London, May 22.
The death ig reported of the Earl Ypres (Field-Marshal Lord French) at the age of 72—Reuter.
Field-Marshal Sir John Denton nkstone French, Earl of Ypres, French of Ypres and High Lake on his return to England and became Jcommander in the United Kingdom. 11 1918 however, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland where he occupied a very diffieule edition cor while conditions in" that much {troubled country were steadily going {from bad to worse. On his resigna-[tion he was awarded an earldom. JAt the end of the war ho apple Vale, near Walmer, in Kent, on September 28, 1852, and was the son of an Irish naval officer. He himself entered the Navy in which he served asa cadet and midshipman from 3866 to 1870, He later joined the Militia passing from this into the army in 1874 and was gazetted in the 19th Hussars. He married Eleanore, daughter of R. W. Selby Lowndes, in 1880, As a young man he had neither wealth nor intue to help him on in his profes and his early career was no more distinguished than that of any keen land interested army officer. Yet in the Nile Expedition of 1884-5 he gained some merit and was commander of his regiment from 1889 1803 and after two years was appointed on the War Office staff and became commandant of the cavalry brigade, When the mo-Dilization of the South African Expeditionary force took place French was chosen to command the Cavalry division and was promoted to the rank of Major-General, Published his personal narrative under the title "1914."
Field Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood, v.c, in an introduction to a work by, Cecil Chisholm writes:
"I regard John Denton French as the man who for the last 12 ars has been the driving force of technical instruction in the British army. He made use of the best] ideas of the generals who preceded him in the Aldershot Command and ink he was instrumental in jeansing the appointment of Horace Capture of Cronje We served in Natal. where commanded the troops on the field Elandslaagte and took part in the early combats near Ladysmith but was ordered to the Cape Colony Just before the place was invested. After a few weeks in charge of the force at Colesberg, he led th cavalry during Lord Roberts's ad~ varec from Cape Colony to the relief of Kimberly where he cut off army and occupied Bloem-
During subsequent advances into the Transvaal ard in the move from Prevoria to Komati he played a Prominant part and was awarded the honour of K. C. B. for his ser-viees rendered. in the second pho: of the struggle he was commandant of the forces operating against the enemy in Cape Colony and was at the conclusion of hostilities given the K. ©. M. G.
1902 French was appointed in command at Alderchot and that year was promoted to the rank of General following which he became inspector of Imperial General Staff] in 1912 rising to the rank of Field-'Marshal the following year.
The Great War In 1914 French vacated his post of 1. G. 8. owing to the troubles in Ireland over the Ulster question but fon the outbreak of war four months later was chosen without hesitation to: take command of the British expeditionary force.
During the first 7 months of the most terrible warfare the world has ever known. French was in command of the troops in the field and while in this! command saw the seven. original divisions (excluding cavalry Tegiments) on the western front increased to 34 divisions: His forces up to the last three months of his command suffered terribly through Tack of ammunition and conditions fas they were in the early days of the war. This hampered operations {o an extent not experienced by his successor. It was these 17 months Anat aaw some of the most critical times in the world's history—the retreat from Mons in circumstances: of the greatest difficulty, the battle of the Marne and the subsequent advance en the Aisne. Then followed the transfer of the ex-
Peditionary forces to Flanders and the desperate fighting in the Autumn! generally called the first battle of Ypres. One also recalls at this time the successful "offensive of Neuve Chapelle undertaken in. 1916, the second great battle of Ypres in April, 1918, and the important vetory won the following September in the region of Loos.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.