French, Field Marshal Sir John Denton Pinkstone, 1st Earl of Ypres. (1852-1925) Born, Ripple, Kent. Member of Lord Garnet Wolseley's Nile expedition to relieve Gordon at Khartoum, in October 1899, was promoted major general and commanded the cavalry division of Buller's Expeditionary corps during the Second Boer War, fig hting at Ladysmith. In 1902 he became commander of Aldershot, and in 1912, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, which he resigned in April 1914 following the Curragh Mutiny. Nevertheless, French was chosen to command the BEF in August 1914, and directed BEF operations in France through Ypres I, Ypres II, and the Loos offensive. Replaced by General Haig on 15 December 1915, he was made Commander-in-Chief in the United Kingdom, and then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in May 1918.

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