Charles à Court Repington Lieutenant Colonel Charles à Court Repington ( 29 January 1858 - 25 May 1925 ) , CMG , known until 1903 as Charles à Court , was a British Army officer and later a war correspondent . Biography . Charles à Court was born at Heytesbury , Wiltshire in 1858 , where his father was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament . His family name at birth was à Court ; in his memoirs , he later wrote : " The à Courts are Wiltshire folk , and in old days represented UK Parliament constituency in Parliament . . . The name of Repington , under the terms of an old will , was assumed by all the à Courts in turn as they succeeded to the Amington Hall Estate , and I followed the rule when my father died in 1903 . " His rich upper - class background may well have contributed to the confidence with which he later criticised senior generals and politicians . Educated at Eton and the Royal Military College , Sandhurst , his military career began with service in the Rifle Brigade of the British Army in 1878 . After serving in Afghanistan , Burma , and Sudan , he entered the Staff College at Camberley , where he was a brilliant student and where his classmates included Herbert Plumer and Horace Smith - Dorrien . On graduation , he served as a military attaché in Brussels and the Hague , following which he was promoted to Lieutenant - Colonel . He served as a staff officer during the Second Boer War in South Africa 1899 - 1901 , and was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George ( CMG ) for his services during the operations . What appeared to be a promising career was cut short during a posting to Egypt in 1902 . Divorce . Repington had a long but unfaithful affair with Lady Garstin , the wife of a British official , which became public . He was reprimanded by senior military authorities , and had to give a written promise “ upon his honour as a soldier and gentleman ” to have no further dealings with her . He had to give his parole to Henry Wilson . However , during the divorce proceedings , it was revealed that Repington had ignored warnings about his behaviour ( " broken his parole " - although he thought his behaviour justified and that Wilson ’ s was not ) and had continued the affair . Repington was forced to resign his commission . War Correspondent . On returning to London , he took a position as a military correspondent with the " Morning Post " from 1902 – 1904 , and " The Times " from 1904 - 1918 . His coverage as a war correspondent in the Russo - Japanese War of 1904 - 1905 later appeared in book form as " The War in the Far East " . " Repington was a firm advocate of a strong national army ( at the expense of the navy , much to the annoyance of Admiral Fisher ) . His journalism therefore tended to be geared towards propounding his belief in a firm national defensive policy . " He supported a General Staff , feared a German “ bolt from the blue ” and was a “ westerner ” . According to his memoir " Vestigia " an unnamed Radical paper once called him “ the gorgeous Wreckington , ” but this was a personal attack in reference to his divorce scandal . During the First World War , Repington relied on his contacts in the British Army and the War Office for his information , and through his friendship with the Commander - in - Chief of the British Expeditionary Force , Sir John French , Repington was able visit the Western Front in November 1914 , at a time when most rival war correspondents were banned from France . Shells Scandal . Sir John French also told Repington that a shortage of artillery ammunition had been a reason for the failure of the previous British attack at Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 . Repington later emphatically denied that French had spoken to him on the issue Repington witnessed the failed attack at Aubers Ridge , a major offensive in Artois , and was particularly moved by the losses of the Rifle Brigade . He sent a telegram to " The Times " blaming lack of High Explosive shell , which despite being heavily censored was printed after French ' s aide Brinsley Fitzgerald assured him French would approve . French had , despite Repington ’ s denial of his prior knowledge at the time , supplied Repington with information . The appearance of this information in " The Times " and later in the " Daily Mail " , resulted in a political scandal which contributed to the creation of a separate Ministry of Munitions under David Lloyd George , a major reduction in the power of War Minister , Lord Kitchener . In the long run , such blatant meddling in politics also damaged Sir John French and contributed to his enforced resignation at the end of 1915 . Repington now had growing influence over military policy through the newspapers , but was banned from visiting the Western Front again until March 1916 . Move to the Morning Post . Repington resigned from " The Times " in January 1918 due to a dispute with its owner , Lord Northcliffe , who after the German counterattack at the Battle of Cambrai had distanced himself from Douglas Haig ' s conduct of the war , and returned to " The Morning Post " ; not long afterwards , he was found guilty under the Defence of the Realm Act of disclosing secret information in one of " The Morning Post " articles and was fined . Later life . After the end of the First World War , Repington joined the staff of the " Daily Telegraph " and subsequently published several books . These works , including " The First World War " in 1920 and " After the War " in 1922 were bestsellers , but cost Repington friendships for his apparent willingness to report what others considered to have been private conversations . Repington died on 25 May 1925 in Hove , England . Selected works . Repington wrote several books , including