General Officers of the First AIF

November 1918

There were four grades of general officers in the First AIF, these being from least to most senior: Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General and General.

As with all other officer ranks, they could be temporary or permanent, except for brigadier general, which was always temporary. Temporary rank was generally granted while an officer was serving in a particular capacity. When the job lapsed, the officer returned to his permanent rank. This prevented an accumulation of officers at high grades without posts for them. Below, officers are listed in order of seniority of temporary rank held. The seniority column refers to seniority in the temporary grade.

Most officers also held temporary or permanent rank in the AMF (Australian Military Forces -- the Australian Army back at home) as well as in the AIF. Some officers were promoted within the AMF while serving with the AIF. Officers holding higher rank in the AMF than their substantive rank in the AIF were entitled to retain the higher rank as an honorary rank.

Seniority was on the basis of the rank and date upon which one had been promoted within the AIF. Where an officer had not been promoted within the AIF, regular army officers carried their seniority according to their appointment date within the AMF. Reservists who had not been promoted ranked below all regular officers, with seniority according to their dates of appointment in the active forces. Retired officers who joined the AIF and had not been promoted carried their seniority according to the date of their appointment to the AIF, but below other officers of the same rank.

There were some British and New Zealand officers on exchange in Australia before the war who were granted AMF rank and seniority, but not necessarily the same rank and seniority as that of the army from which they came. 

The rank of Brigadier General was unusual in that it was only held as a temporary appointment in the AIF. When the AIF was formed in 1914, infantry and light horse brigade commanders and the divisional artillery commander were graded as colonels. They were regraded as Brigadier Generals on 1 July 1915 in order to bring them into line with their British counterparts, with seniority backdated to the date of their assumption of brigade command. This affected (with seniority date) Colonels J.W. McCay (15 August 1914), J. J. T. Hobbs (15 August 1914),  E. G. Sinclair-MacLagan (15 August 1914),  H. N. MacLaurin (15 August 1914), J. Monash (15 September 1914), G. de L. Ryrie (19 September 1914), F. G. Hughes (17 October 1914) and H. G. Chauvel (10 December 1914). MacLaurin had already been killed on 27 April 1915, and was promoted posthumously.

Units are as for November 1918.

Some abbreviations are used in this table - see below.

Abbreviations

Main 1st Division 2nd Division 3rd Division 4th Division 5th Division 6th Division NZ & Australian Division Anzac Mounted Division Australian Mounted Division

Page created by Ross Mallett
ross@metva.com.au
Last update 19 September 2001