Francis Earl Johnston Brigadier - General Francis Earl Johnston , CB ( 1 October 1871 – 7 August 1917 ) was a New Zealand born British Army officer of the First World War , who was seconded to the New Zealand Military Forces , serving at Gallipoli and on the Western Front . He commanded both the 1st Infantry Brigade and 3rd New Zealand ( Rifle ) Brigade , and was one of three New Zealand brigadier - generals killed during the war . Early life . Johnston was born in Wellington , New Zealand on 1 October 1871 , the eldest son of merchant ( and later politician ) Charles John Johnston ( 1845 – 1918 ) . He was educated at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire and the Royal Military College Sandhurst , where he was awarded the Sword of Honour as the best of his intake . Military career . Johnston was commissioned in the Prince of Wales ’ s North Staffordshire Regiment in 1891 , and saw service in the Sudan as well as during the Second Boer War . In 1914 , prior to the outbreak of the First World War , Johnston was in New Zealand on leave from his regiment , then serving in India . He had been seconded to the New Zealand Military Forces as a temporary lieutenant colonel , and was appointed commander of the Wellington Military District . First World War . When the New Zealand Expeditionary Force ( NZEF ) was raised in response to the declaration of war by the New Zealand government , Major General Alexander Godley , the commandant of the New Zealand Military Forces , promoted Johnston to the rank of colonel and put him in command of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade ( the brigade would subsequently be designated the 1st Infantry Brigade in 1916 ) . Shipped to Egypt in October along with the rest of the NZEF , Johnston ' s brigade was primarily engaged in training before it deployed along the Suez Canal late in January 1915 to support Indian troops defending from a rumoured Turkish attack . The brigade assisted the Indian defenders in dealing with a Turkish attack during early February , and suffered its first combat casualties . The attack was repulsed with 3 , 000 Turkish soldiers killed , wounded or captured , and three weeks of sentry duty ensued before the brigade returned to Cairo , where it had been previously based . Gallipoli . By this time , the New Zealand and Australian Division , under the command of Godley , was being formed for operations in the Dardanelles , and the brigade formed one of the two infantry brigades ( the other was the Australian 4th brigade ) . In April , the division embarked for Gallipoli . Landed on the beaches on 25 April , the brigade was under the temporary command of Brigadier - General Walker , the chief of staff of the division . Johnston had taken ill on 23 April and missed the landing , returning to his command in early May . On 2 May , shortly after his return to the brigade , Johnston led it in operations to capture Baby 700 , a hill on the slopes overlooking ANZAC Cove . Johnston did not conduct a reconnaissance of the difficult terrain which needed to be traversed by his men prior to the commencement of the attack . As a result , many units had not reached their assigned starting positions by the designated start time of the offensive . The attack , planned by Godley and with ambitious objectives , was beaten off with heavy losses . In Godley ' s subsequent report on the battle , Johnston was not criticised for his handling of the brigade . Johnston then led the brigade in the Second Battle of Krithia and the Battle of Chunuk Bair in August . During the latter battle , he displayed poor judgement in coordinating the battalions of the brigade following the initial capture of Chunuk Bair by Colonel William Malone ' s Wellington Battalion . Chunuk Bair was lost two days later to the Turks . Johnston , still in poor health , had spells in hospital in September , before leaving Gallipoli altogether in November for Cairo to be with his wife , who later died on 15 December . He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath and mentioned twice in dispatches for his conduct during the Gallipoli campaign . Western Front . Following the withdrawal of Allied forces from Gallipoli to Egypt , the NZEF , now reinforced , had sufficient men to form a standalone divisional size formation , the New Zealand Division . Johnston ' s brigade would be one of three infantry brigades in the division . The division was sent to France , where it was involved in operations on the Western Front , and Johnston was again mentioned in dispatches for his leadership during the Battle of the Somme . Still in poor health , in December 1916 , Johnston went to England for medical treatment and was diagnosed with neurasthenia . He later took command of the 4th New Zealand Infantry Brigade Reserve Camp , better known as Sling Camp . He returned to the Western Front in late July 1917 , this time as commander of the 3rd New Zealand ( Rifle ) Brigade . Visiting the front lines , he was killed on 7 August 1917 by sniper fire . Johnston is buried on the edge of Bailleul , in the Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension . His grave is close to that of Brigadier - General Charles Henry Brown , Johnston ' s successor as commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade . Brown had been killed just a few weeks previously .