William Birdwood

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox military person Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood (13 September 1865 – 17 May 1951) was a highly decorated and distinguished British Indian Army officer. He saw active service in the Second Boer War on the staff of Lord Kitchener. Birdwood saw action again in the First World War, initially as commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, leading the landings on the peninsula and then the evacuation later in the year, before becoming commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army on the Western Front during the closing stages of the war. He then went on to be general officer commanding the Northern Army in India in 1920 and Commander-in-Chief, India, in 1925, and retired as a field marshal.

Early life

William Riddell Birdwood was born on 13 September 1865 in Kirkee, India.<ref name="ODNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref> His father, Herbert Mills Birdwood, born in Bombay and educated in the UK, had returned to India in 1859 after passing the Indian Civil Service examination.<ref name="ODNB2">Template:Cite ODNB</ref> In 1861, Herbert Birdwood married Edith Marion Sidonie, the eldest daughter of Surgeon-Major Elijah George Halhed Impey of the Bombay Horse Artillery and postmaster-general of the Bombay Presidency.<ref name="ODNB2"/> They had five sons and a daughter; William was their second son. At the time of William's birth, his father held positions in the Bombay legislative council, and went on to become a Bombay high court judge.<ref name="ODNB2"/> William Birdwood was educated at Clifton College.<ref>"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p. 70: Bristol; J. W. Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April 1948 Bristol</ref><ref name=adb>Template:Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography</ref>

Military career

After securing a militia commission in the 4th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1883,Template:Sfn which he resigned in March 1885,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Birdwood then trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from which he was commissioned early, owing to the Russian war scare of 1885, becoming a lieutenant in the 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers on 9 May 1885.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He joined his regiment in India and then transferred from the 12th Royal Lancers<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> to the Bengal Staff Corps on 20 December 1886.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He subsequently transferred to the 11th Bengal Lancers in 1887, seeing action on the North-West Frontier in 1891.Template:Sfn

File:Kitchener and his personal staff in India.png
Kitchener and his personal staff in India. From left to right: Lieutenant G. G. E. Wylly; Captain N. J. C. Livingstone-Learmonth; Capt. O. A. G. Fitzgerald; Colonel W. R. Birdwood; Captain W. F. Basset; Lord Kitchener.

He later became adjutant of the Viceroy's Bodyguard in 1893.Template:Sfn He was promoted to captain on 9 May 1896<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and "served in the Tirah campaign 1897–1898, at Chagru Kotal, Dargai, (18 October 1897); Saran Sar (9 November 1897); the Warran Valley (16 November 1897) and Dwatoi (24 November 1897). He was mentioned in despatches for this campaign and went on leave to England in 1899".Template:Sfn

Birdwood served in the Second Boer War, which began in October 1899, initially as a brigade major with a mounted brigade in Natal from 10 January 1900 and then as deputy assistant adjutant general on the staff of Major General Lord Kitchener from 15 October 1900.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Promoted to brevet major on 20 November 1901<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and local lieutenant colonel in October 1901,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>Template:Sfn he became military secretary to Lord Kitchener on 5 June 1902,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and followed him on his return to the United Kingdom on board the SS Orotava,<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> which arrived in Southampton on 12 July 1902.<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> He received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel in the South African Honours list published on 26 June 1902.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> In a despatch from June 1902, Lord Kitchener wrote the following about his work in South Africa:

This young officer has held a difficult position as Assistant Adjutant-General, Mounted Troops, and responsible adviser as to the distribution of remounts. In carrying out these duties he has proved himself to possess exceptional ability, and he has shown, moreover, remarkable tact in dealing with and conciliating the various interests which he had to take into consideration.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

When Kitchener went to India as commander-in-chief in November 1902, Birdwood joined him there as assistant military secretary and interpreter.<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref>Template:Sfn He was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 9 May 1903<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and appointed military secretary to Lord Kitchener with the rank of full colonel on 26 June 1905.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Having been appointed an aide-de-camp to the King on 14 February 1906,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he was given command of the Kohat Brigade on the North West Frontier in 1908<ref>Tucker; Roberts, p.388</ref> and promoted to temporary brigadier general on 28 June 1909.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Promoted to the rank of major general on 3 October 1911,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Birdwood became quartermaster-general in India and a member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council in 1912 and then Secretary of the Indian Army Department in 1913.Template:Sfn

