General Douglas Haig

granted a special nomination to the British Military Staff College, despite being colour-blind. The next year he was selected for the 7th Queens Hussars and promoted to lieutenant shortly afterwards. In 1905 Haig married Hon. Dorothy Vivian, a daughter of Hugh Vivian. They had four children - Alexandra (born 1907), Victoria (born 1908), George (born 1918), and Irene (born 1919).Before the World War I he was the commanding officer of the 17th Lancers and within five years in 1904 he had become the youngest major-general in the British Army at that time. During the war Haig helped organise the British Expeditionary Force.  He was the general of the British army in France. One of his plans was when the Germans were almost occupying Verdun that was thought to be the French’s most fortified and protected town in France. He decided to take the mainly British army up to Somme where there were less Germans and they could overrun through the lines. He thought by doing this the Germans would withdraw troops from Verdun to stop the British from going through their lines. In the end, it was a disaster, more than a million men died and the British only gained 6 miles. After the war, in 1919 Haig was created 1st Earl Haig and received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament and a grant of £100,000. Haig died, aged 66, on the 29th of January 1928 and was given a state funeral on the 3rd February. Haig’s Ranks Lieutenant (February 1885) Captain (1891) Major (1899) Lieutenant-Colonel (1901) Colonel (1903) Major-General (1904) Lieutenant-General (1910) General (November 1914) Field-Marshal (1 January 1917)