How tall was FM.Haig?

[Khaki]

I have just been reading an account of FM Haig that stated he was quite tall, I would have thought he was about average height or slightly above based on photographs, anyone have any information?

khaki

[IPT]

In his autobiography, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle says that Haig was not tall (but was among the handsomest men he had ever met, so it's not all bad news).

[Khaki]

According to on line data the average (UK) height in the 1870's was 5' 5" I am sure that FM Haig was taller than that, I am guessing probably about 5' 8". Maybe our resident cavalry experts may have some thoughts on the subject.

khaki

[Steven Broomfield]

I'd hesitate to call myself an expert, but I think I can safely say that he'd be above average height if sitting on a horse.

[Guest]

Desn't give a figure, but, in " A Visit to Sir Douglas Haig " Isaac F Marcossan says

" I looked through the doorway and saw a tall, lithe, well-knit man with the insignia of a Field- Marshal on his shoulder-straps. He sat at a plain, flat-topped desk earnestly studying a re- port. In a moment he straightened up, pushed a button, and my companion said : "The Commander-in-Chief will see you now." The Haig welcome is a sufficient rebuke to what- ever legend of his aloofness that may exist. I found myself in a presence that, without the slightest clue to its profession, would have un-consciously impressed itself as military. Dignity, distinction and a gracious reserve mingle in his bearing; I have rarely seen a mas- culine face so handsome and yet so strong. His hair is fair, and his clear, almost steely blue eyes search you, but not unkindly. His chest is broad and deep, yet scarcely broad enough for the rows of Service and Order ribbons that plant a mass of colour against the background of khaki. The Commander-in-Chief's cavalry training sticks out all over him. You see it in the long,shapely lines of his legs and in the rounded calves, shod in perfectly polished boots, with their jingle of silver spurs. He stands easily and gracefully, and walks with that rangy, swinging stride oddly enough so common to men who ride much. He was a famous fox-hunter in his student days at Oxford, and never, save in times of utmost crisis, does he forgo his daily gallop. To him the motor is a business vehicle, never meant for sport or pleasure. In brief, Sir Douglas Haig is the literal personification of what the man meant when he made the phrase: "every inch a soldier."

Mike