Richard Haking

General Sir Richard Cyril Byrne Haking, (24 January 1862 – 9 June 1945), was a senior British Army officer who is most notable for being the commander of XI Corps during the majority of the First World War.

Arguments over the late release of Haking's corps on the first day of the Battle of Loos in September 1915 were instrumental in forcing the resignation of Field Marshal Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Haking is remembered chiefly for the high casualties suffered by his forces (including many Australian troops) at the second Battle of Fromelles, launched while the Battle of the Somme was underway 80 km to the south, although at least one British historian has sought to defend his reputation, regarding him as an "intelligent and capable man" unfairly maligned in the popular mythology of the war. Although blocked from further promotion, he continued to command XI Corps – including in Italy in the winter of 1917–1918 and in Flanders in April 1918 – until the end of the war in November 1918. He was the League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig in the early 1920s. Provided by Wikipedia