William Bernard Hickie Sir William Bernard Hickie ( 21 May 1865 – 3 November 1950 ) was an Irish born Major General of the British Army and an Irish nationalist politician . His titles included C . B . , awarded in 1912 and K . C . B . awarded 1918 . As a member of the British Army he served in the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902 ; A . Q . M . G . , in the Irish Command from 1912 to 1914 and in World War I from 1914 to 1918 . He commanded a Brigade of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and was Commander of the 16th ( Irish ) Division from 1915 on the Western Front . Family origins . William Hickie was born on 21 May 1865 as eldest of eight children of Colonel James Francis Hickie ( 1833 – 1913 ) in " Slevyre " ( Slevoir ) , Terryglass , near Borrisokane , Nenagh , County Tipperary , and his wife , Lucila Larios y Tashara ( d . 1880 ) of Castile . He came from a long soldierly line and famous Gaelic stock , William Hickie ’ s name is best remembered as one of the notable Irishman who served during the Great War . Two of his other four brothers also served , one was a Major in the Royal Artillery before becoming a priest . Hickie was educated at Oscott College , Birmingham a renowned seminary for training youths of prosperous catholic families . Military career . Being destined for a military career he attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst ( 1882 – 85 ) . He was commissioned into his father ’ s regiment , the Royal Fusiliers at Gibraltar , in 1885 and served with them for thirteen years in the Mediterranean , in Egypt . and India . In 1899 he graduated as captain at the Staff College , Camberley and was selected when the Second Boer War broke out as a Special Service Officer in which capacity he acted in various positions of authority and command . He was promoted from captain of mounted infantry to battalion command , subsequently of a corps until eventually at the end of 1900 he was given command of an independent column of all arms . This he held for eighteen months . He served with distinction at the Battle of Bothaville in November 1900 . Irish command . At the end of the war there followed various staff appointments , in 1907 regimental service in Dublin and Mullingar with the 1st Royal Fusiliers , where he was in command of the regiment for the last two years and from 1909 - 1912 was appointed to the Staff of the 8th Infantry Division in Cork where for four years he was well known in the hunting field and on the polo ground . In May 1912 promoted Colonel , he became Quartermaster General of the Irish Command at Royal Hospital Kilmainham . The next two years which elapsed were devoted to preparation for war , which the War Office authorities had made known was now inevitable . Great War . When war was declared the Staff of the Irish Command became automatically the Staff of the 2nd Army Corps and accordingly with the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , he was promoted Brigadier - General , and as part of the British Expeditionary Force in France took charge of the Adjutant and Quartermaster - General ' s Department during the retreat of the 2nd Corps after the Battle of Mons , to Paris , and during the Battle of the Marne . In the middle of September 1914 , he relieved one of the brigadiers in the fighting line as commander of the 13th brigade ( 5th Infantry Division ) and then commanded the 53rd brigade ( 18th Infantry Division ) till December 1915 , when he was ordered home to assume command of the 16th ( Irish ) Division at Blackburn . Promoted Major General he took over from Lt . General Sir Lawrence Parsons . Hickie - one of a rare breed , a senior , Irish , Catholic officer - was a popular replacement . It was a politically highly sensitive appointment which required the professionalism and political awareness Hickie fortunately possessed as the division was formed around a core of Irish National Volunteers in response to Carson ’ s Ulster Volunteers . He was much more diplomatic and tactful than his predecessors and spoke of the pride which his new command gave him , but did not hesitate to make sweeping changes amongst the senior officers of the Irish Division . After putting the division through intensive training , it left under Irish command of which each man took personal pride . The 47th and 48th Brigade were in the trenches behind Abbeyville by Christmas 1915 , the 49th Brigade reaching the Western Front in February 1916 . Distinguished service . In the next two years and four months during which General Hickie commanded the 16th ( Irish ) Division , it earned a reputation for aggression and élan and won many memorials and mentions for bravery in the engagements during the 1916 Battle of Guillemont and the capture of Ginchy , then during the Battle of Messines , in appalling conditions the Third Battle of Ypres and in attacks near Bullecourt in the Battle of Cambrai offensive in November 1917 . During this period the Division made considerable progress in developing its operational techniques but at a price in losses . The growing shortage of Irish replacement recruits ( due to nationalist disenchantment with the war and the absence of conscription in Ireland ) was successfully met by Hickie through integrating non - Irish soldiers into the division . In January 1918 he was knighted a Knight Commander of the Bath for his services in France and " distinguished service in the field " . In February 1918 Hickie was invalided home on temporary sick leave , but when in hospital the German Spring Offensive began on 21 March , with the result that after his division moved under the command of General Hubert Gough it was practically wiped out and ceased to exist as a division . Although promised a new command , this did not happen before the Armistice in November . Hickie had typified the army ’ s better divisional commanders , was articulate , intelligent and had been competent and resourceful during the BEF ’ s difficult period 1916 - 17 , laying the foundations for its full tactical success in 1918 . Civil engagement . He retired from the army in 1922 , when the five Irish territorial battalions based in southern Ireland were disbanded under the terms of the Anglo - Irish Treaty . He had identified himself strongly with John Redmond ’ s Home Rule , and expressed that its scrapping was a disaster , was equally outspoken in condemning the activities of the Black and Tans . He was elected with a record vote as a member of the Irish Senate , the Seanad of the Irish Free State in 1925 ; he won the fifth highest number nationwide of first - preference votes of the 76 candidates but due to transfers was the first of 19 to be elected . Hickie held his seat until the Seanad was dissolved in 1936 ( replaced by Seanad Éireann in 1937 ) , devoting himself tirelessly with heart and soul , sparing neither labour nor expense , to the cause and interest of the Irish ex - servicemen and their Old Comrade Associations , acting as President of the Area Council ( Southern Ireland ) of the British Legion ( ex - servicemen ’ s charity organisation ) during 1925 to 1948 . Although charming , good - looking and popular with the women , he never married . He died on 3 November 1950 in Dublin and was buried in Terryglass , co . Tipperary .