by Dr Chris Kempshall
I suspect that I was not alone in feeling both shocked and deeply saddened recently at the news that Elizabeth Greenhalgh had passed away. Similarly I was not alone in immediately thinking of her family and her friends at this time.
However, as word began to spread over twitter it also became clear how many historians recognised the great loss this was to the field. Others such as Jim Beach have begun writing and sharing their own reflections on Elizabeth’s life and career.
I first encountered the work of Elizabeth Greenhalgh in the first year of my PhD. My own studies were not going particularly well. I had originally begun with the intention of examining memory of the First World War in Britain and France but discovered my intended area was not going to be suitable for study.
It was at this point that I read the article Parade Ground Soldiers in the Journal of Military History about French soldiers’ assessments of their British ally. I would later learn that it was based upon material drawn from Elizabeth’s MA thesis. Not only is it still probably better than most things I have ever written, it completely redefined the focus of my PhD.
From that point I began discovering and collecting more of Elizabeth’s work, including her three magnificent books for Cambridge University Press; Victory through Coalition (2005), Foch in Command (2011), and The French Army in the First World War (2014). Her contribution to the understanding of France, its army, and its experience of the First World War was superlative.
The International Society for First World War Studies has long prided itself on its transnational approach to the war as a problem and I believe that Victory through Coalition in particular is almost mandatory reading on the topic of the Entente Alliance. Similarly her 2016 book General Pierre des Vallières at British General Headquarters, 1916-1917 for the Army Record Society is a fascinating glimpse into the allied coordination, and at times lack thereof, surrounding the Somme offensive in 1916. I strongly believe that anyone who reads this work will finish it with a greater appreciation for the realities and difficulties of planning a large allied operation.
Many aspects marked Elizabeth’s work as being important. She was a magnificent archival researcher and her writing was always supported by a wealth of material drawn from international archives. Beyond this it was also always beautifully written and incredibly readable. I’m sure all of us who have ever attempted to publish our work knows how difficult it can be to make writing truly engaging and illuminating.
The articles that Elizabeth Greenhalgh and William Philpott traded in War in History have repeatedly been included on reading lists for courses about the First World War as an example of the nature of historical debate and the methods of arguing a cause.
I only ever actually met Elizabeth in person once, at the First World War Society conference at the Imperial War Museum in 2009. Like many others who have reflected on their dealings with her, I found her gracious, patient, and supportive despite the fact that, looking back, I was very clearly ‘fanboy-ing’.
In the years that followed I exchanged several emails with her regarding particular archives or areas of exploration. Earlier this year, after far longer of uncertain dithering than I should have undertaken, I emailed her again to see if she would be willing to supply an endorsement to the back cover of my imminent book.
Not only did she agree to supply the endorsement, she even found some typos to fix in my manuscript. To have an endorsement from Elizabeth meant the world to me and may be the proudest and happiest moment of my career.
To then discover that she undertook this work whilst, presumably, also undergoing treatment is profoundly humbling but is a clear indication of just how much weight Elizabeth placed in collegiality and support of early career researchers. In this, as in many ways, she was an example to us all in working collaboratively as a field.
As I said on twitter following the news of her death; Elizabeth Greenhalgh was my academic hero and I mourn her greatly. I also predicted that I would spend the rest of my career recommending her work to people and that it would always be relevant. I still believe that to be true. I also believe that many others will continue to do the same.