Sir Frank Fox was a journalist, author and campaigner who espoused the cause of warning of the dangers of a major War in Europe as early as 1909.
“I was blown up by a salvo of shells in front of Le Sars. I refused to die on the battlefield. The gallant stretcher-bearers got me in. I spent the next year in hospital”.
Sir Frank Fox was born in Australia in 1874. His views, and those of the Morning Post, were in accord and he joined the staff as a war correspondent. In 1914 he was attached to the Belgian army during the German invasion. In view of his experiences in that conflict he longed to become a combatant and was commissioned into the British Army in December 1914.
Posted to France, Fox was blown up during the Battle of the Somme and suffered severe injuries.
During his convalescence in England he worked for MI7 but contrived to be posted to Haig’s GHQ in Montreuil-sur-Mer in the run up to the final offensive against Germany.
He was appointed O.B.E. (Military) and was Mentioned in Despatches.
Fox was a prolific author writing 5 books relating to World War One including ”GHQ Montreuil-sur-Mer” during his service.
In 1922 he accompanied George V and Lord Haig to the military cemeteries in Belgium and France and wrote an account in ”The King’s Pilgrimage” republished in 2019.
Dr Charles Goodson-Wickes: A FAMILY REMINISCENCE