Cecil Foott Major General Cecil Henry Foott CB , CMG ( 16 January 1876 – 27 June 1942 ) was an Australian Army colonel and temporary Brigadier General in World War I . He was educated as an engineer , and serving with distinction through the great war was seven times mentioned in despatches . Early life and career . Cecil Henry Foott was born on 16 January 1876 at Bourke , New South Wales , the son of a station owner . He was educated at Brisbane and Toowoomba Grammar and qualified as a mechanical engineer . In 1895 , Foott was commissioned into the Queensland Militia Garrison Artillery as a second lieutenant . The following September he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Permanent Military Forces , in the Queensland Artillery . In July 1901 he was promoted to captain in the Royal Australian Artillery . In 1902 Foott transferred to the Royal Australian Engineers . After a year of training in England in 1908 , he became Chief Engineer in Victoria in 1909 . He was promoted to major on 1 August 1909 , served as Director of Works from 1910 to 1911 and then as Director of Engineers from 1911 - 12 . In 1912 - 13 he attended the Staff College at Camberley , England , and was still on duty in the UK on the staff of Southern Command when the war broke out . World War I . Being one of only six staff college graduates in the Army , this made him in demand for staff duties and General Bridges immediately requested him for the 1st Division staff as Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General . This part of the division , staff was concerned with administration and logistics . Foott joined the staff in Egypt in January 1915 . Foott was determined that the men should always be supplied properly , and made a point of letting the officers of the Lines of Communication , living palatially on board the Aragon , know exactly what he thought of them whenever they placed obstacles in his way . He remained in the post for two years . In France he found the logistics far more complex , but much better organised , and increasingly free of shortages , he was able to deliver there a quality of service that he had never been able to achieve at Gallipoli . On 23 July 1917 Foott became AA & QMG of the AIF Depots in the UK , with the temporary rank of brigadier general . Then on 17 March 1918 he became Chief Engineer of the Australian Corps . It was his first engineering post since before the war . Foott called conferences of his engineers and tried to build up a sense of esprit amongst the corps . Increasingly , the engineering effort was driven by Corps , as the engineers attempted to keep the troops and supplies moving forwards . Post war . After the war ended , Foott became Deputy Director of Repatriation , working under Monash . Foott himself returned to Australia in November 1919 . Foott became a colonel and honorary brigadier general in the staff corps . He served at first in the Quartermaster General ' s Branch at Army Head Quarters . In 1926 he became Commandant of the 1st Military District in Queensland . Then in 1930 he became Commandant of the 3rd Military District and commander of the 4th Division in Victoria . In July 1931 , Foott was transferred to the Reserve of Officers . He was placed on the Retired List in February 1936 as an honorary brigadier general . He died on 27 June 1942 and was buried at Berwick Cemetery .