An Important Archive Relating to Field Marshall Sir John French

Warrant appointing The Right Honourable John Denton Pinkstone, Viscount French, K.P. &c. to be “Lieutenant-General and General Governor of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland” dated 7th May 1918 and signed by [Sir] Almeric Fitzroy, Clerk to the Privy Council. Single printed sheet (one copy only printed, HMSO, 1918), foolscap, royal seal affixed at top left corner, very good £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, An Important Archive Relating to Field Marshall Sir John French.

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French’s tenure as Governor of Ireland was not attended with success. A misguided attempt to raise recruits for the British Army with the vague promise of the grant of Home Rule was a dismal failure. The country reached a state whereby it could only be governed by military authority and “degenerated into a campaign of aggression and punishment, of outrages and reprisals” [DNB]. In December 1919 an assassination attempt failed when a bomb and shots were aimed at French’s car. French finally retired in April 1921, having presided over one of the most depressing episodes in Irish history.

The illustration is of Lot 123