John French was the son of Captain William French and Margaret Eccles, and was born in Ripple, Kent in 1852. He joined the navy in 1866, but transferred to the army in 1874. He served with the 19th Hussars in the Sudan (1884-85) and was a cavalry commander in South Africa during the Boer War (1899-1901). He was twice recommended for the award of the Victoria Cross during his career as a regimental officer, but was turned down once on the grounds of being too young, and on the second occasion he was told he was too old! Appointed Chief of Staff of the British Army in 1911 and promoted Field Marshal in 1913, French took command of the British Expeditionary Force sent to Europe in August 1914.

Sir John French commanded the BEF during the desperate days of 1914 and the costly attacks of 1915. An early and - by both men - poorly handled meeting with the commander of French Fifth Army General Lanrezac did not set a good tone or relations between the Allies at the critical hour before the first clash in August 1914. Once the BEF had been endangered by Lanrezac's withdrawal, French remained wary and sceptical of his Allies, and in effect decided to withdraw the BEF from battle by moving south of the Seine. Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener made a special trip to France to persuade French otherwise.

French had little choice but to comply with the Allies demands for larger and larger British attacks through 1915. He took steps to alert the press to a severe shortage of shells which had been a factor in the failure of the early attacks, which of course did not delight the Government of the day.

His end came after the Battle of Loos, in which French's handling of the British reserves - keeping them much too far from he front to be able to exploit success, then force marching them into a chaotic situation in which losses were unnecessarily heavy - plus the fact that he absented himself from his headquarters at a critical time, were strongly criticised. He was removed from command in October 1915.

Appointed commander of the Home Forces, he was responsible for dealing with the Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916. Rewarded with the post of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1918-1921), French was also granted £50,000 by the British Government when he retired.

Sir John French died in 1925, remembered for the more positive aspects of his command, notably the staunch defence of Ypres in 1914.