Gallipoli

File:Anzac Cove.jpg
Anzac Cove looking towards Ari Burnu, 1915

In November 1914 Birdwood was instructed by Kitchener to form an army corps from the Australian and New Zealand troops that were training in Egypt.Template:Sfn He was promoted to temporary lieutenant general on 12 December 1914<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and given command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.Template:Sfn Kitchener instructed General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, to carry out an operation to capture the Gallipoli peninsula and placed Birdwood's ANZAC Corps under Hamilton's command.<ref name=adb/> Hamilton ordered Birdwood to carry out a landing on 25 April 1915 north of Kabatepe at a site now known as ANZAC Cove.Template:Sfn The ANZAC Corps encountered high ridges, narrow gullies, dense scrub and strong Ottoman resistance and became pinned down.<ref name=adb/> Major-General William Bridges and Major-General Alexander Godley, the divisional commanders, were both of the view that the Allied forces, dealing with stiffer-than-expected resistance, should be evacuated ahead of an expected attack by the Ottoman Army.<ref name=Bean456>Bean, 1981, pp. 456–457</ref> Nevertheless, Hamilton ordered them to hold fast.<ref name=Bean460>Bean, 1981, pp. 460–461</ref>

File:ANZACstaff1915.jpg
Group portrait of officers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps outside Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo, Egypt, March 1915. Sat in the front row in the centre is the corps commander, Lieutenant General Birdwood.
File:General Birdwood Shrapnel Gully Photo William George Clifton SLV MS10484 PHO1Image6.jpg
Birdwood in Shrapnel Gully, Gallipoli, sometime in 1915 MS10484/PHO1 State Library Victoria (Australia)

Birdwood took effective command of the First Australian Imperial Force in May 1915 while still commanding Allied troops on the ground at Gallipoli.<ref name=adb/> He launched a major attack on Ottoman positions in August 1915 (the Battle of Sari Bair) but failed to dislodge them from the peninsula.<ref name=adb/> Notwithstanding this, Birdwood was the only corps commander opposed to abandoning Gallipoli.Template:Sfn He was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant general on 28 October 1915<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and given command of the newly formed Dardanelles Army: the one outstanding success of the campaign was the evacuation led by Birdwood, which took place in December 1915 and January 1916, when the entire force was withdrawn before any Ottoman reaction.Template:Sfn

Western Front

File:The British Army on the Western Front, 1914-1918 Q9690.jpg
Sir Douglas Haig with his army commanders and their chiefs of staff, November 1918. Front row, left to right: Sir Herbert Plumer, Sir Douglas Haig, Sir Henry Rawlinson. Middle row, left to right: Sir Julian Byng, Sir William Birdwood, Sir Henry Horne. Back row, left to right: Sir Herbert Lawrence, Sir Charles Kavanagh, Brudenell White, Percy, Louis Vaughan, Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd, Hastings Anderson.

In February 1916 the Australian and New Zealand contingents, back in Egypt, underwent reorganisation to incorporate the new units and reinforcements that had accumulated during 1915: the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was replaced by two corps, I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps, and Birdwood reverted to the command of II ANZAC Corps. When I ANZAC Corps became the first to depart for France, Birdwood, as senior corps commander, took over command.Template:Sfn During early 1916 Birdwood advocated for the formation of an Australian and New Zealand Army or a Dominion Army also including Canadian forces under his command, but this did not occur.Template:SfnmTemplate:Sfn

Birdwood was promoted to the permanent rank of full general on 23 October 1917<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>Template:Sfnm with command of a formation then known as the Australian Corps in November 1917.Template:Sfn He was also appointed aide-de-camp general to the King on 2 November 1917<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and given command of the British Fifth Army on 31 May 1918 and led the Army at the liberation of Lille in October 1918Template:Sfnm and at the liberation of Tournai in November 1918.Template:SfnmTemplate:Sfn

After the war

Birdwood was made a Baronet, of Anzac and of Totnes, in the County of Devon, on 29 December 1919.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He toured Australia to great acclaim in 1920 and then became general officer commanding the Northern Army in India in October of that year.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He was promoted to field marshal (with the corresponding honorary rank in the Australian Military Forces) on 20 March 1925<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and, having been appointed a Member of the Executive Council of the Governor-General of India in July 1925,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he went on to be Commander-in-Chief, India, in August 1925.Template:Sfn

