John Whitham

Lieutenant Colonel John Whitham (1919)

John Lawrence Whitham , CMG , DSO (born October 7, 1881 in Jamalpur , Bengal , British India , † May 12, 1952 in Concord, Sydney , New South Wales ), was an Australian lieutenant general .

Life

Boer War and First World War

John Lawrence Whitham was the son of Lawrence Yates Whitham, who served as a major in the British Indian Army , and his wife, Ellen Whitman. In 1886 the family moved to Hobart , Tasmania , where the father became a police officer. He himself worked as a clerk after school and joined the volunteer group in 1898. As Quartermaster Sergeant of the Tasmanian Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Australian Commonwealth Horse Mountain Infantry Regiment , he took part in the Second Boer War in 1902 and then remained as a policeman in the Cape Colony until 1904 . On his return he completed training with the Tasmanian Senior Cadets and was promoted to lieutenant in the volunteer force in 1904 , before he was accepted as a lieutenant as a professional soldier in the Australian Citizens Military Force in July 1910 . He was initially active in the administrative and training staff in South Australia and in 1912 became an officer on the staff of the Inspector General.

Parts of the 2nd Infantry Battalion after the Second Battle of Dernancourt on April 5, 1918.

When the First World War broke out , Whitham was a captain and company commander in the 12th Battalion and was shipped to Egypt on October 20, 1914 as a member of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) . It was then moved to the western front . On April 25, 1915, he was wounded and, on his return in May 1915, took over as a major as deputy commander of the battalion. On August 4, 1915, he was awarded the temporary rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) and he took over the post as battalion commander. After falling ill in September 1915, he was relocated to Egypt on February 1, 1916, where he was initially deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster general and then from July 10 to September 22, 1916 assistant adjutant and quartermaster general of the 2nd Infantry Division. After he was assistant adjutant general at the administrative headquarters of the Australian Imperial Force in Great Britain between September 23 and November 30, 1916, he was reassigned to the Western Front. In 1916 he became Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).

There, Lieutenant Colonel Whitham was from December 1, 1916 to June 30, 1917 Assistant Adjutant General of the AIF in France and then between July 1, 1917 and May 16, 1918, commander of the 52nd Infantry Battalion, with which he was at Ypres at the third Battle of Flanders (July 31 to November 6, 1917), the second battle of Dernancourt on April 5, 1918 and between April 24 and 25, 1918 in the second battle of Villers-Bretonneux . He was then commander of the 49th Infantry Battalion from May 17 to December 21, 1918 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his services in the First World War in 1918 .

Between the wars and the Second World War

Major General Whitham was aide-de-camp to the Governor General of Australia , Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie , between 1937 and 1938 .

After the end of the war, John Whitham initially remained from December 22, 1918 to June 29, 1919 as the Australian liaison officer to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, before he returned to France as a liaison officer between August 1, 1919 and January 21, 1920 George Pearce was. There he was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel on November 1, 1919 . After graduating from Staff College Camberley between January 22, 1920 and March 31, 1921 , he was employed from April 1, 1921 to July 31, 1922 as a staff officer in the inspector general's office at the headquarters of the Australian Army and then between the August 1, 1922 and December 31, 1924 as a staff officer in the office of the Adjutant and Quartermaster General of the 4th Infantry Division. At the same time he was from September 1, 1923 to December 31, 1924 commander of the training group of this division and then between January 1, 1925 and December 31, 1927 a staff officer in the general department of the 3rd Infantry Division.

Thereafter, Whitham served between January 1, 1928 and June 30, 1933 as director of organization and personnel services at the headquarters of the Australian Army. As such, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on July 1, 1928 , and at the same time received the rank of colonel. After that he was from 1 July 1933 to 31 May 1935 both commander ( Commanding Officer ) of the field troops and Acting Commander of the Anglesea Barracks stationed in Hobart 6th Military District. On June 1, 1935, he was appointed Colonel transported and received at the same time the temporary rank of brigadier general (temporary Brigadier) , and he from 1 June 1935 to 30 June 1937 also in personal union commander of the 1st Joint Brigade (1st Mixed Brigade) and acting in command of the 1st Military District based in Brisbane . After his promotion to Major General (Major-General) on 1 July 1937, he was between July 1, 1937, the May 1, 1940 Commander ( General Officer Commanding ) of the 4th Infantry Division (4th Australian Infantry Division) . In addition, from July 1, 1937 to November 1, 1939, he was acting commander of the 3rd Military District stationed in Melbourne and from August 1, 1937 to June 9, 1938 also adjutant ( aide-de-camp ) to the Governor General of Australia , Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie .

After John Lawrence Whitham was granted the temporary rank of Lieutenant General (Temporary Lieutenant-General) on May 2, 1940, he served as Commander-in-Chief of the South Command (General. ) During the Second World War between May 2, 1940 and July 24, 1941 Officer Commander in Chief Southern Command) as well as commander of the 3rd Military District stationed in Melbourne. On July 24, 1941, he retired with half-pay (Half-pay) , first from active military service before he retired on October 7 1941st With his entry into the retirement he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General Honorary (Honorary Lieutenant-General) .

Web links

• Entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Whitham, Lieut-Gen. John Lawrence in Who's Who (online version)
• Entry in The Generals of WWII