大象传媒

Field Marshal Lord Kitchener is one of the most famous faces of the First World War. The 1914 recruiting poster with his photograph and motto 'Wants You' is one of the best known posters of all time.

Kitchener had risen to the top of his profession and commanded the British forces which avenged General Gordon in the Sudan in 1898 and was the British Commander in South Africa at the end of the Boer War. He then went on to be the Commander in Chief in British India.

On the outbreak of war, about to take up the post of Governor General of the Sudan, Kitchener was summoned to Downing Street by the Prime Minister and appointed Secretary of State for War, as a non-party political appointment.

Kitchener was to serve in this role until 1916 when, en route to Russia to bolster the war effort there, his ship, HMS Hampshire was sunk by a German mine. Kitchener, like many of the senior officers in the British army was Irish by birth.

Dr. David Murphy from Maynooth University explores the little known places of Kitchener鈥檚 childhood, beginning at the place of his birth in Gunsborough Villa, just outside Listowel, before moving down to the site of Crotta house where he spent most of his youth.

Location: Gunsborough Villa, Co. Kerry. 52掳30'02.7"N 9掳30'59.9"W
Image: Gunsborough Villa

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