Ewen Sinclair - Maclagan Major General Ewen George Sinclair - Maclagan CB , CMG , DSO ( 24 December 1868 – 24 November 1948 ) was an officer in the British Army who fought in British India and the Second Boer War . He was later seconded to the Australian Army and served with the Australian Imperial Force during the 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 a banker and his wife . He attended United Services College in North Devon , England , where Rudyard Kipling was one of his classmates . Military career . After serving in the local militia , Sinclair - Maclagan was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Border Regiment in 1889 . He served in British India and participated in campaigns in the Waziristan region . From 1899 to 1901 he fought in the Boer War in South Africa where , as a captain , he served as a company commander in the 1st Battalion of the Border Regiment . During his service during the war he was mentioned in dispatches and won the Distinguished Service Order . 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 . First World War . Upon the outbreak of the First World War , Bridges was instructed to form the Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) for service overseas . He selected Sinclair - Maclagan to be commander of 3rd Brigade , 1st Division . Sinclair - Maclagan was the only brigade commander of the division to be a professional soldier . He oversaw the training of the brigade , most of whom were miners , in the Middle East . Gallipoli . Sinclair - Maclagan ' s brigade was selected to be the lead element of the division when it landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 . On reaching high ground at Plugge ' s Plateau , he quickly realised that his brigade had been landed in the wrong position . Making the best of a confused situation , he directed his forces to secure Baby 700 , a prominent feature overlooking the ANZAC positions . This could not be done , and he opted to establish positions on what would become known as the Second Ridge . Exhausted after dealing with Turkish counterattacks the following day , he was relieved of his command . 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 . Western Front . The 3rd Brigade , with Sinclair - Maclagan still in command , participated in the Battles of Pozières and Mouquet Farm from July to September 1916 . He left his brigade in December 1916 to become commander of the AIF depots in England . He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in February 1917 for his war service to date . 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 . Promoted to temporary major general , Sinclair - Maclagan had little opportunity to stamp his mark on the division before the upcoming Battle of Passchendaele , but it performed well in the Battle of Polygon Wood . Its next major engagement was in March 1918 when it was rushed to the Somme sector to counter the German Spring Offensive . It took up positions on the Ancre and rebuffed several attempts by the Germans to break through . In September , the 4th Division relieved the 5th Division in the line and participated in the attacks on the Hindenburg Line . He also led the Australian mission that assisted in the training of the II American Corps , American Expeditionary Forces , prior to its participation in the successful Battle of St . Quentin Canal . 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 . His time assisting the American Expeditionary Forces was rewarded with the Distinguished Service Medal . He also received the Croix de guerre with palm from the French government and the Commander ' s Cross of the Order of the White Eagle from the Serbian government . In late 1919 , he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George . 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 1938 . 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 .