AWM Collection Record: ART00195

AWM image ART00195

ID Number: ART00195
Title: Major General William Holmes
Maker: Carter, Norman
Object type: Painting
Date made: 1920
Physical description: oil on canvas
Measurements: 81.2 cm x 65 cm
Summary: Portrait of Major General William Holmes, CMG, DSO, VD, commanded the 4th Division AIF and 5th Infantry Brigade, formerly also the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF). William Holmes was born at Victoria Barracks, Sydney, the son of a British Army Officer. Holmes began his citizen infantry at the age of ten. He served in the war in South Africa with the first NSW contingent; was commissioned and awarded the DSO, Mentioned in Despatches, wounded and finished the war as lieut-colonel. He commanded the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force that occupied German New Guinea in 1914 and acted for a period as administrator. In 1915 Holmes went to Egypt as commander of the 5th Infantry Brigade, AIF, and led it in the Gallipoli campaign. He then became GOC of the 4th Division, commanding that formation on the Western Front until he was mortally wounded on 2 July 1917 at Messines. General Holmes, earlier appointed a CMG, was the second AIF divisional commander killed in action in the war - the first being General Bridges at Gallipoli.
Copyright: AWM copyright
Related subject: Portraits
Related unit: 1st Australian Imperial Force
Related place: Australia: Victoria, Officer; Pacific Islands: Bismarck Archipelago, New Britain, Rabaul; Papua New Guinea: New Guinea; South Africa; Turkey: Dardanelles, Gallipoli; United Kingdom: England; Western Front: Western Front (Belgium), Messines Area, Messines
Related conflict: First World War, 1914-1918; Period 1919-1939

Last-Modified: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:10:19 GMT

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