Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan

Major General Ewen George Sinclair-MacLagan, (24 December 1868 – 24 November 1948) was an officer in the British Army who fought in British India and the Second Boer War. He was later seconded to the Australian Army and served with the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. During the latter stages of the war, he commanded the 4th Australian Division. After the war, he returned to service with the British Army. He retired in 1925 and died in Dundee, Scotland at the age of 79. Early life Ewen George Sinclair-MacLagan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 24 December 1868 to the banker Robert Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan and his wife Mary Alice Wall. He attended the United Services College in North Devon, England, where Rudyard Kipling was one of his classmates. Military career After serving in the local militia, Sinclair-MacLagan was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Border Regiment in 1889. He served in British India and participated in campaigns in the Waziristan region. From 1899 to 1901 he fought in the Boer War in South Africa where, as a captain, he served as a company commander in the 1st Battalion of the Border Regiment. During his service during the war, he was mentioned in despatches and won the Distinguished Service Order. In 1901, Sinclair-MacLagan was seconded to the Australian Army and served as adjutant of the New South Wales Scottish Rifles. After three years in Australia, he returned to his regiment in England. In 1910, he was a major and serving with the Yorkshire Regiment when the then Brigadier William Bridges, who knew Sinclair-MacLagan from his time in Australia, offered him a position as a drill instructor at the newly established Royal Military College at Duntroon. Sinclair-MacLagan accepted the position and returned to Australia as a lieutenant colonel.