Edward Hutton ( British Army officer ) Lieutenant General Sir Edward Thomas Henry Hutton KCB , KCMG ( 6 December 1848 – 4 August 1923 ) was a British military commander , who pioneered the use of mounted infantry in the British Army and later commanded the Canadian Militia and the Australian Army . Early career . Hutton was born in Torquay , Devon in December 1848 , the only son of a middle - class family . He was taught at Eton College , leaving in 1867 and taking a commission in the King ' s Royal Rifle Corps . He first saw active duty in Africa in 1879 , when he served with his regiment in the Anglo - Zulu War , being mentioned in despatches for his service at the Battle of Gingindlovu . He served with the mounted infantry force in the First Anglo - Boer War of 1880 - 81 , and as a result was appointed to command the mounted infantry in the Anglo - Egyptian War of 1882 as a brevet major . He fought around Alexandria and at the Battle of Tel el - Kebir , where he had a horse killed underneath him and was again mentioned in despatches . In the Nile Expedition of 1884 - 85 , he was appointed to the staff , again in command of the mounted infantry . Hutton had become closely linked with the employment of mounted infantry in the African campaigns , and was the army ' s leading authority on its use ; in 1886 , he gave a public lecture calling for a widespread scheme of training and preparing mounted infantry units within the units stationed in Britain . He was supported by Sir Garnet Wolseley , a prominent Army moderniser , and Hutton was given command of the newly raised composite regiment of mounted infantry at Aldershot in 1887 . Wolseley ' s support of Hutton has led him to be named as a member of the influential " Wolseley ring " by some biographers , but he was five to ten years younger than most members , and other sources often do not list him as a member of the group . His influence was strengthened by his marriage , in 1889 , to Eleanor Mary Paulet ; Eleanor was the niece of the Marquess of Winchester and of Field - Marshal Lord William Paulet , his improved social connections led to him being appointed as an aide - de - camp to Queen Victoria in 1892 . Overseas command . New South Wales . In 1893 , Hutton was named commandant of the military forces in New South Wales ( Australia ) ; he was recalled in 1896 for a year ' s service in Ireland . Canada and South Africa . In 1898 , he was promoted to the rank of Major - General and made General Officer Commanding the Militia of Canada . When South Africa ' s Second Boer War was on the horizon , Hutton lobbied Canada to participate . Without informing Canada ' s Prime Minister , Sir Wilfrid Laurier , Hutton published mobilization plans in the " Canadian Military Gazette " . Laurier ' s government then received a letter of gratuity from Britain for its decision to aid them in the Boer region . Furious , Laurier announced Canada ' s refusal to send any contingent s . In the end , political pressure was too great , and Canada played a role in the war . However , the row led to Hutton being recalled . In 1900 Hutton went to South Africa as Commander of the 1st Mounted Infantry Brigade , a formation made up of Canadia n , Australian , and New Zealand troops . He was knighted and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in November 1900 for his services in the South African campaign After returning to the United Kingdom , Hutton was in November 1901 appointed Honorary Colonel of the 7th ( Militia ) Battalion , King´s Royal Rifle Corps . Australia . In 1902 , Hutton became the first commander of the Australian Army . He was recommended by Field Marshal Lord Roberts after several other officers had refused or were rejected by the government . His task in January 1902 became that of transforming six colonial forces into one national Australian Army . In 1904 , Hutton promoted what was then a novel idea that Empire military attachés should be sent to witness the clash of Russian and Japanese forces in Manchuria . Australian sources reveal a nested array of factors affecting the mission of Colonel John Hoad , who was detached by the Deakin government to serve with the Imperial Japanese Army in 1904 - 1905 . Along with other Western military attachés , Hoad had two complementary missions – to assist the Japanese and to observe the Japanese forces in the field during the Russo - Japanese War . Hutton resigned as GOC Australian Army at the end of 1904 . Later career . After his resignation , he was appointed commander of 3rd Division in 1905 , holding the command until 1906 , and given a post overseeing administration in Eastern Command . In November 1907 he was appointed Lieutenant - General , shortly before his retirement . In 1914 , he was recalled from retirement to command the newly raised 21st Division in the New Armies - the Australian government having turned down a suggestion he should be offered command of the Australian Imperial Force - but fell ill early in 1915 , after a riding accident , and was relieved of command in April . In retirement , he wrote a history of the King ' s Royal Rifle Corps , and a number of pamphlets on military affairs . He died in 1923 ; he was survived by his wife ; the couple had no children .