author
Frederic Coleman
1876–1931
An American-born motoring figure turned war correspondent, he wrote vivid first-hand books about the British Army in the First World War. His work is especially remembered for its on-the-ground accounts of the retreat from Mons, Ypres, and cavalry life at the front.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Frederic Abernethy Coleman was born in 1876 and died in 1931. Before becoming known as a wartime writer, he was involved in the early motor industry in Britain; contemporary reference material links him with White Steam Cars and with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
During the First World War, he served close to senior British commands as a motor driver and observer, experiences that gave him unusual access to the army in France and Flanders. He turned those experiences into books including From Mons to Ypres with French and With Cavalry in the Great War, both valued for their direct, eyewitness style.
Coleman’s writing sits at the meeting point of memoir, journalism, and military history. Rather than offering a distant overview, his books bring readers near the people, movement, and uncertainty of the early war years, which helps explain why they still attract interest today.