New Zealand Army General. A combat veteran of the 2nd Boer War and World War I, he rose in rank to become the Commandant of the New Zealand Military Forces. Born the youngest child of Teignmouth Melvill, a British Army Officer who received the Victoria Cross after his death at the Battle of Isandlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa. He received his education at Wellington College in Berkshire, England and in 1897 he joined the British Army where he received an 2nd lieutenant's commission with the South Lancashire Regiment and fought in the 2nd Boer War in South Africa. He then served in India for a few years and in 1906 he resigned from the British Army as a captain. The following year he emigrated to the Otago Region of New Zealand with the intent of becoming a farmer. In 1911 he joined the New Zealand Staff Corps and served as an administrator and trainer. In July 1914 he was attended the Staff College at Camberley, Surrey, England when World War I erupted and he rejoined the South Lancashire Regiment and sent to the Western Front in France where he was wounded in September of that year. Following his recovery, he was sent to the School of Instruction, Westminster Command in England as a chief instructor. From May to September 1915 he was assigned as a brigade major for the Tay Defences and transferred to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during the Gallipoli Campaign in Turkey. In early 1916 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the New Zealand Division and commanded the 4th Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade and saw action at the Battle of the Somme in France. He later commanded the 2nd Infantry and 1st Infantry Brigades, participating in the Battles of Messines and Broodseinde, and was promoted to the rank of temporary brigadier general. In the Spring of 1918, his unit played a key role in repelling the German forces during Operation Michael and the following Summer he led the New Zealand Division during the Hundred Days Offensive, breaching the Hindenburg Line, and capturing the strategic town of Crevecoeur during the Battle of Canal du Nord in September 1918. After the German surrender in November 1918, he was discharged from active duty and assigned to the Reserve Forces the following year, and he returned to New Zealand to command the Wellington Military District. In April 1924 he was promoted to the rank of major general and became Commandant of the New Zealand Military Forces, serving in this capacity until his sudden death at the age of 47. Among his military awards and decorations include the Companion of the Order of the Bath, the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, the Distinguished Service Order, the Belgian Order of the Crown and Croix de guerre, and he was mentioned in dispatches (one whose name appears in 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 four separate occasions.