Henry Horne, 1st Baron Horne

[6] He received the brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel on 29 November 1900,[11][12] and in the latter stages of the war served as a remount officer and was mentioned in despatches.

Following the end of hostilities in June 1902 he returned to England, leaving Cape Town in the SS Norman which arrived in Southampton in late August that year.

[13] In November 1905 he received a substantive promotion to lieutenant colonel[14] and served with the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) under Douglas Haig.

He was promoted to colonel and succeeded Frederick Wing as a staff officer for Royal Horse and Field Artillery in September 1910.

Horne fought with distinction in the British Expeditionary Force's (BEF) actions throughout 1914; in October of that year, he was promoted to major-general[19] and created a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

The media launched vicious attacks on the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener; the blame was eventually laid on Field Marshal French who was forced to resign at the year's end.

[6] In March 1916, two months after being promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant-general,[20] and still GOC XV Corps, he returned to the Western Front.

The divisions bypassed Mametz Wood, a position the Germans had heavily entrenched and needed to be captured to allow XV to carry on the advance.

Historian Don Farr wrote that the reputation of the Welsh division suffered due to the repeated interference by Horne in matters best left to the divisional or brigade staff and his "inexperience of battlefield command at this level".

[23] His first trial occurred in April 1917, when his troops were sent on a diversionary attack on the fearsome Vimy Ridge, which rose hundreds of feet over the surrounding landscape.

The attack on Vimy Ridge was spearheaded by the First Army's "shock troops" (the Canadian Corps, under Lieutenant General Arthur Currie).

[citation needed] It was believed that he had not kept a diary and that his wife had destroyed all his letters after his death, although, in reality, his papers had been handed down to his granddaughters, who had kept them safe.

[citation needed] The donation of his extensive papers, which include his diaries and letters, to the Imperial War Museum by the family has allowed his career to be re-evaluated.

Henry Horne, presumably in the earlier stages of his military career.
A map of the initial objectives - few of which were attained - of the Battle of the Somme . Horne's forces were located near the right flank of the attacking line.
Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Horne, GOC British First Army, and Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie , GOC Canadian Corps , at the First Army Commemoration Service of the beginning of the fourth year of the First World War, Ranchicourt, France , 5 August 1917. French officers are also present.
King George V and General Horne inspecting men of the 2/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment , 59th Division, at Gauchin, 30 March 1918. They are accompanied by Brigadier General T. G. Cope and Major General Cecil Romer , GOC 59th Division.
General Horne inspecting the 24th Motor Machine Gun Battalion at Dieval, 12 June 1918. The motorbikes are Clyno 744 cc twin cylinder machines fitted with a sidecar and Vickers machine-guns.
Sir Douglas Haig with his army commanders and their chiefs of staff, November 1918. Front row, left to right: Sir Herbert Plumer , Sir Douglas Haig, Sir Henry Rawlinson . Middle row, left to right: Sir Julian Byng , Sir William Birdwood , Sir Henry Horne. Back row, left to right: Sir Herbert Lawrence , Sir Charles Kavanagh , Brudenell White , Percy, Louis Vaughan , Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd , Hastings Anderson .