Nevil Macready - First World War

First World War

Macready was immediately sent to France as Adjutant-General of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). In 1915, he was appointed Knight Commander of St Michael and St George (KCMG). In February 1916, having carried out this job efficiently, he was recalled to London as Adjutant-General to the Forces, one of the most senior staff appointments in the British Army. He was promoted Lieutenant-General in June 1916 (although he was already temporarily in that rank). He was an enthusiastic proponent of the employment of female labour to free men up to go to the front. He also abolished the compulsory wearing of moustaches by British soldiers, and immediately shaved off his own, which he had hated.

During the final stages of the Third Battle of Ypres, Macready warned (4 October 1917) that the BEF could be kept up to strength if it suffered no more than a further 50,000 casualties before the end of the year, but the total exceeded this. The BEF suffered an alarming rise in drunkenness, desertions and psychological disorders, and reports were gathered of soldiers returning from the front grumbling about "the waste of life" at Ypres.

In 1918, Macready was promoted full General and raised to Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George (GCMG). He had been mentioned in dispatches four times during the war, been made a Grand Officier of the Légion d'honneur of France (1915), and a member of the Order of the Crown of Belgium, the Order of the Crown of Italy, and the Order of the Sacred Treasures of Japan.