Brudenell White
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Sir Cyril Brudenell Bingham White KCB , KCMG , KCVO , DSO (born September 23, 1876 in St Arnaud , Victoria , † August 13, 1940 in Canberra ) was an Australian general.
Life
White attended Brisbane Central Boys School and Eton Preparatory School , Nundah. At the age of 15 he became a clerk at the Australian Joint Stock Bank in Brisbane . In 1897 he was drafted into the 2nd Queensland Regiment and taken over into the Permanent Military Forces of the Queensland Artillery the following year . In 1902 he served a short time with the Commonwealth Light Horse in the South African Second Boer War , after which he became an orderly officer with General Edward Hutton .
Hutton sent him to the British Staff College in Camberley in 1906 . After successful completion, he returned to Australia in 1908 and became a captain in the intelligence service under Colonel William Bridges . At the end of the year he went to England again - as an officer of the General Staff of the War Office . On January 1, 1912, he then took up a post as Director of Military Operations at the headquarters of the Australian Army with the rank of major in Melbourne .
When the First World War broke out , White became chief of staff with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) under William Bridges. He participated in the AIF's operations in Egypt and Gallipoli and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1915 and made Brigadier General under the command of William Birdwood .
With Birdwood, he directed preparations for the evacuation from Anzac Cove to Gallipoli. In 1917 he was promoted to major general. General Douglas Haig's proposed takeover of command of the Australian and New Zealand Forces (ANZAC) he rejected and became Chief of Staff Birdwoods, who was given command of the British 5th Army .
In 1919 White was elevated to the personal nobility as Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and returned to Australia, where he worked on expanding the Australian reserve army. In 1923 he was deactivated and became chairman of the Commonwealth Public Service Board . From 1928 he served on the board of various non-profit organizations, including the Board of the Australian War Memorial .
In March 1940 he was reactivated and promoted to general and chief of staff in the Australian Army. Just a few months later, he was killed in a Canberra plane crash near Canberra Airport.
Web links
- Australian Dictionary of Biography - White, Sir Cyril Brudenell
- First World War - Who's Who - Sir Brudenell White
- Australian War Memorial - General Cyril Brundell Bingham White
- Mark Derham: General Sir Brudenell White
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
|
James Gordon Legge Ernest Squires |
Chief of the Australian General Staff 1920–1923 March to August 1940 |
Harry Chauvel Vernon Sturdee |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | White, Brudenell |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | White, Cyril Brudenell Bingham (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 23, 1876 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St Arnaud , Victoria |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 13, 1940 |
| Place of death | Canberra |