Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig

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Lore & Background

Haig was born in a house on Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, to John Richard Haig, an alcoholic who headed the family's successful Haig & Haig whisky distillery with an income of £10,000 per year, and Rachel, daughter of Hugh Veitch of Stewartfield, from an impoverished gentry family. The family home was Haig House in Windygates, Fife. He was educated at Mr Bateson's School in St Andrews, Edinburgh Collegiate School, Orwell House in Warwickshire, and Clifton College. Both parents had died by the time he was eighteen. He studied Political Economy, Ancient History and French Literature at Brasenose College, Oxford from 1880–1883, where he was a member of the Bullingdon Club and the university polo team. While an undergraduate he was initiated as a Freemason in Elgin's Lodge at Leven, Fife, taking the first and second degrees. In 1920 Archibald Montgomerie, 16th Earl of Eglinton encouraged him to complete his Masonic progression, and he returned to his lodge to take the third degree, serving as Worshipful Master from 1925 to 1926. He became an officer of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Although he passed his final exam at Oxford, he was not eligible for a degree as he had missed a term's residence owing to illness. He entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in January 1884, where he was Senior Under-Officer, awarded the Anson Sword, and passed out first in the order of merit. He was commissioned as a lieutenant into the 7th (Queen's Own) Hussars on 7 February 1885.

Reader's Guide

Haig's legacy is deeply contested. During the immediate post-war years he gained a favourable reputation, with his funeral a day of national mourning. However, beginning in the 1960s, he has been widely criticised for his wartime leadership, earning the nickname 'Butcher Haig' for the two million British casualties under his command. The Canadian War Museum comments: 'His epic but costly offensives at the Somme (1916) and Passchendaele (1917) have become nearly synonymous with the carnage and futility of First World War battles.' Since the 1980s many historians have argued that the public hatred of Haig failed to recognise the adoption of new tactics and technologies by forces under his command, the important role played by British forces in the allied victory of 1918, and that high casualties were a consequence of the tactical and strategic realities of the time.

Did You Know?

• Haig was born in a house on Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, on 19 June 1861.
• He was Senior Under-Officer at Sandhurst, awarded the Anson Sword, and passed out first in the order of merit.
• Haig concealed his failure of the compulsory mathematics paper for the Staff College entrance exam for the rest of his life.
• He played polo for England on a tour of the United States in August 1886.
• Haig's father, John Richard Haig, was an alcoholic who headed the family's successful Haig & Haig whisky distillery with an income of £10,000 per year.

A Whisky Heir's Path to the Sandhurst Top

Born on 19 June 1861 in a Charlotte Square house in Edinburgh, Douglas Haig grew up in considerable wealth. His father, John Richard Haig, headed the family's successful Haig & Haig whisky distillery and earned roughly £10,000 per year — an extraordinary sum at the time — though he struggled with alcohol. His mother Rachel came from an impoverished gentry family. The family's country seat was Haig House in Windygates, Fife. Young Douglas passed through several schools: Mr Bateson's School in St Andrews, Edinburgh Collegiate School, Orwell House in Warwickshire, and Clifton College. By eighteen both parents were dead. He then spent three years at Brasenose College, Oxford, studying Political Economy, Ancient History, and French Literature, but devoted equal energy to the Bullingdon Club, polo, and equestrian pursuits. He was among the finest young horsemen in the university and played on the polo team. He also took his first two Masonic degrees in Elgin's Lodge at Leven, Fife, not completing the third until 1920. Though he passed his Oxford final, illness cost him a term's residence and thus a degree. At Sandhurst in 1884 he was notably older than most of his classmates, yet he finished first in the order of merit, won the Anson Sword, and was commissioned a lieutenant in the 7th Hussars in February 1885.

The Mathematics That Almost Ended a Career

After a tour of the United States with his brother, Haig's early officer career took him to India in November 1886, where he became regimental adjutant by 1888. Superiors noted his administrative skill and analysis of training exercises, and he was promoted to captain on 23 January 1891. He left India in November 1892 to prepare for the Staff College entrance examination, which he sat in June 1893. Although he placed within the top twenty-eight available places, he narrowly failed the compulsory mathematics paper and was not admitted. He concealed this setback for the rest of his life and, by 1910, recommended that the mathematics requirement be dropped. Adjutant-General Sir Redvers Buller, lobbied to nominate Haig for one of four nominated places, refused on grounds of colour blindness, despite Haig having his eyesight rechecked by a German oculist and despite glowing testimonials. It has been postulated Buller was looking for a rationale to give a place to an infantry officer. Haig returned briefly to India as second-in-command of the squadron he had commanded in 1892, then became aide-de-camp to Inspector General of Cavalry Sir James Keith Fraser. While awaiting a nomination, he travelled to Germany to report on cavalry manoeuvres and served as staff officer to Colonel John French on manoeuvres. Together they helped write the cavalry drillbook, published 1896. Haig finally entered Camberley in 1896 and completed the course in 1897, impressing the chief instructor, Lieutenant Colonel George Francis Robert Henderson, though he was not especially popular with fellow officers.

Commanding the BEF and the Road to Armistice

Before the Great War, Haig served in the War Office, where he played a key role in creating the Territorial Force in 1908. When the conflict began, he rose to command the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front from late 1915 until the war's end. In January 1917 he was promoted to the rank of field marshal. Under his leadership the BEF carried out the final Hundred Days Offensive in 1918, a sustained series of attacks that, combined with the Kiel mutiny, the Wilhelmshaven mutiny, the proclamation of a German republic on 9 November 1918, and revolution spreading across the country, brought about the armistice of 11 November 1918. A number of historians consider this to be one of the greatest victories ever achieved by a British-led army. Haig also remained a lifelong polo enthusiast, serving as Chairman of the Hurlingham Polo Association from 1914 until 1922, President of the Army Polo Committee, and founder of the Indian Polo Association.

Butcher Haig and the Long Argument

In the years immediately after the armistice, Haig enjoyed a broadly favourable public standing, and his funeral on 29 January 1928 was observed as a day of national mourning. Yet even during his lifetime he attracted prominent detractors, and from the 1960s onward his wartime leadership became a target of sustained criticism. He was branded 'Butcher Haig' because of the two million British casualties sustained under his command. The Canadian War Museum has noted that the great set-piece attacks at the Somme in 1916 and Passchendaele in 1917 have become nearly synonymous with the carnage and futility of First World War battles. Beginning in the 1980s, a growing body of scholarly work has contended that popular revulsion toward Haig has failed to acknowledge the introduction of novel tactics and technologies within his armies, the important role played by British forces in the allied victory of 1918, and the reality that the staggering casualty tolls were a consequence of the tactical and strategic realities of the time.

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