Experiences of the Great War

After the Armistice, Douglas Haig was initially fêted as a war hero. He was appointed Commander in Chief of the Home Forces in April 1919 and was created an Earl that September.

In June 1921 he was gifted £100,000 and the estate of Bemersyde in the Scottish Borders by the nation. He was awarded many civic and academic honours after the war both at home and abroad. He became the Chancellor of St Andrews University in 1922.During the 1920s he made a world tour, chiefly of Canada and South Africa, with his wife, Dorothy.

Haig spent the years after the war in the pursuit of fair treatment for ex-servicemen. Perhaps his main post-war legacy was the founding of the British Legion in June 1921. Earl Haig died on 29 January 1928.