William Bridges

Who was William Bridges?

Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges KCB CMG was a senior Australian military officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Military College, Duntroon and who served as the first Australian Chief of the General Staff. During the First World War he commanded the 1st Australian Division at Gallipoli where he died of wounds on 18 May 1915, becoming the first Australian major general to be killed during the war. He was the first Australian—and the first graduate of Kingston—to reach the rank of major general, the first to command a division, and the first to receive a knighthood. He is one of only two Australians killed in action in the Great War to be interred in Australia.