Charles à Court Repington
Charles à Court Repington | |
---|---|
Birth name | Charles à Court |
Born | Rifle Brigade | 29 January 1858
Battles/wars | Second Boer War |
Other work | War correspondent and author |
Charles à Court Repington,
Early life
Charles à Court was born at
Military career
He commenced his military career as a commissioned
After returning from the war, what had appeared to be a promising military career was cut short during a posting to
Military correspondent
On returning to London, he took a position as a military correspondent with the
During World War I Repington relied on his personal contacts in the British Army and the War Office for his information, and his early reporting of the war acquired important material from his personal friendship with the first Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Sir John French, via which he was able to visit the Western Front during the opening moves of the conflict in late 1914, at a time when most of his rival journalists were prohibited by the British Government from going to the war front.
Repington appears to be the first person to have used the term "First World War" on 10 September 1918 in a conversation noted in his diary, hoping that title would serve as a reminder and warning that the Second World War was a possibility in the future.[citation needed]
"Shells Scandal"
In May 1915, Repington personally witnessed the failed British attack at
Prosecution under the Defence of the Realm Act
He resigned from The Times in January 1918 due to a disagreement with its proprietor,
Repington was also a casualty of the
Later life
After the end of the war Repington joined the staff of The Daily Telegraph, and subsequently published several books. These works included The First World War (1920), and After the War (1922), which were bestsellers, but cost Repington friendships for his apparent willingness to report what others considered to have been private conversations.
Death
He died on 25 May 1925 at Pembroke Lodge in Hove, East Sussex. He was 67 years old. His body was buried at Hove Cemetery, Old Shoreham Road.
Personal life
On 11 February 1882, Repington married Melloney Catherine (died 1934), daughter of Colonel Henry Sales Scobell, of Abbey House,
Honours
Selected works
- 1905 – The War in the Far East, London, J. Murray.
- 1919 – Vestigia, Reminiscences of Peace and War, Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.
- 1920 – The First World War, 1914–1918, Vol. I & Vol. II, London : Constable & Co.
- 1922 – After the War; London–Paris–Rome–Athens–Prague–Vienna–Budapest–Bucharest–Berlin–Sofia–Coblenz–New York–Washington; a Diary, Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.
References
- ^ "Lieutenant Colonel Charles à Court Repington". Rippington Family Genealogy. 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
- ^ Proffitt, Michael (13 June 2014). "Chief Editor's notes June 2014". Oxford English Dictionary's blog.
- ^ "The First World War". Quite Interesting. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Also aired on QI Series I Episode 2, 16 September 2011, BBC Two.
- ^ à Court Repington, Charles (1919). Vestigia, Reminiscences of Peace and War. Houghton Mifflin.
- ^ a b c Reid 2001, p. 163
- Lives of the First World War
- ^ "No. 27359". The London Gazette. 27 September 1901. p. 6303.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36628. London. 3 December 1901. p. 6.
- ^ "No. 27397". The London Gazette. 14 January 1902. p. 297.
- ^ Jeffery 2006, pp. 49–53
- ^ "Who's Who – Charles Repington". First World War.com. 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
- ^ Repington, The First World War 1914–1918, Vol.1, London: Constable, pp. 36–37
- ^ Holmes 2004, p. 287
- ^ 'The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914–1919' (1952), edited by Robert Blake (Pub. Eyre & Spottiswoode), p. 48.
- ^ Bonham-Carter 1963, p352-3
- ^ Grigg 2002, p500
- ^ Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 1963, p.621
- ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1899
- ^ Lieutenant-Colonel Charles À Court Repington- A Study in the Interaction of Personality, the Press and Power, W. Michael Ryan, Garland, 1987, pp. 20, 130
Sources
- Victor Bonham-Carter (1963). Soldier True: The Life and Times of Field-Marshal Sir William Robertson. London: Frederick Muller Limited.
- ISBN 0-297-84614-0.
- Jeffery, Keith (2006). Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: A Political Soldier. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820358-2.
- Reid, Walter (2006). Architect of Victory: Douglas Haig. Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 1-84158-517-3.
Further reading
- Grigg, John (2002). Lloyd George: War leader, 1916–1918. London: Penguin. pp. 489–512.
- ISBN 978-1-107-10549-2