Home > William Throsby Bridges

Born in Greenock, Scotland, he was educated educated at Ryde on the Isle of Wight, at the Royal Navy School at New Cross, London and at Trinity College, Port Hope, Ontario, Canada.

In 1879 he joined his family who had settled in his mother's home town of Moss Vale, New South WalesNew South Wales NSW is Australia's most populous and oldest state, located in the southeast, north of Victoria. It was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland. During the 19th century large areas were successively separate.

He volunteered for service in the British Army in the South African Boer WarThere were two Boer wars one in 1880- 81 and the second from October 11, 1899- 1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch origin (called Boere, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South Africa that put an end to the two independent republics that of 1899Events January events January 1 End of Spanish rule in Cuba. January 1 Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City. January 3 The first known use of the word " automobile", in an editorial in the New York Times''. January 6 Lord Curzon becomes a vic- 1902Events January-April January 28 The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, DC with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie. France, Loisy's L'evangile et l'Eglise which inaugurates the Modernist Crisis February 11 Police beat up universal suffrage, from where he contracted typhoid. After being evacuated to England, he returned to Australia from where rapid promotions followed.

In MayThis article is about the month of May. For other uses, see May (disambiguation). May is the fifth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 31 days. It may have been named for the Roman goddess Maia or more likely for the Roman goddess of fertili 1914Events January 4 77 seal hunters freeze to death on ice near Labrador January 5 Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor February 13 Copyright: In New York City the ASCAP (for American Society of Compos, Bridges was appointed Inspector General, the Army's top post. He was in Queensland when the war crisis began, and arrived in Melbourne on August 5 1914. Bridges met with cabinet and was charged with the creation of an expeditionary force for overseas service of 20,000 men.

Bridges and his command sailed from Albany Western Australia, on October 26 1914. En route, the destination was changed from England to Egypt and Bridges arrived there on November 30 1914.

As commander of the 1st Australian Division, Bridges landed at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli at around 7:30am on April 25 1915.

While touring the lines on May 15 1915, Bridges was shot through the femoral artery by a Turkish sniper. Dragged to safety he was evacuated to the hospital ship Gascon. Infection set in but amputation was deemed impossible since he had lost so much blood.

Made aware of Bridge's imminent death, King George V knighted him on May 17, the first Australian General to receive a knighthood. He died the following day. His body was returned to Melbourne where he received a state funeral. He is one of only two Australian World War I soldiers killed in action or died of wounds who was buried in Australia. The other is The Unknown Soldier, disinterred from a French grave and buried at the Australian War Memorial in 1991.