David Lloyd George access to the Cabinet so as to bypass Kitchener. However, he did succeed in securing the appointment of Sir Eric Geddes to take charge of military railways behind British lines in France, with the honorary rank of major-general. Lloyd George told a journalist, Roy W. Howard, in late September that "the fight must be to a finish – to a knockout", a rejection of President Wilson's offer to mediate. Lloyd George was increasingly frustrated at the limited gains of the Somme Offensive, criticising General Haig to Ferdinand Foch on a visit to the Western Front in September (British casualty ratios
David Lloyd George had first met Stevenson in 1910, and she had worked for him first as a teacher for Megan in 1911; their affair began in early 1913. Lloyd George may well have been the father of Stevenson's daughter Jennifer (1929–2012), born long before they wed. Frances was the first Countess Lloyd-George, and is now largely remembered for her diaries, which dealt with the great issues, and statesmen, of Lloyd George's heyday. A volume of their letters, "My Darling Pussy", has also been published; Lloyd George's nickname for Frances referred to her gentle personality. The Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan, who detailed Lloyd