After leaving the service in 1930, Birdwood made a bid to become Governor-General of Australia. He had the backing of the King and the British government. However, the Australian Prime Minister James Scullin insisted that his Australian nominee Sir Isaac Isaacs be appointed.<ref name=adb/> Instead, Birdwood was appointed Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge on 20 April 1931<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Captain of Deal Castle in 1934.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1935 he wrote for the Western Australian distance education magazine Our Rural Magazine, saying that he had two granddaughters making good use of distance educational courses.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In May 1936, he returned to Gallipoli aboard RMS Lancastria and visited war memorials on the peninsula.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He retired from academic work in 1938.Template:Sfn

In retirement Birdwood was colonel of the 12th Royal Lancers (1920–1951),<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> the 6th Gurkha Rifles (1926–1951),<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and the Royal Horse Guards from 1933<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> along with the 75th (Home Counties) (Cinque Ports) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (1939–1951).<ref>Army List, May 1939.</ref> In January 1936 he attended the funeral of King George V<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and in May 1937 he was present for the coronation of King George VI.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He was raised to the peerage as Baron Birdwood, of Anzac and of Totnes in the County of Devon, on 25 January 1938, in recognition of his wartime service.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

His autobiography Khaki and Gown (1941) was followed by In my time: recollections and anecdotes (1946).<ref name="ODNB"/> Lord Birdwood died at Hampton Court Palace, where he lived in grace-and-favour apartments, on 17 May 1951, at the age of 85. He was buried at Twickenham Cemetery with full military honours;<ref name=adb/> the Australian Government pays for the upkeep of his grave.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Honours and awards

File:Grave of William Birdwood and family (Twickenham Cemetery).jpg
Grave of William Birdwood and family in Twickenham Cemetery

British

Foreign

Field Marshal Birdwood's Ribbon bar as it may have appeared in 1937<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Efn

File:Order of the Bath UK ribbon.svg File:ImperialOrderCrownIndiaRibbon.svg File:UK Order St-Michael St-George ribbon.svg File:Order of the Indian Empire Ribbon.svg

File:Dso-ribbon.svg File:India General Service Medal 1854 BAR.svg File:India Medal BAR.svg File:Queens South Africa Medal BAR.svg

File:Kings South Africa Medal BAR.svg File:India General Service Medal 1909 BAR.svg File:Ribbon - 1914 Star.png File:British War Medal BAR.svg

File:Victory Medal MID ribbon bar.svg File:Gallipoli Star (Commonwealth) Ribbon.svg File:UK King Edward VII Coronation Medal ribbon.svg File:Med.DelhiDurbar1903.png

File:UK King George V Coronation Medal ribbon.svg File:UK King George V Silver Jubilee Medal ribbon.svg File:UK King George VI Coronation Medal ribbon.svg File:Legion Honneur Chevalier ribbon.svg

File:CdG with 2 Bronze Palms.jpg File:BEL Kroonorde Grootofficier BAR.svg File:EGY Order of the Nile - Grand Officer BAR.svg File:BEL Croix de Guerre WW1 ribbon.svg

File:PRT Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword - Grand Cross BAR.svg File:U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal ribbon.svg File:PRT Military Order of Aviz - Grand Officer BAR.svg File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg

Family

In 1893 Birdwood married Janetta Bromhead, daughter of Sir Benjamin Bromhead; they had a son and two daughters.Template:Sfn His wife died in 1947.<ref name="ODNB"/> Their son, Christopher Birdwood (1899–1962), succeeded him as 2nd Baron Birdwood. The elder daughter was Constance 'Nancy' Birdwood,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the younger daughter was Judith Birdwood. Other members of the Birdwood family include Labour minister and peer Christopher Birdwood Thomson (1875–1930), Anglo-Indian naturalist Sir George Birdwood (1832–1917), and far-right political activist Jane Birdwood (1913–2000), the second wife of William Birdwood's son.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Legacy

The town of Blumberg, South Australia, changed its German name to Birdwood in 1918,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the soldier settlement of Birdwoodton, Victoria, was named after Birdwood in 1920.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mount Birdwood in Alberta, Canada, also bears his name.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Birdwood House in Geraldton, Western Australia, which was built in 1935 for the Geraldton RSL and named after Birdwood, has served as the centre of ANZAC Day commemorations in Geraldton since 1936. William Birdwood visited Birdwood House in Geraldton 1937 where he was presented with a gold key and Freedom of Birdwood House.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Birdwood House became Heritage Registered in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Many streets and public spaces in Australia and New Zealand are named or commonly believed to be named after Birdwood, including Birdwood Park in Newcastle West in 1920<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> and a street in New Lambton in 1919.<ref name=":0" />

Coat of arms

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Notes

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References

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Sources

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