Sir William Throsby Bridges | |
---|---|
Born | Greenock, Scotland | 18 February 1861
Died | 18 May 1915 Dardanelles, Ottoman Empire | (aged 54)
Buried | |
Allegiance | Australia |
Service | Australian Army |
Years of service | 1885–1915 |
Rank | Major General |
Commands | 1st Division (1914–15) Royal Military College, Duntroon (1910–14) Chief of the General Staff (1909) |
Battles / wars | |
Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Mentioned in Despatches |
Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges, KCB, CMG (18 February 1861 – 18 May 1915) was a senior Australian Army officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Military College, Duntroon and who served as the first Australian Chief of the General Staff. During the First World War he commanded the 1st Australian Division at Gallipoli, where he died of wounds on 18 May 1915, becoming the first Australian general officer to be killed during the war. He was the first Australian officer—and the first graduate of Kingston—to reach the rank of major general, the first to command a division, and the first to receive a knighthood. He is one of only two Australians killed in action in the Great War to be interred in Australia.