Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener,

Field Marshal Horatio
Herbert Kitchener,
1st Earl Kitchener,
KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI,
GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC
(24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916)
Kitchener originally won fame in 1898
for winning the Battle of Omdurman
and securing control of the Sudan, after
which he was given the title "Lord
Kitchener of Khartoum". As Chief of
Staff in the Boer war he played a key
role in Lord Roberts' conquest of the
Boer Republics, before succeeding
Roberts as commander-in-chief. He was
then appointed Commander-in-chief of
the Army, before returning to Egypt in
1909 as British Agent and ConsulGeneral, the de facto administrator.
Horatio Herbert Kitchener is the very recognisable face of the
Great War recruitment campaigns – and he even owned a
house here in Kent.
Andy Tonge introduces us to the man behind poster.
On the outbreak of the war in 1914
Kitchener was by chance in Britain on
leave. The Prime Minister, Asquith,
quickly had Lord Kitchener appointed
Secretary of State for War; a job Asquith
had been filling himself as a stopgap
following the resignation of Colonel
Seely over the Curragh Incident earlier
in 1914.
Kitchener correctly predicted a long war
that would last at least three years,
require huge new armies to defeat
Germany, and suffer huge casualties
before the end would come. Kitchener
stated that the conflict would plumb the
depths of manpower "to the last
million."
He instigated a massive recruitment
campaign, which soon featured the
distinctive iconic image by which we
now all remember him. It may have
encouraged large numbers of volunteers
and is one of the most enduring images
of the war, having been copied and
parodied many times since. Kitchener
built up the "New Armies" as separate
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units because he distrusted the
Territorials from what he had seen with
the French Army in 1870. This may have
been a mistaken judgment, as the
British Territorials of 1914 tended to be
much younger and fitter than their
French equivalents a generation earlier.
As a member of Cabinet, Kitchener
made a far reaching decision on
6 August 1914 while the British
Expeditionary Force (BEF) was
mobilising. Believing Britain should
husband her resources for a long war he
decided that the initial BEF would
consist of only 4 infantry divisions and 1
cavalry division rather than the 5 or 6
originally envisaged. This decision to
hold back two of the six divisions of the
BEF, although based on exaggerated
concerns about a possible German
invasion of Britain, arguably saved the
BEF from disaster as Sir John French (on
the advice of Sir Henry Wilson who was
much influenced by the French
Government), might have been
tempted to advance further into the
teeth of the advancing German forces,
had his own force been stronger.
Kitchener had not been entirely
comfortable with the advance to
contact with the enemy in Belgium.
Supported by Lt-General Douglas Haig,
he had in fact proposed an alternative
approach whereby the BEF would have
concentrated at Amiens ready to deliver
a counter-attack. The outcome of this
strategy can only be supposed as on 5
August he was over-ruled by the War
Council.
Throughout his career Kitchener had
ruffled many feathers and despite
having warned of the difficulty of
provisioning Britain for a long war, he
was blamed for the shortage of shells in
the spring of 1915. Consequently a
coalition government was formed and
Kitchener was stripped of his control
over munitions and strategy. He was
increasingly marginalised by the new
Government. In the summer of 1915 he
was sent to Gallipoli and the Near East
on a tour of inspection. Such was the
breakdown of relationships that
Kitchener took his seals of office with
him so he could not be sacked by
Asquith in his absence.
great prestige, Asquith wished to avoid
Kitchener resigning and brokered
Kitchener and Robertson negotiating an
agreement at the Hotel de Crillon in
Paris. Kitchener agreed that Robertson
alone should present strategic advice to
the Cabinet, with he, Kitchener,
responsible for recruiting and supplying
the army. He refused to agree that
military orders should go out over
Robertson’s signature alone so it was
agreed that the Secretary of State
should continue to sign orders jointly
with the CIGS.
Early in 1916 Kitchener visited Douglas
Haig, newly appointed Commanderin-Chief of the BEF in France. Kitchener
had been a key figure in the removal of
Haig's predecessor Sir John French, with
whom he had a poor relationship.
Kitchener was somewhat doubtful of
Haig's plan to win decisive victory in
1916, and would have preferred smaller
and purely attritional attacks, but sided
with Robertson in telling the Cabinet
that the planned Anglo-French offensive
on the Somme should go ahead.
Kitchener was not to see the outcome of
the Somme Offensive. He was lost at
sea on 5 June 1916 when the warship,
HMS Hampshire, taking him to
negotiations in Russia, was sunk by a
German mine. Kitchener, his staff, and
643 of the crew of 655 were drowned or
died of exposure. His body was never
found.
So what’s the Kent connection other
than Kitchener being the hero of
Corporal Jones of the Walmington-onSea Home Guard?
From 1911 until his death in 1916,
Kitchener owned Broome Park, a Grade
I-listed mansion and its grounds in
Barham, near Canterbury - although he
never actually lived in it.
Kitchener boarding HMS Iron Duke the
day before his death.
During the five years of his ownership,
the house was subject to constant
renovation. This meant Broome Park
remained empty, with Kitchener
choosing instead to live in a small house
in the grounds known as Flint Cottage
whenever he returned from duty.
In the early 1930s Broome Park was
converted into a country house hotel.
During World War Two the estate was
requisitioned by the War Office and used
by the army. A number of regiments
were billeted there, including the
Canadian Tank Regiment, who, it is
rumored, buried a number of their tanks
somewhere in the grounds!
Kitchener was a man of many talents
and several hobbies, not least of which
was knitting – perhaps a little strange by
modern standards, but he was a
life-long bachelor and had spent a
considerable time in Egypt! The knitted
sock patterns of the day used a seam up
the toe that could rub uncomfortably
against the toes. Kitchener encouraged
British and American women to knit for
the war effort, and contributed a sock
pattern featuring a new technique for a
seamless join of the toe, still known as
the Kitchener stitch.
Change was inevitable and by early 1916
Kitchener and Asquith were agreed that
Sir William Robertson should become
Chief of the Imperial General Staff, but
Robertson refused to do this if Kitchener
continued to exercise operational
control of the army. Given Kitchener’s
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