I have received an invitation from Elspeth Johnstone, BCMH member and Hon Secretary of the Douglas Haig Fellowship (DHF) to join their webinar on Friday 25th June at 1.00pm.
The webinar takes the form of a talk by Clive Harris, the 2021 DHF Fellow.
Clive Harris, the DHF Fellow for this year, will be giving his talk that was destined for the Annual Lunch on 11th June. Sadly the lunch has been cancelled, as it was last year, but we are sure Clive’s Webinar will make up for it. It will be chaired by Paul Harris.
Clive’s talk, ‘Our Chief – the management & leadership skills of Sir Douglas Haig through the eyes of those he met’ will consider how personal contact with Douglas Haig impacted on those he met.
By considering direct quotes from memoirs, private papers and published works, alongside a study of his own movements whilst Commander-in-Chief, we discover a fascinating window into his personality, leadership and how that was subsequently remembered by some of those he commanded.
Clive served in the Royal Signals and with Hertfordshire Constabulary before embarking on a career in military history in 1998. In addition to the publication of Walking the London Blitz, Wander through Wartime London and The Greater Game he has contributed to Time Team, Time Watch, Blitz Spirit and CBS’s Legacy of War. His specialist battlefield subjects are The Retreat of 1914, The Ypres Salient, 1918, The London Blitz and the Italian Campaign of 1943/44.
He joined the Western Front Association as a child and has provided regular talks and lectures since leaving the Army in 1991. He completed his Masters degree in Great War Studies at Wolverhampton and is a member of the British Commission for Military History.
If you are interested and would like to join please register with me at elspeth48@aol.com. It will be 40 – 45mins long, with time for questions. The Zoom joining instructions will be sent to you closer to the date.
As expected by most of us, Covid-19 has taken the upper hand and the unveiling of the Haig Statue in Montreuil will be delayed until June next year, but it is expected that the restoration will completed this year.
Yours sincerely,
Elspeth Johnstone (Hon. Secretary)
