Part 1 (2/2)
Sir John French is himself the son of a sailor, Co from the Navy settled down on the beautiful little Kentish estate of Ripplevale, near Walmer Here John Denton Pinkstone French was born on Septeue, General Joffre His hter of a Scotch fa: PLAYING WITH SOLDIERS]
Of the boy's home life at Ripplevale very little is known He was the sixth child and the only son of the fa, he was brought up under the care of his sisters But there is no reason to suppose that he was therefore spoilt; for one of these ladies shared in a rey and deter French's earliest education was largely guided by this gifted sister, who is noell known in another field of warfare as Mrs Despard
It is extremely difficult to say what manner of boy the future Field-Marshal was Only one fact eh-spirited and full of reatest enthusiasns that he possessed an unusually strong will
Inevitably gaination Very soon the war game had first place in his affections He was perpetually playing with soldiers--a fascinating hobby which intrigued the curious mind of the rather silent child French, in fact, was a very norhtfulness to mark him off from his fellows
He was not, however, to enjoy the freedoe he was sent to a preparatory school at Harrohich he left for Easte at Ports” he passed the entrance exa year (1866) he joined the _Britannia_ as a cadet Four years of strenuous naval work followed But like another Field-Marshal-to-be, Sir Evelyn Wood, the boy was not apparently enamoured of the sea As a result he decided to leave that branch of the service
That action is typical of the man He is ruthless with hiive scope for his ambition, then hehero, Napoleon, was kindling the young ave little encouragement to the Napoleonic point of view It was bound up with the sternest discipline andFrench was irritated by the almost despotic powers then possessed by certain naval officers So he boldly decided at the age of eighteen to end one career and commence another
To enter the sister service he had to stoop to what is dubbed the ”back-door,” in other words a commission in the militia It seems rather remarkable that one of our most brilliant officers should have had this difficulty to face Incidentally it is a curious sidelight on the system of competitive examinations But there are several facts to reenius developed slowly One does not figure him as ready, like Kitchener, at twenty-one, with a complete map of his career In these days he was probablyThe man who is now proverbial for his devotion to the study of tactics was then very little of a book-worm
Indeed he seems to have shown no special intellectual or practical abilities until : THE ”DUMPIES”]
In 1874 he was gazetted to the 8th Hussars, being transferred three weeks later to the 19th At that tiiiments raised after the Indianto the standard of height being lowered, and it had yet to earn the reputation which Barrow and French secured it About John French the subaltern, as about John French the ends have accu officer was regarded as nor propensities
The subaltern of the 'eighties took himself much less seriously than his successor of today The eternal drill and the occasional manoeuvres were conducted on orn and aler officers found hunting and polo decidedly better sport Few or none of theely into their programme It entered into French's--but only in stray hours, often snatched by early rising, before the day's work--or sport--began
Despite constant rumours to the contrary, there can be no question that French was a h sportsman He at once earned for himself the sobriquet of ”Capt X Trees,” as a result of his being a ”retired navalbrother officers of his youth, he is still greeted as ”Trees”
As lass of fashi+on or the races of the _beau sabreur_ His short square figure did not look well on horseback and probably never will But he was adood hands” Although not keen on polo he was very fond of steeplechasing Of his love for that sport there is ample proof in the fact that he trained and rode his own steeplechasers
[Page Heading: A DIFFICULT TEAM]
One of his best horses was a mare called ”Mrs Gamp,” which he lent on one occasion to a brother subaltern--now Colonel Charles E Warde, MP for Mid-Kent Riding with his own spurs on French's mare, Colonel Warde was one of three out of a field of four hundred to live through a Warde Union run which was responsible for the death of six hunters before the day was over
Young French also beca with Colonel HMA
Warde--now the Chief Constable of Kent--he had a thrilling adventure in coach driving When the regi it froh The two subalterns, neither of whoers belonging to brother officers One of the animals was a notorious kicker But they took thehtthere alive and with no broken harness!
At that time French differed froree than in teh a very keen sportsman he did not put sport first Colonel CE Warde, one of his closest friends, gives the following description of the e he was continually studying military works, and often, when his brother subalterns were at polo or other afternoon a Von Schy I recollect once travelling by rail with hi the country for some time, he broke out: 'There is where I should put my artillery' 'There is where I should put my cavalry' and so on to the journey's end”
In spite of these evidences of a soldier's eye for country, there is nothing to show that French had developed any abnormal devotion for his work He was interested but not absorbed In 1880 a captaincy and histo make him take his career hter of Mr RW
Selby-Lowndes, of Bletchley, Bucks They have two sons and a daughter
A few e he accepted an adjutancy in the Northumberland Yeomanry For four uneventful years he was stationed at Newcastle, where the as e Heading: THE WAITING GAME]