Robertson becomes chief of staff of the BEF

On 25 January 1915 Lieutenant-General Sir William Robertson became Chief of the General Staff of the British Expeditionary Force. He replaced General Archibald Murray, sent on sick leave the day before. Until then Robertson had been the force’s Quartermaster-General, responsible for its supplies.

From private to general

Robertson’s career was something exceptional in the British Army. He was born in 1860 at Welbourn in Lincolnshire, the son of a tailor. After leaving school he worked as a garden boy and a footman. In 1877 he enlisted as a private in the 16th Lancers, although his mother wrote to him that she would rather bury him than see him in a red coat. After eleven years in the ranks, in 1888, he was commissioned. Having no private means, he served in India, where living was cheaper, and learned several local languages. In 1897 he became the first former ranker to be admitted to the Staff College at Camberley. Later he worked in intelligence, and in 1910–1913 he was Commandant of the college.

A choice of necessity

Field Marshal John French wanted Murray’s post to go to General Henry Wilson, until then Sub-Chief of Staff, a brilliant officer and a friend of many French generals. The Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, and the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, did not trust Wilson, however. In the spring of 1914, during the crisis over Ulster, he had openly sided with the government’s opponents, and politicians regarded him as an intriguer. French wrote after the war that only this misfortune had prevented Wilson’s appointment.

Robertson knew that he was not French’s first choice, and he is said to have told Wilson that he did not want the promotion because he would not be able to manage the Commander-in-Chief. He accepted the post out of a sense of duty, but set one condition: he did not want Wilson as his deputy. General Edward Perceval became the new Sub-Chief of Staff, while Wilson took up the post of principal liaison officer at French headquarters and was given the temporary rank of lieutenant-general. The rivalry between the two men lasted until the end of the war.

Putting headquarters in order

Robertson quickly put the work of the staff in order. He separated distinct intelligence and staff duties sections from the operations section, and put at the head of each of the three sections a brigadier-general reporting directly to him. He required his officers to keep in touch with the units at the front. French soon came to appreciate his common sense, although their relations were never close. Robertson ate in a separate mess, while Wilson continued to advise the Commander-in-Chief every day.

Robertson remained in this post until December 1915, when he became Chief of the Imperial General Staff in London and the government’s most important military adviser. He was the only man in the history of the British Army to rise through every rank from private to field marshal, a rank he received in 1920.