William Garnett Braithwaite

Who was William Garnett Braithwaite?

Brigadier-General William Garnett Braithwaite CB, CMG, DSO was a British Army officer who participated in the Boer War and the First World War.

Born in England in 1870, he joined the British Army in 1891. He served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during the Boer War, during which he received the Distinguished Service Order. After the war he was an instructor at the Royal Military College. In 1911, he went to New Zealand on secondment to help with the training and administration of the New Zealand Military Forces. Following the outbreak of the First World War, he served as a staff officer in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He commanded the New Zealand Division's 2nd Infantry Brigade for nearly two years on the Western Front and on occasion was acting commander of the division. In December 1917, he was medically evacuated to England. After a period of rest, he returned to military duty with the British Army, and ended the war in command of the 16th Infantry Brigade. He retired from the army in 1925 and died in 1937 at the age of 66.