Ewen Sinclair-MacLagan

Ewen George Sinclair-MacLagan
Ewen George Sinclair-MacLagan
	First World War Gallipoli Campaign; Western Front;
Awards	Mentioned in Despatches (5); Distinguished Service Medal (United States); Croix de guerre (France); Commander's Cross of the Order of the White Eagle (Serbia)

First World War. During the latter stages of the war, he commanded the 4th Australian Division. After the war, he returned to service with the British Army. He retired in 1925 and died in Dundee

, Scotland at the age of 79.

Early life

Ewen George Sinclair-MacLagan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 24 December 1868 to the banker Robert Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan and his wife Mary Alice Wall. He attended the United Services College in North Devon, England, where Rudyard Kipling was one of his classmates.^[1]

Military career

After serving in the local militia, Sinclair-MacLagan was commissioned as a

mentioned in despatches and won the Distinguished Service Order.^[1]^[2]

In 1901, Sinclair-MacLagan was seconded to the Australian Army and served as adjutant of the New South Wales Scottish Rifles. After three years in Australia, he returned to his regiment in England. In 1910, he was a major and serving with the Yorkshire Regiment when the then Brigadier William Bridges, who knew Sinclair-MacLagan from his time in Australia, offered him a position as a drill instructor at the newly established Royal Military College at Duntroon. Sinclair-MacLagan accepted the position and returned to Australia as a lieutenant colonel.^[1]

First World War

Upon the outbreak of the

First World War in August 1914, Bridges was instructed to form the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) for service overseas. He selected Sinclair-MacLagan to be the commander of 3rd Brigade, 1st Division. Sinclair-MacLagan was the only brigade commander of the division to be a professional soldier.^[3] He oversaw the training of the brigade, most of whom were miners, in the Middle East.^[4]

Gallipoli

Sinclair-MacLagan's brigade was selected to be the lead element of the division when it landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.[1] On reaching the high ground at Plugge's Plateau, he quickly realised that his brigade had been landed in the wrong position. Making the best of a confusing situation, he directed his forces to secure Baby 700, a prominent feature overlooking the ANZAC positions.^[5] This could not be done, and he opted to establish positions on what would become known as the Second Ridge.^[6] Exhausted after dealing with Turkish counterattacks the following day, he was relieved of his command.^[7] After a period of rest, Sinclair-MacLagan returned to his brigade but was medically evacuated in August. He resumed command of the brigade in January 1916, at which stage it was reforming in Egypt after being evacuated from Gallipoli.^[1]

Western Front

The 3rd Brigade, with Sinclair-MacLagan still in command, participated in the

Companion of the Order of the Bath in February 1917 for his war service to date.^[8] He returned to the Western Front in July 1917 when the commander of the 4th Division, Major General William Holmes, was killed shortly after the Battle of Messines. Sinclair-MacLagan was to take over command of the division, which he would lead for the remainder of the war.^[1]

Promoted to temporary major general, Sinclair-MacLagan had little opportunity to stamp his mark on the division before the upcoming

Battle of St. Quentin Canal.^[1]

Post-war

After the war, Sinclair-MacLagan's rank of major general was made substantive, in lieu of the knighthood that other divisional commanders of the AIF received. In May 1919, his service with the AIF was terminated. He received a number of awards for his wartime services.

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.^[13]^[14]

Later life

Sinclair-MacLagan returned to duty with the British Army and served as commander of the

51st Highland Division before retiring in 1925. He retained a connection to the Australian Army through his honorary colonelcy of the 34th Battalion. He was also colonel of the Border Regiment from 1923 to 1936. He died in Dundee, Scotland on 24 November 1948. He was survived by his daughter, the only child of his marriage to Edith Kathleen French, the daughter of George Arthur French. His wife had died in 1928.^[1]

Notes

^

Melbourne University Press

. Retrieved 17 February 2013.

^ "No. 27359". The London Gazette. 27 September 1901. p. 6315.
^ Bean, 1941, p. 49
^ Bean, 1941, p. 134
^ Bean, 1941, pp. 276–277
^ Bean, 1941, pp. 343–344
^ Bean, 1941, p. 520
^ "No. 29944". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 February 1917. p. 1595.
^ Pedersen 2011, pp. 306–308.
^ Pedersen 2011, pp. 449–451.
^ "No. 31451". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 July 1919. p. 8939.
^ "No. 31615". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 October 1919. p. 13007.
^ Pedersen 2011, p. 364.
^ "No. 31370". The London Gazette. 30 May 1919. p. 6791.

References

Bean, C. E. W. (1941). The Story of ANZAC from the outbreak of war to the end of the first phase of the Gallipoli Campaign, May 4, 1915. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Canberra, Australia: Australian War Memorial.
Pedersen, Peter (2011). ANZACs on the Western Front: The Australian War Memorial Battlefield Guide. Milton, Queensland: John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN 978-1-74216-981-1
.

Military offices
Preceded by George Carter-Campbell	GOC 51st (Highland) Division 1919–1923	Succeeded by Archibald Ritchie
Honorary titles
Preceded by Sir Bruce Hamilton	Colonel of the Border Regiment 1923–1936	Succeeded by George Hyde Harrison

[Hill-1] 
Melbourne University Press
. Retrieved 17 February 2013.

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