New Zealand Army Major General. A combat veteran of World Wars I and II, he rose in rank to become the Chief of the General Staff of the New Zealand Military Forces and became the first New Zealand-born military officer to reach the rank of lieutenant general. The son of an English immigrant railroad worker, he received his education at Waitaki Boys' High School in Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand, and upon graduation he joined the Roads Department, as it was then known, as a draughtsman. In 1911 he joined the newly formed Territorial Force, serving as a 2nd lieutenant in the 15th (North Auckland) Regiment and transferred in 1912 to the 5th (Wellington) Regiment. When World War I broke out in July 1914 he was promoted to the rank of captain and served in the Samoa Expeditionary Force, which was raised for the Occupation of German Samoa in early August 1914. The following year he returned to New Zealand and volunteered for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, which was then in the Middle East, preparing for the Gallipoli Campaign in the Ottoman Empire. He was sent to Egypt and posted to the 1st Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade. He commanded 'B' Company of the battalion during the Senussi Campaign in North Africa from January to February 1916, before being transferred to the 2nd Infantry Brigade of the newly formed New Zealand Division. He was promoted to the rank of major and appointed Staff Captain of the brigade, under the command of Brigadier General William Braithwaite. In April 1916 he went with the division to the Western Front in France and remained with the brigade during its settling in period in the Armentieres sector of the front. Three months later, prior to the start of the Somme Offensive, he was transferred back to the Rifle Brigade, and appointed deputy commander of its 4th Battalion. In September 1916 he saw combat action at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, followed in June 1917 at the Battle of Messines and the Battle of Passchendaele (or 3rd Battle of Ypres) until November of that year, at which time he was given command of the 3rd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade. In March 1918 the Germans began their Spring Offensive and the New Zealand Division was rushed to plug a gap in the front near Colincamps, in France. During this time he was wounded in the chest while leading his battalion in an action designed to link up with an Australian brigade in the nearby village of Hebuterne. He was evacuated to England for treatment and after recuperating, commanded the New Zealand Rifle Brigade's training camp in Brocton, Staffordshire and was returned to New Zealand at the end of the war and was discharged. He rejoined the Roads Department and applied for New Zealand's permanent military force, was initially declined, but finally accepted in August 1919 and he soon received a commission in the New Zealand Staff Corps at the rank of major. In 1920 he became commander of the Fiji Expeditionary Force and served in Fiji for two months before returning to New Zealand. After serving in a number of staff positions, he was sent to England for attachment to the War Office and the same year attended the Imperial Defence College in 1937, with the rank of colonel. He was also one of New Zealand's representatives at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey. In 1938 he was appointed as Adjutant General of the New Zealand Military Forces as well as a second term as Quartermaster General, having previously served in this capacity from 1934 to 1936. When World War II broke out in September 1939, he commanded the Central Military District and played a key role in the raising of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force for service overseas. He was promoted to the rank of temporary brigadier general and became commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade and departed for the Middle East in January 1940 and was based in Egypt. In April 1941 his unit was sent to Greece in anticipation of the German invasion, and he participated in the Battle of Greece until it was evacuated to Crete. He was then promoted to the rank of temporary major general and participated in the Battle of Crete as commander of the 2nd New Zealand Division. Forced to evacuate Crete, he returned to Egypt and was offered the opportunity to become Chief of the General Staff (effectively the commander of the New Zealand Military Forces) by the visiting New Zealand Prime Minister Peter Fraser. He accepted role and returned to New Zealand in September 1941. In April 1942 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. As World War II progressed, he was faced with the difficulty of juggling resources to maintain both the 2nd New Zealand Division in the Middle East and the 3rd New Zealand Division in the Pacific Theater of Operations and later in the war, he favored keeping the 2nd Division in Italy to deal with what he considered to be the greater priority, the defeat of Nazi Germany, rather than have it be used against the Japanese. In 1946 he appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and retired from the military with 35 years of continuous military service. He received the Distinguished Service Order and was mentioned in dispatches (an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which is described the soldier's gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy) on three separate occasions. After his military retirement, he wrote one of the volumes of the "Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45" a unit history of the 25th Battalion, which was published in 1960. He died at the age of 86.