EARL HAIG PASSES

Northern Advocate, 31 January 1928, Page 5

EARL HAIG PASSES

DISTINGUISHED CAREER GREAT MILITARY LEADER. A NATIONAL HERO. (United Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received 10 a.m.) LONDON, January 29. The death took place today, at his London residence, of Field-Marshal Earl Haig, as the result of heart disease.

Earl Haig collapsed while undressing. His death came as a great shock to the public. Ho was apparently in good health on Saturday when participating in a function of Haig’s Own Boy Scouts. He had promised to attend the Empire Service League on Wednesday, with the object of discussing Dominion representation in ttye Flanders pilgrimage in August. In the afternoon he walked to Hyde Park and had a hearty dinner. He retired at 10.40 p.m. Soon afterwards his brother heard groans from the bedroom and found Earl Haig sitting down, gasping for breath. Though a doctor was in prompt attendance Earl Haig died on the ! stroke of midnight. His health hitherto had given no cause for anxiety, though his physician warned him that the appalling strain of his war service had affected his heart. Earl Haig’s last speech to the Boy Scouts on Saturday struck an Empire note, saying: “It is essential that the youug should be taught the meaning of Empire and the sacrifices their fathers made. Therefore I appeal to you boys always to play the game. Try to realise what citizenship and public spirit really mean. When you grow up always remember that you beflong to a great Empire. Stand up and defend England when people talk disrespectfully of it.”—A. and N.Z.

UNFAILING COURAGE. FAITHFUL TO HIS TRUST. ■ (Received 1.15 p.m.) LONDON, January 30. Mr Lloyd George, interviewed, said “Earl Haig was a man of unfailing courage and purpose. He never lost heart, even in the worst moments of our military fortunes. He faithfully carried out plans laid down, whether he liked them or not, especially when the Government decided on united command and placed the British Army under Marshal Foch’s control. Whatever might .have been his personal views, he carried out the policy honourably in every particular, and behaved not only like a great patriot, but like a great gentleman.’’—A. and N.Z.

STERLING VIRTUES, “ JOFFRE’S ADMIRATION. (Received 1.20 p.m.) PARIS, January 30. Marshall Joffre, in a tribute to Earl Haig, said he had learned of the death with painful emotioi|. He knew him personally when he commanded the army corps, but appreciated this great soldier’s sterling military virtues above all when he fought with, him side by side in 1916. Marshal Joffre continued: “I maintain full and affectionate admiration, and deplore the loss which has befallen the British Empire, whose glorious army loses one of its most illustrious chiefs.’’—<A. and N.Z. £THE PART HE PLAYED. IN ALLIED VICTORY. FRENCH APPRECIATION. (Received 1 p.m.) * LONDON, January 30. M, Clemenccau, says; “In my estimation, Field-Marshall Haig was the best general Britain ever had, arid his was the largest contribution towards the Allied victory. M. Painleve sent a letter to the War Office in which he says: “Accept the profound sympathy of myself and the French Army. Field-Marshall Haig was as popular in France as he was in England. Our army offers homage in recognition of the great qualities ho showed in his glorious mission, and realises the part he played -in the common victory.’’—A. and N.N., HELD HIS~HEAD ERECT. UNDER WORLD-WIDE BURDEN. (Received 2 p.m.) LONDON, January 30. Sir George Milne, a colleague of Earl Haig in the Great War, telegraphed to Countess Haig on behalf of the Army Council, expressing profound sympathy in the irreparable loss of her husband, who was loved and trusted by all the armies of the Empire which he led to victory.

General -Sir lan Hamilton cited Earl Haig’s recent inspection of the Boy Scouts, and emphasised his .making friends with the eager Wolf Cubs, adding: “It was so like him. Tomorrow he was going to advise the British Legion how best to help distressed comrades—again sa like him. Today his valiant heart has ceased to beat. Not now, when shock benumbs us, can pen be trusted to trace the footsteps of his wonderful career. Earl Haig was never a man to parade anguish, either when, under his orders, men were falling in thousands, or afterwards. Earl Haig always held his

head high and never faltered momentarily under the burden of the worldwide responsibility ho endured for years. Ho preferred people to think ho had not done anything special, “Signer Mussolini, when he recently met him, said he imagined he was going to see a careworn, old gentleman creeping into the room. Instead he found a vigorous young soldier, Earl Haig repeated the remark, not because it tickled his vanity, which was nonexistent, but because he felt that his appearance helped to maintain the assumption that he had been through nothing in particular. But his toohuman heart betrayed him in the end. Now it beats no more. He was typical, of the best side of the Scot. His special qualities were stability, simplicity, intense modesty and unfaltering generosity.”—A. and N.Z.

