'The Man Who Disobeyed'

[armourersergeant]

This book is about the career of General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien.

Published 1970, with 303 pages...

It covers his life from his commission into the infantry and his service at Isandhlwana, during the Zulu war, he was one of the few to survive, a feet in its self. Chapters cover his early career in the Sudan and then onto the Beor war. It would for many perhaps fill in the gaps of his life for those that have a working knowledge of SD. For those that have very little knowledge of the man then shame on you, but atleast this will give you an incite into one of the worst used of the Generals of WW1.

It does touch on his ability and his thinking and whilst it believes him to be much the old soldier and often with a temper, it also shows that he had the soldier at heart and was not afraid to take the correct decision. Whilst at Aldershot command he made changes to the lower ranks conditions that helped them and he was all for cavalry learning to shoot proficiently, something the BEF were to make use of some years later.

He was not liked by French and his appointment by Kitchneer to fill the spot left by Griersons death did not go down well and Haig did not help as he saw SD as a direct threat to his assumption of the 'crown'

There is a couple of appendix item at the back of the book one which is the letter he sent to his father after the Islandhlwana escape.

All in all a good read with no controversy as such more a narrative though biased to SD but then thats fine by me.

Regards

Arm.

[Tim Birch]

Thanks for that Arm

Sounds an interesting read. Do you know if it is still in print, and who with?

Tim

[AGWR]

Didn't he die as a result of a car accident in the late 20s/ early 30s ? I am sure that I read this somewhere. Or I am muddling him up with someone else?

[Anthony Pigott]

The book is out of print. I've been looking for a copy myself but it hasn't shown up on any of the usual internet book searches. If anyone comes across a copy, I'd be very grateful to hear about it.

Regards

Anthony

[Anthony Pigott]

Oh, and by the way there's a brief biography on Chris B's main site at http://www.1914-1918.net/smithdorrien_bio.htm. As it says, he died as a result of a car crash in the UK in 1930.

Regards

Anthony

[Dolphin]

There are some extracts from Smith Dorrien's autobiography "Memories of Forty Years Service" at http://www.richthofen.com/smith-dorrien/

Not the whole book, but much better than nothing.

[andigger]

Arm. Where did you get your copy of this book? It sounds interesting, I also noticed it was referenced in The Mons Star. Does the pre Great War stuff get too heavy for those of us who might know far less about those bits of history?

Andy

[armourersergeant]

Andy,

I got my copy of Abebooks for around £10.

To answer the pre ww1 question. In regard to General officers i think pre war is of paramont importance as it sets the scene from where they came and what they had been taught.

The likes of Monash and Currie were in the main educated during the war and thus did not have ingrained ideas that led other higher commanders who were imbedded with the 'small' war ideas of the imperial army.

It is often this part of my research that fascinates me most.

regards

Arm.