Cyril Falls Explained

Cyril Bentham Falls CBE[1] (2 March 1888 – 23 April 1971) was a 20th-century British military historian, journalist, and academic, noted for his works on the First World War.

Early life

Falls was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 2 March 1888, the eldest son of Sir Charles Falls, an Ulster landowner in County Tyrone. He received his formal education at the Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, and London University.[2] At the age of 27, he published his first book, Rudyard Kipling: A Critical Study (1915).

World War I

During World War I he received a commission into the British Army as a subaltern in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.[3] He served as a Staff Officer in the Headquarters of the 36th (Ulster) Division and the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division during the conflict. He received the French Croix de Guerre, and was discharged from the British Army with the rank of captain.

Military history career

Immediately after leaving the army Falls wrote a history of one of the divisions that he had served with during the war, entitled The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division, which was published in 1922.

From 1923 to 1939, he was employed by the Historical Section of the United Kingdom Government's Committee of Imperial Defence, researching and writing the text of several volumes of the British Government's History of the Great War.[4]

During the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, he was the military correspondent for The Times.[5]

From 1946 to 1953, he held the post of Chichele Professor of Military History at All Souls College, Oxford.[6] From the late 1940s through to his death in the early 1970s he was a productive writer of military histories, publishing detailed studies as well as general works for the commercial market, his final two titles being published posthumously.

The historian, Sir Michael Howard, later described Falls' work The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division (1922),

Death

Falls died aged 83 in Walton-on-Thames, in the county of Surrey, on 23 April 1971.

Publications

External links

Notes and References

  1. In 1967
  2. Entry for Cyril Falls, 'Dictionary of Ulster biography', published online by the Ulster History Circle (2018) http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/printPerson/475
  3. World War 1 Medal Index Card for Falls, The National Archive, Kew, Surrey. Document Order Code: WO 372/7/13986.
  4. Entry for Cyril Falls, Dictionary of National Biography, 1971.
  5. Entry in Dictionary of Ulster Biography for Falls.
  6. 'Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers in the Great War' website, article on Cyril Falls (2018). https://fantastic-writers-and-the-great-war.com/the-writers/cyril-falls/

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