Macready leaves the BEF staff
- Category:
- Military
- Front:
- Western Front
- Date:
- 21 February 1916
- Author:
- Łukasz Skowroń
On 21 February 1916 Lieutenant-General Sir Nevil Macready ceased to be Adjutant-General of the British Expeditionary Force. Of the four generals who in August 1914 had headed the force’s headquarters, he alone still held his original post at that time. He was leaving, however, not in disgrace but on promotion: on the same day in London he took over from General Henry Sclater the office of Adjutant-General of the whole army.
A staff officer for people
Macready, born in 1862, the son of the famous actor William Charles Macready, had served from his youth in the Scottish regiment of the Gordon Highlanders. During the Boer War he went through the siege of Ladysmith, and before the war he had directed personnel matters at the War Office. He also dealt with the use of troops in aid of the civil power, among other occasions during the miners’ strikes in Wales in 1910. In the spring of 1914, during the crisis over Irish Home Rule, he took command in Belfast.
In August 1914 he landed with his staff at Le Havre and for a year and a half headed the Adjutant-General’s branch at headquarters. As he himself described it, in the field this branch was responsible for forming new units, replacing losses, discipline together with the military police and field prisons, military law, the medical services and the evacuation of the wounded, the army chaplains, the registration of graves, and even printing presses. Behind these dry headings lay real problems: overcrowded hospitals, reinforcements for a growing army and so-called trench foot in the winter of 1914–1915. Macready also supported Fabian Ware, whose volunteer team had begun marking and recording the graves of British soldiers. From this initiative there later grew the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Summoned to London
Macready was known for enforcing the regulations without regard to persons. As late as the end of January 1916 his military police detained in the forward zone the Attorney General, Sir F.E. Smith, a member of the government, who had gone without a pass to visit Winston Churchill in the trenches. The affair caused a stir, but did not harm Macready’s career.
According to his memoirs, on 10 February the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, William Robertson, came to headquarters at Saint-Omer, and on 12 February the commander-in-chief, General Douglas Haig, told him that Kitchener wanted him as Adjutant-General at the War Office. Macready regretted parting with the staff he had worked with since the landing at Le Havre, and thought without enthusiasm of the gloomy atmosphere of Whitehall. On 20 February he crossed to London. His place in France was taken by the force’s former Engineer-in-Chief, General George Fowke.
Remember the articles you have read? Only in this browser; nothing is sent anywhere.How it works
Read ·
Spotted a mistake?Report an error
Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 21 February 1916 · War at seaDispute in Congress over armed merchant shipsIn late February 1916 Berlin maintained that armed Entente merchantmen were auxiliary cruisers. In the US Congress a revolt against Wilson's line grew.
- 22 February 1916 · MilitaryMacready appointed Adjutant-GeneralOn 22 February 1916 General Nevil Macready became Adjutant-General of the British Army. At the War Office his main task was to find men for the front.
- 19 February 1916 · AfricaSmuts takes command in East AfricaOn 19 February 1916 Gen. Jan Smuts landed at Mombasa and took over the East African command from Gen. Tighe. He decided to strike before the rainy season.
- 23 February 1916 · PoliticsPortugal seizes German shipsOn 23 February 1916, at Britain's request, the Portuguese seized 36 German and Austrian ships that had lain in the Tagus off Lisbon since the start of the war.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 15 December 1915 · Western FrontResignation of John FrenchUnder 15 December 1915 a chronology records Field Marshal French's resignation. The government forced him to give up the British command in France after Loos.
- 22 December 1915 · Western FrontKiggell replaces RobertsonOn 22 December 1915 Gen. Launcelot Kiggell became Chief of the General Staff of the BEF in succession to William Robertson, who was leaving for London.
- 19 December 1915 · Western FrontHaig becomes commander of British forces in FranceOn 19 December 1915 General Douglas Haig took over command of the British Expeditionary Force from John French. He was to command it until the end of the war.
- 21 May 1916 · Western FrontGerman attack on Vimy RidgeOn 21 May 1916, after a massive bombardment, the Germans took British trenches on Vimy Ridge and the mine shaft entrances. The British lost about 2,500 men.