John French (Royal War)

Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres KP, GCB, OM,GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC (28 September 1852 – 22 May 1925), known as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a British and Anglo-Irish officer serving as the first Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in World War I. {| class="toc" id="toc" style="font-size: 12px; color: black; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 0.5em; "

Contents

 * 1 Early life
 * 2 Career
 * 3 Portuguese Civil War
 * 4 Ranks

== Early life== Born in Ripple in Kent (where he is also buried), the son of Commander John French, an officer in the Royal Navy. His father died in 1854 and soon his fragile mother was confined to a mental home. In 1863 the family moved to London.
 * 5 Books by French
 * 6 French in popular culture
 * }

His sister was the suffragette and Sinn Féin member Charlotte Despard. She would remain highly critical of her brother throughout his career.

He joined the Navy in 1866. He attended the Eastman’s Naval Academy in Portsmouth. In 1869 he served as a midshipman on HMS Warrior where it was discovered that he was acrophobic. He transferred to the British Army as a lieutenantin the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars in 1874.