Henry Normand MacLaurin Brigadier General Henry Normand MacLaurin ( 31 October 1878 - 27 April 1915 ) was a barrister and Australian Army Colonel who served in World War I . He was shot dead by a Turkish sniper at Gallipoli on 27 April 1915 . He was subsequently promoted ( posthumously ) to Brigadier General when all AIF brigade commanders were thus promoted . Early life . MacLaurin was born on 31 October 1878 in Sydney , Australia . He was the son of Sir Henry Normand MacLaurin , the chancellor of the University of Sydney . He was educated at Blair Lodge School , Polmont , Scotland ; Sydney Grammar School ; and the University of Sydney , graduating with a Bachelor of Arts . MacLaurin was later admitted to the bar in New South Wales and became a barrister . Military career . MacLaurin enlisted in the New South Wales Scottish Rifles while still at university and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1899 . He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1900 , Captain in 1903 and Major in 1908 . On 1 July 1913 , he took command of the 26th Infantry Regiment . World War I . On 15 August 1915 , MacLaurin was appointed to the First Australian Imperial Force as a full Colonel and given command of the 1st Infantry Brigade . MacLaurin was the youngest of the three original brigade commanders of the 1st Division , and more than ten years younger than any of his four battalion commanders . For a brigade major , he was given a British regular officer , Major Irvine of the Royal Engineers . MacLaurin ' s brigade was the last to come ashore at Anzac Cove . By this time a crisis was developing and Major General Bridges was ordering units to fill gaps almost as soon as they arrived ashore . During the afternoon of 27 April 1915 , when a Turkish counterattack threatened , Major Irvine collected 200 stray men in Monash Valley and was about to send them forward when the news arrived that the need for them had passed . Irvine went up to Steele ' s Post , where he observed the positions . He was warned about Turkish snipers , but brushed off the warnings and was quoted as saying " It ' s my business to be shot at " . Soon after he was fatally wounded by a sniper . Less than ten minutes later , MacLaurin was standing on the slopes of the ridge that now bears his name . Unaware of Irvine ' s fate , MacLaurin was in the act of warning soldiers to keep under cover when he too was shot dead , from the same point , possibly by the same Turkish sniper . MacLaurin was buried by his men near where he fell in a grave marked with a simple wooden cross . In 1919 , his remains were moved to the 4th Battalion Parade Ground Cemetery , on the slopes of Braund ' s Hill . For his services at Gallipoli he was Mentioned in Despatches . Some weeks after his death , brigade commanders were upgraded from colonels to brigadier generals and MacLaurin was posthumously promoted to brigadier general . Family . His father was Normand MacLaurin . His eldest brother - his " next of kin " and one of the executors of his will - was Dr . Charles MacLaurin ( 1872 – 1925 ) , M . B . , B . S . , F . R . C . S . , a lecturer in medicine at the University of Sydney and the author of " Postmortem " and other books . His two younger brothers were H . C . H . MacLaurin and J . B . MacLaurin Honours and awards . Plus Oaf Leaves ( on one of the above ) for Mention in Despatches : Awarded , and gazetted , ' London Gazette ' , second Supplement , No . 29251 ( 5 August 1915 ) ; ' Commonwealth Gazette ' , No . 133 ( 28 October 1915 ) .