry Brigade
British Army Major General GOC 67th Division
More about Cecil Edward Bingham -
Born 1868
Died 1931
Australian Imperial Force Lieutenant Colonel 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Australian Artillery Gallipoli
Australian Imperial Force Brigadier General CRA, Australian 5th Division
More about Sydney Ernest Christian -
Born 1874
Died 1957
British Army Major 2nd Life Guards
British Army 2nd Life Guards
British Army Brigadier General Head of Mission to the Belgian Army
More about Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George Cambridge, Earl Of Athlone