Kitchener, Horatio Herbert, 1st Earl (1850–1916). Soldier and imperial statesman. Kitchener saw extensive service as a soldier and imperial administrator in Egypt, South Africa, and India. Amongst his achievements were the reconquest of the Sudan (1898) and the imposition of British peace terms on the Boer republics (1902). He was given a viscountcy in 1902 and promoted earl in 1914. But his greatest service to the British empire was between 1914 and 1916, when he served as secretary of state for war. Far from being merely a great poster, as Lloyd George claimed, he was a prescient strategist. He recognized that a conflict between the European great powers would not end quickly but would degenerate into a long war of attrition. To ensure that Britain emerged victorious he expanded the small regular army by raising a huge new army of volunteers. He was drowned when HMS Hampshire, the cruiser carrying him to a conference in Russia, was sunk off Orkney by a German mine.

David French

Kitchener, Horatio Herbert, 1st Earl (1850–1916) British field marshal and statesman. Kitchener took part in the unsuccessful relief of General Gordon at Khartoum, but reconquered Sudan in 1898, becoming its governor general. He served as chief of staff in the second South African War and established the first concentration camps. After service in India and Egypt, he was appointed secretary of state for war at the outbreak of World War I. His image appeared on the recruitment posters.