Earl Kitchener.

Horatio Herbert Kitchener—Earl Kitchener of Khartum—was born in County Kerry, Ireland, on 24th June, 1850, and was educated at home and in a French school at Villeneuve. He received his first instruction in military science at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich which he entered when eighteen years of age. In 1871 he volunteered for service in the French Army and took part in several engagements of the Franco-Prussian War. Kitchener was appointed, in 1899, as Chief of Staff to Lord Roberts in the South African War, and the results of his organising genius were soon made apparent in the better efficiency of our army. In 1900 he succeeded Lord Roberts as Commander-in-Chief in South Africa and brought the war to a successful conclusion. In 1909 he was promoted to the rank of field-marshal, and made a tour of inspection of the military forces of the Empire. When the Great War broke out in August 1914, Kitchener was appointed Secretary of State for War. His work in this capacity—the creation of “Kitchener's Army”—was not only a tribute to the greatness of his own personality and genius, but it was a service for Britain and her allies which had much to do with their ultimate success in the war. In June 1916 Earl Kitchener left England on a mission to Russia. The cruiser Hampshire on which he sailed struck a mine off the Orkney islands in which disaster the great soldier, statesman and administrator lost his life—a calamity which plunged the whole Empire into sorrow.