Cobbold and Kin: Life Stories from an East Anglian Family by Clive Hodges

Author:Clive Hodges [Hodges, Clive]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, History, Europe, Great Britain, General, Modern, Social History
ISBN: 9781843839545
Google: PMCroAEACAAJ
Publisher: Boydell Press
Published: 2014-01-15T00:22:38+00:00

Field Marshal Herbert Horatio Kitchener, KCMG KG, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850-1916)

Soldier and Statesman

‘Khartoum’ by Spy (Leslie M. Ward) for Vanity Fair, 1899. (The Cobbold Family History Trust.)

To those with even a casual interest in the history of the British Empire, Herbert Kitchener embodied many of the characteristics that enabled a small island to dominate so much of the world. Fearless, determined and uncompromising, Kitchener was born to lead, whether in the army or in public service, and his opinions were difficult to ignore no matter how illustrious the company. His physical appearance reinforced his authority: he was unusually tall (6 feet 2 inches) and solidly built, with piercing blue eyes capable of withering any on whom he fixed an icy glare; these and his luxuriant moustaches dominate the many portraits of him, which depict him as a man not to be trifled with. Of Kitchener’s time as secretary of state for war, Winston Churchill, that most persuasive of English statesmen, wrote, ‘When Kitchener gave a decision it was generally accepted as final. He was never, to my belief, over-ruled by the War Council or the Cabinet in any military matter, great or small.’ Such strength in his own convictions made Kitchener a difficult man to work with but, like all leaders possessed of such confidence, even arrogance, he never sat on the fence or shirked from making tough decisions. All was not blinkered bravado. Kitchener was unquestionably an outstanding military leader and when rank brought him into the realm of politics he never allowed himself to be cowed by his besuited masters. History has been largely unkind to him. He has often been associated with the worst excesses of imperial expansion and his wartime reputation was quickly tarnished by the memoirs of those who harboured jealousies against him or whom he rubbed up the wrong way. However, in recent years, more balanced studies have emerged and many have reached a more sympathetic conclusion.

Kitchener was born at Gunsborough House, near Listowel, the third child of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Horatio Kitchener (1805–94) and Frances (Fanny) Ann Chevallier (1826–64) of Aspall Hall, Suffolk, whose older brother was married to Isobella Cobbold. The family moved to Switzerland in 1864 for the benefit of his mother’s health, though the change of air was unable to save her from tuberculosis. There, the young Herbert boarded at an English-run school where he was generally unhappy. He immersed himself in his studies and became fluent in French and German. In poor health in 1867, he returned to England to stay with a cousin in Cambridge. The following year, having been to a crammer, he passed the examination for the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where he was an able if not outstanding cadet. On passing out in December 1870, he immediately headed to France, at that time at war with Prussia, to spend Christmas with his father. Together they discussed the Franco-Prussian War at length. Kitchener was keen to see action and, soon afterwards, he and a friend, Harry Dawson, joined a French medical unit.

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