William Birdwood
Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCVO, CIE, DSO (13 September 1865 – 17 May 1951) was a British Army officer. He saw active service in the Second Boer War on the staff of Lord Kitchener. He saw action again in the First World War 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 went on to be general officer commanding the Northern Army in India in 1920 and Commander-in-Chief, India, in 1925.
The Lord Birdwood
Birdy
13 September 1865
Kirkee, Bombay Presidency, British India
17 May 1951 (aged 85)
Hampton Court Palace, England
United Kingdom
1883–1930
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Croix de Guerre (France)
Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Croix de Guerre (Belgium)
Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword (Portugal)
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan)
Early life[edit]
William Riddell Birdwood was born on 13 September 1865 in Kirkee, India.[1] 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.[2] 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.[2] 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.[2] William Birdwood was educated at Clifton College.[3][4]
After the war[edit]
Birdwood was made a Baronet, of Anzac and of Totnes, in the County of Devon, on 29 December 1919.[37] He toured Australia to great acclaim in 1920 and then became general officer commanding the Northern Army in India later that year.[38] He was promoted to field marshal (with the corresponding honorary rank in the Australian Military Forces) on 20 March 1925[39][40] and, having been appointed a Member of the Executive Council of the Governor-General of India in July 1925,[41] he went on to be Commander-in-Chief, India, in August 1925.[38]
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.[4] Instead, Birdwood was appointed Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge on 20 April 1931[42] and Captain of Deal Castle in 1934.[43][44] 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.[45] In May 1936, he returned to Gallipoli aboard RMS Lancastria and visited war memorials on the peninsula.[46][47] He retired from academic work in 1938.[38]
In retirement Birdwood was Colonel of the 12th Royal Lancers (1920–1951),[48] the 6th Gurkha Rifles (1926–1951),[49] and the 75th (Home Counties) (Cinque Ports) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (1939–1951).[50] In January 1936 he attended the funeral of King George V[51] and in May 1937 he was present for the coronation of King George VI.[52] 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.[53][54]
His autobiography Khaki and Gown (1941) was followed by In my time: recollections and anecdotes (1946).[1] Lord Birdwood died at Hampton Court Palace, where he lived in grace-and-favour apartments, on 17 May 1951. He was buried at Twickenham Cemetery with full military honours;[4] the Australian Government pays for the upkeep of his grave.[55]
Family[edit]
In 1893 Birdwood married Janetta Bromhead, daughter of Sir Benjamin Bromhead; they had a son and two daughters.[5] His wife died in 1947.[1] Their son, Christopher Birdwood (1899–1962), succeeded him as 2nd Baron Birdwood. The elder daughter was Constance 'Nancy' Birdwood,[74] 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 Jane Birdwood (1913–2000), the second wife of William Birdwood's son.[75]
Legacy[edit]
The town of Blumberg, South Australia, changed its German name to Birdwood in 1918,[76] and the soldier settlement of Birdwoodton, Victoria was named after Birdwood in 1920.[77] Mount Birdwood in Alberta, Canada also bears his name.[78]
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.[79][80] Birdwood House became Heritage Registered in 2016.[81][82]
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[83] and a street in New Lambton in 1919.[83]