YPRES, JOHN DENTON PINKSTONE FRENCH, 1ST EARL OF (1852-1925), British soldier, was born at Ripple, Kent, on Sept. 28, 1852. The son of a naval officer, he entered the royal navy, in which he served as cadet and midshipman from 1866 to 1870. Joining the militia he passed from this into the army in 1874 and was gazetted to the 59th Hussars. He mar ried Eleanora, daughter of R. W. Selby Lowndes in 1880. He served in the Nile expedition in and commanded his regiment from 1889 to 1893. After two years on the war office staff he commanded a cavalry brigade (1897-9), and on the mobilisation of the expeditionary force for S. Africa in 1899 he was chosen to command the Cavalry Division and was promoted major-general. Pending the assembly of this he served in Natal where he commanded the troops on the field at Elandslaagte and took part in the early combats near Ladysmith, but he proceeded to Cape Colony just before the place was invested. After a few weeks in charge of the force at Colesburg, he led the cavalry during Lord Roberts' advance from Cape Colony, relieved Kim berley, cut off the retreat of Cronje's army, and occupied Bloem fontein. During the subsequent advance into the Transvaal he was in command of the left wing, and at a later stage of the victorious campaign he played a prominent part in the move from Pretoria to Komati Poort. For these services he was given the K.C.B. During most of the second phase of the struggle he was in command of the forces operating against the enemy in Cape Colony, and he was on the conclusion of hostilities promoted lieutenant-general and was given the K.C.M.G.
He commanded at Aldershot from 1902 to 1907, in which year he was promoted general, and he then became inspector-general of the Forces for five years. He was appointed chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1912 and was promoted field-marshal in 1913. In April 1914 he vacated the post of C.I.G.S., owing to military troubles in Ireland in connection with Ulster, but four months later he was chosen to take charge of the Expeditionary Force on the outbreak of the World War, and he commanded the British Army on the Western Front from the outset of the struggle until the end of 1915. The terribly costly and some what fruitless advances of this year, culminating in Loos, pro voked criticism at the time, and controversy has raged over French's share in them since. He certainly failed signally to har monise with Kitchener at the War office. He resigned in De cember of that year, Sir D. Haig taking his place, and he returned to England, to be raised to the peerage as Viscount French of Ypres and High Lake. He then became commander-in-chief in the United Kingdom, and he held that appointment until May 1918, when he was selected to be lord lieutenant of Ireland. This position he occupied under most trying conditions until early in 1921. On resigning he was rewarded with an earldom. He died on May 22, 1925, at Deal Castle, Kent. At the end of the war, Lord French published his personal narrative under the title, "1914."