General William Birdwood

Born in India in 1865, William Birdwood was educated at Clifton College in Bristol.
After passing through the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he began his service with the Royal Scots infantry, and then a cavalry regiment with the Indian Army even participating in combat in the province of the North-West Frontier where he was the regiment Adjutant.
Promoted to captain in 1896, he was secretary on the general staff of General Kitchener from 1899 to 1902. He then became Quartermaster-General in India and was promoted to General in 1911. From 1912 until the start of the Great War, Birdwood was Secretary of the Indian Army Department and a member of the Viceroy’s Legislative Council.
In November 1914, he was asked to form an Army corps with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) before leaving for the western front. Wounded on the front line on May 14, 1915, he stayed in place. For many, the Dardanelles was a campaign with neither positive nor negative results with the exception of a short period during the Battle of Sari Bair in August.
Birdwood then briefly took command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force which was responsible for the new front in Salonika. On October 28, 1915, he was promoted Lieutenant General. November 19, 1915, he took command of the British Dardanelles Army and that of the ANZAC 1st Corps when they left for France.
He commanded the Northern Army in India until 1925, at which date he was promoted Field Marshall and then Commander-in-Chief for the British India Army, a position he held until 1930.
He died on May 17, 1951, in Hampton Court Palace and was buried in the Twickenham Cemetery with full military honours. His Field Marshall baton is exhibited at the Australian War Memorial.
Awarded the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre by French President Raymond Poincaré, he was knighted for services rendered during the war.
A square in Lille off rue Nationale bears his name.