Descripción

8vo., 4 leaves with single fold, a near fine copy. Written and signed on Army & Navy Club stationery, the letter is dated 19 February 1904. The writer apologises for a delay in meeting due to an attack 'of my old enemy - malaria' . He is now back to 'War Office business' and eagerly awaits a forthcoming meeting: 'I want another talk with you very much'. Field Marshal Sir John Denron Pinkstone French (1852-1925), 1st Earl of Ypres, distinguished himself in both the Nile Campaigns and the Boer War. In the Great War he commanded the British Army on the Western Front from 1914-1915 until succeeded by Douglas Haig. Florence Henniker (1855-1923), well-known novelist and socialite. Daughter of Richard Monckton Milnes, she married a British army officer (referred to briefly in the letter) but is perhaps best remembered for her long and close relationship with Thomas Hardy with whom she collaborated on two volumes of short stories.