Charles à Court Repington

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Charles à Court Repington (born January 29, 1858 in Heytesbury , Wiltshire , † May 25, 1925 in Hove ), until 1903 Charles à Court , was a British soldier and later war correspondent for Morning Post and The Times . He is credited with first using the term World War I and exposing the Shell Scandal .

Life

Early life

He was born on January 29, 1858 to Charles Henry Wyndham A'Court Repington and Emily à Court Repington (nee Currie) in Heytesbury. He came from the Anglican gentry family à Court , which gained importance through membership in parliament and service in the military. In 1903 he changed his name to Court Repington.

He himself said about this in his memoirs :

“The à Courts are Wiltshire folk, and in old days represented Heytesbury in Parliament [...] The name of Repington, under the terms of an old will, was assumed by all the à Courts in turn as they succeeded to the Amington Hall Estate, and I followed the rule when my father died in 1903. "

“The à Courts are a Wiltshire family who formerly represented Heytesbury in Parliament [...] The name Repington was adopted by all à Courts according to an Old Testament when they inherited the Amington Hall Estate, and I followed that rule when my father died in 1903. "

He was a student at Eton College between 1871 and 1875 . He then received military training in Freiburg and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1876 and 1877 .

Military career

Repington joined the Rifle Brigade as an infantry officer in 1878. He served in Afghanistan and Sudan , where he contracted typhus . After recovering and serving in Ireland , he entered the General Staff School at Camberley in 1887 . When he graduated, he was transferred to Burma . From November 1898 he served in Brussels and The Hague as a military attaché , whereupon he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

In 1882 he married Melloney Catherine Scobell, with whom he had four children, two of whom survived infancy. Even so, he had many affairs. So he began in Egypt in 1897 with Lady Garstin, the wife of the engineer William Garstin , an affair. After this was discovered, he had to sign a contract in front of witnesses not to have any more interactions with Lady Garstin. This "password" was kept by Henry Wilson . Even so, he continued his affair with Lady Garstin.

He served in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1901, where he was made Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George and Lieutenant Colonel in September.

His affair was rediscovered after the war, which is why he wanted to get a divorce. Melloney Catherine Scobell refused, but Garstin divorced Lady Garstin. This case was reported in The Times , whereupon Sir Thomas Kenny-Kelly of à Court asked for a statement. In the statement, à Court alleged that the agreement had been terminated, but this was not confirmed by Wilson. He perceived this as a push in the back. A little later he was forced to resign from the military. He began a career as a war correspondent, criticizing Wilson whenever the opportunity arose. He did not mention the affair in his memoirs.

War correspondent

Before the First World War

Repington worked at the Morning Post (1902-1904) and later at The Times (1904-1918) as a war correspondent.

His coverage of the Russo-Japanese War was published in The War in the far East .

In a report on the imperial maneuver that took place in Altona in 1911 , he wrote a devastating criticism. He described the German infantrymen as machinery, slow and not interested in his work ( English machine-made, slow and lacking interest in his work ), and the German army was out of date. He praised the doctrine itself, however. The German sense of self was seriously injured by this criticism. What he didn't know at the time was that a turning point was taking place here in 1911 .

He was an advocate of a strong British army at the expense of the fleet and a "Westerner", someone who wanted to defeat the German Empire through strong battles on the Western Front . He also supported the establishment of a British army command.

First World War

Thanks to his friendship with Field Marshal John French , Repington was one of the best-informed war correspondents. This enabled him to be present on the Western Front in November 1914, while almost all other British journalists were not given permission.

Munitions crisis of 1915

After Repington himself had observed the loss-making British defeat at the Battle of Aubers Ridge in May 1915 and French mentioned an ammunition shortage in a conversation with him, he denounced this in a telegram to The Times . The report was published there and later in the Daily Mail, heavily censored. This sparked a scandal that led to the establishment of the Ministry of Munitions under David Lloyd George and a curtailment of the power of War Secretary Lord Kitchener . The scandal showed the power he had through his newspaper reports, but for the time being he was no longer allowed to report directly from the Western Front.

Law enforcement under the Defense of the Realm Act

Repington resigned from the Times in January 1918 because of a disagreement with his manager, Alfred Harmsworth . Harmsworth wanted to take a critical position against Marshal Douglas Haig after the German counterattack at the Battle of Cambrai . Repington disagreed and returned to the Morning Post .

On February 16, he and Howell tried Arthur Gwynne on trial: he was charged with violating the Defense of the Realm Act for publishing articles that revealed the real motivations behind the creation of the Allied Supreme War Council : He should weaken the power of William Robertson . Repington later claimed that there were more people in attendance at the trial than at Hawley Crippen's . He was convicted and had to pay a fine.

Later life and death

After the war ended, he wrote for the Daily Telegraph . In 1919 his memoir Vestigia, Reminiscences of Peace and War. released. A year later, the bestseller The First World War, 1914-1918 was split into two parts : Personal Experience of Lieutenant-Colonel C. à Court Repington CMG. published by Constable. The book established the name First World War in English-speaking countries. Even so, the book, in which several private conversations were revealed, cost Repington several friendships. In 1922, Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. published his diary After the War; London – Paris – Rome – Athens – Prague – Vienna – Budapest – Bucharest – Berlin – Sofia – Coblenz – New York – Washington; a diary . He was motivated to write these books out of financial difficulties. He was also concerned that his surname could be translated as “close to cash”.

He died at the age of 67 on May 25, 1925 in Hove , where he was also buried.

Works (selection)

  • The War in the Far East. 1905.
  • Vestigia, Reminiscences of Peace and War. 1919.
  • The First World War, 1914-1918: Personal Experience of Lieutenant-Colonel C. à Court Repington CMG. Volume 1, edited by Constable, 1920.
  • The First World War, 1914-1918: Personal Experience of Lieutenant-Colonel C. à Court Repington CMG. Volume 2, edited by Constable, 1920.
  • After the war; London – Paris – Rome – Athens – Prague – Vienna – Budapest – Bucharest – Berlin – Sofia – Coblenz – New York – Washington; a diary. Published by Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston & New York 1922.
  • The Letters of Lt. Col. Charles à Court Repington, CMG: Military Correspondent of "The Times". Edited by AJA Morris (posthumously), published by the Army Record Society in 1999.

Orders and decorations

literature

  • Charles à Court Repington: Vestigia, Reminiscences of Peace and War. , 1919
  • AJA Morris: Reporting the First World War: Charles Repington, The Times and the Great War , Introduction, Cambridge University, 2015, ISBN 978-1-107-10549-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sönke Neitzel : The global war. Federal Agency for Civic Education , May 9, 2014, accessed April 30, 2020 .
  2. ↑ What makes a 'World' War? Retrieved April 12, 2020 .
  3. ^ A b Who's Who - Charles Repington. Retrieved April 12, 2020 .
  4. ^ A b Charles a Court Repington. In: People Pill. Retrieved April 12, 2020 .
  5. ↑ London Gazette. London Gazette , September 27, 1901, accessed April 12, 2020 .
  6. ^ John Simkin: Charles Repington. Spartacus Educational, accessed May 16, 2020 .
  7. ^ The Times: October 28, 1911 edition, Charles à Court Repington: The German Army
  8. ↑ Berliner Tageblatt: No. 621, edition of December 6, 1911, Gädecke: The German Army in English lighting
  9. ^ 'The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914-1919' (1952), edited by Robert Blake (Eds. Eyre & Spottiswoode), p. 48
personal data
SURNAME À Court Repington, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES À Court, Charles; Repington, Charles à Court
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British war correspondent
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Heytesbury , Wiltshire
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 1925
Place of death Hove