OFFICIAL MEDICAL OPINION.

STRAIN OF CAMPAIGNING. WINSTON CHURCHILL’S TRIBUTE. “ALWAYS FOR HIS COMRADES.” (Received 2.12 pan.) LONDON, January 30. The official* medical statement shows that Earl Haig’s heart failure was due to the effects of the war and previous tropical campaigning services on the heart muscles. Mr Winston Churchill said: “Earl Haig was incomparably the finest British soldier in this fateful age. His calm, unwearying strength of mind and singleness of spirit enabled him to endure all stresses of the war and render service to the State beyond the power of any other man. These classic qualities preserved a noble dignity amid the rewards of the unaccustomed leisures of victorious peace. He never spoke a word but for his comrades and his end was swift, like a soldier’s on a battlefield. His memory will live and grow with the grandeur of the events with which he strove and over which he ruled.”—A.P.A. and Sun.

(Field-Marshal Earl Haig was created first earl in 19.19, prior to which time he held the titles of Viscount Dawiek, created earlier in the same year, and ißaron Haig of Bemersyde, his principal orders being 0.M., K.T., G.C.8., K.C.1.E., G.Q.V.O, and G.B. Earl Haig was 67 years of age, having been born on Jufte- 19, 1861, his ■father being John Haig, of Oameronbridge, Fife. After being educated at Clifton and Bi’asenose College, Oxford, he .'joined the 7th Hussars in 1885, and served with that regiment in the Soudan in 1898, He was at Atbara and Khartoum, and earned early recognition, being promoted to major and -mentioned in despatches, besides gain- \ ing the British medal and the Khedive's medal with two clasps. When the South African War began in 1899, he served in Natal and was under General French during the Colesberg campaign. He became one of the most dis-' tinguished cavalry leaders in the campaign, and in 1901-2 he commanded a group of columns. He was pxentioned in despatches and gained the Queen’s medal with seven clasps, and the King’s, After the war he commanded the “Diehards,’’ the 17th Lancers, until 1903, when he went to India as Inspector-General of Cavalry, gaining the rank of Major-General in 1904, In the following married the Hon. Dorothy Vivian, daughter of the third Lord Vivian, but his heir, Viscount Dawiek, for whom the King stood godfather, was not born until 1918. In India he became Chief of Staff and promotion to Lieutenant-General came in 1910. „

Prior to the outbreak of the Great War, (Sir Douglas Haig, as he was tjhen, was General Officer. commanding at Aldershot. In the early stages of the war he was placed in command of the Ist Army, which held the right of the British line from the suburbs of ffilons to the little town of Binehe, and contained six battalions of the Guards. During the battle of the Marne his array made largo captures of guns and prisoners, and! in the first battle of Ypres further honours were won. Then, on December 15, 1915, he succeeded Viscount Drench as Commander-in-chief of the British forces in Prance and Flanders, largely owing to his contention that the Ypres salient must be held at all costa. Between the beginning of 191 G and the Armistice ho saw more, fighting in a single month and commanded more British troops in a single day than Wellington did in his whole career. Much of the success of the Allies was due to his uniformly friendly relations with the French, and to his ready acceptance of an Allied command with Marshall Foch as generalissimo. When victory was secured he was appointed to an earldom and received a gratuity of £IOO,OOO, the thanks of Parliament and the post of Field-Marshall Com-mander-in-Chicf of the forces in Great Britain until 1920, when he retired from the high command. As might be expected for so distinguished a soldier, Earl Haig held many honours conferred upon him by the Allies, including the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, the Medialle Militaire,_tho Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold and the Grand Cross of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, He was also an Hon. Fellow of Brasenosc, Lord Rector and .Chancellor of St. Andrews’ University and he enjoyed the freedom of many cities. His country seat was “Bemersyde,” St. Boswell’s, Eoxburgshire.)