Our thanks to Geroge D Fortune for this report:
On Friday 8 November as part of Remembrance, St.Paul’s organised a lecture on FM Earl Haig, who following World War I, divided public opinion. Many held him responsible for the awful atrocities and conditions in the trenches of the Somme, Ypres and Flanders, – while many others revered him.
Pictured above is the lecturer, General Chaplain (Rtd) David Coulter, C.B. OStJ. QHC a Presbyterian chaplain born in Ulster, now living and working in Fife. A Graduate of St.Andrews University, he became a Post Graduate of Edinburgh and is now a Fellow of Oxford.
Many people are unaware that Douglas Haig, orphaned in his teens, graduated from Oxford. An accomplished polo player, he joined the army as a Cavalry Officer and was promoted to Field Marshall in 1917. Unsurprisingly he preferred traditional military tactics (cavalry) and was reticent to explore modern ground tactics.
The thrust of the lecture was Haig’s devotion to religion and how his belief in providence and predestination affected his life and work. George Duncan, a Scottish minister and Christian Scholar serving as an Army Chaplain in the BEF on the Western Front became Haig’s favoured Chaplain and was able to provide support to Haig, who felt the weight of his responsibility for the troops under his command.
Haig was instrumental in the formation of the Territorial Force and on his retirement from military service, devoted his time to the welfare of ex-servicemen, founding the Royal British Legion in June 1921.
