Height: 20cm (8in)
Patinated bronze. Bust signed verso to the integral base ‘E. Robinson 1914’, and stamped by the art bronze founders ‘Elkington & Co.’
In 1914, at the start of the First World War, Kitchener became Secretary of State for War, a Cabinet Minister. One of the few to foresee a long war, lasting for at least three years, and also having the authority to act effectively on that perception, he organised the largest volunteer army that Britain had seen, and oversaw a significant expansion of materials production to fight on the Western Front. Despite having warned of the difficulty of provisioning for a long war, he was blamed for the shortage of shells in the spring of 1915 – one of the events leading to the formation of a coalition government – and stripped of his control over munitions and strategy. In June 1916, Kitchener was making his way to Russia on H.M.S. Hampshire to attend negotiations with Tsar Nicholas II when in bad weather the ship struck a German mine west of Orkney, Scotland, and sank. Kitchener, his staff, and 643 of the crew of 655 were drowned. The survivors who caught sight of him in the last moments testified to his outward calm and resolution.