Walter Joseph Cawthorn CB CBE CIE (1896 - 1970)

Born 11 Jun 1896 in Prahran, Victoria (Australia)

Husband of Mary Wyman (Gillison) Cawthorn — married 10 Mar 1927 in Marylebone, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom

Died 4 Dec 1970 at age 74 in Rokeby, Victoria, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Brett Osler [send private message]

Biography

Walter Cawthorn CB CBE CIE is Notable.

Walter Cawthorn CB CBE CIE is an Anzac who served in World War One.

Major General Sir Walter 'Bill' Cawthorn CB CIE CBE was an Australian soldier, diplomat and intelligence chief. After serving in the AIF at Gallipoli and the Western Front, he transferred to the British Indian Army, with whom he served through to the end of the Second World War. He then held appointments as an Australian High Commissioner before being appointed head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service.

Formative years

Walter Cawthorn CB CBE CIE was born in the Colony of Victoria (1851-1900)

Walter Joseph Cawthorn was born on 11th June 1896 in Prahran, Victoria (Australia). He was the second of eight children and eldest of three sons of William Cawthorn, a commercial traveller from England who later entered publishing, and his Victorian-born wife Frances 'Fanny' Williams. ^[1] Educated at Melbourne High School, Walter became a schoolteacher, as did his next younger sister Minnie.

Australian Imperial Force

Walter Cawthorn CB CBE CIE is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Australian Imperial Force 1915-1918
22nd Infantry Battalion

Sir Walter Cawthorn CB CBE CIE was wounded at Armentières, France during The Great War.

On 3rd February 1915, Walter enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), his young nation's all volunteer expeditionary force for the (First World) War. He was posted to the 22nd Infantry Battalion. Arriving at Gallipoli in September, he was promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major (Warrant Officer Class One) that month and was commissioned as an officer on 9th November. During his time on the peninsula he kept a diary in which he recorded his experiences. Following the evacuation to Egypt in December and a period of re-organisation and training, the AIF was transferred to France in March. Near Armentières, Walter suffered a severe shrapnel wound to the abdomen on 27th June and was evacuated to England. He returned to the Western Front in November. Sent to England for training duties in April 1917, he was promoted to Captain in May.

British Indian Army

Having rejoined his unit in August, he again went to England where his AIF appointment terminated when he was commissioned in the British Indian Army on 13th February 1918. In the 1920s he served in India with the 16th Punjab Regiment. ^[2]

Walter married widow Mary Varley nee Gillison on 10th March 1927 in Marylebone Presbyterian Church, London. ^[3] Their only son Michael, a young officer in the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, would be killed in 1951 at Kapyong during the Korean War.

Walter saw active service on the North-West Frontier (1930-35), before being posted to the War Office, London, as a general staff officer, grade 2. In 1939, he was placed in command of the Middle East Intelligence Centre in Cairo; opening 'the door' to the direction his career would then take. In 1941, he became director of military intelligence at General Headquarters, India, as an acting Major General. From October he held the additional post of deputy-director of intelligence, South East Asia Command. Mary also performed intelligence duties in the Second World War, serving as an officer in the Women's Army Corps, India, for four years. In 1945, he became a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held at San Francisco, California. ^[2] Walter was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1941, Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1943 and Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1946. ^[2]

Diplomatic service

Recommended by his friend Richard Casey (later Baron Casey), then the governor of Bengal, Walter was sent to Melbourne in 1946 as Indian representative on the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Australia. From 1948 to 1951 he was deputy chief of staff of the army of newly-independent Pakistan, and forged strong links with local political and military leaders. In 1952 he was appointed director of the Joint Intelligence Bureau, a liaison section in the Department of Defence, Melbourne. ^[2]

Seeking 'a better outlet for Walter's talents', Casey—then minister for external affairs—selected him for a five-year posting (1954-59) as Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan. During Walter's term the two countries were to enjoy close ties; Governor-General Iskander Mirza telling Casey: 'We have no secrets from Bill Cawthorn'. ^[4] In the New Year Honours 1958, Walter was created Knight Bachelor in recognition of his service as High Commissioner to Pakistan. ^[5][6][7] The following year he was appointed High Commissioner to Canada; his stay, however, being very brief. ^[2]

Australian Secret Intelligence Service

In September 1960 he was back in Melbourne as head of the Australian Secret (Intelligence) Service (ASIS).

"The Minister for External Affairs, Mr. Menzies, announced yesterday that the Australian High Commissioner in Canada, Major General Sir Walter Cawthorn, would be leaving Ottawa to return to Australia at the end of next month.

Mr. Menzies said that both Sir Walter and Lady Cawthorn had recently been in ill health. The decision that Sir Walter should retire from the diplomatic service had been taken on medical advice." ^[8]

Walter took a particular interest in Indonesian affairs and expanded the Jakarta office to be ASIS's biggest station. It has been suggested that ASIS played a significant role with the USA's Central Intelligence Agency in creating an atmosphere for the 1966 overthrow of President Sukarno. ASIS also provided instruction in clandestine operations for members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV). ^[2]

Retirement and Final Parade

Walter retired in July 1968, having served in three armies, rising fromfrom Private to Major General, in key diplomatic posts and headed Australia's primary security agency. Sir Walter and Lady Cawthorn lived at Little Tocknells, in Kallista in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne. In early 1970 he was admitted to hospital following a savage attack by an unknown assailant near the Melbourne Club. ^[2]

Aged 74 years, he passed away on 4th December 1970 in Rokeby, Victoria. ^[9][10] He was survived by Mary, who passed in 1989.

Sources

1. ↑ BDM Vic - 22585 / 1896 Birth certificate suggests place of birth as Prahran
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6} Hohnen, Peter. 'Cawthorn, Sir Walter Joseph (1896–1970)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1993; accessed online 10 Apr 2024
3. ↑ UK FreeBMD Marriage Index Mar qtr 1927, vol 1a, page 1043
4. ↑ HIGH COMMISSIONER WELCOMED HOME
5. ↑ Australian Honours: Knight Bachelor; accessed 10 Apr 2024
6. ↑ Queen Bestows Knighthood
7. ↑ The Queen has created 12 new Australian knights in Honours List
8. ↑ Trove: High Commissioner Returning
9. ↑ BDM Vic - 761 / 1971 Death certificate suggests Rokeby
10. ↑ Diplomat dies at 74

• Three ASIS chiefs fell out with the Government

• G-G BLOWS SPOOK'S COVER

• Overseas Australians Remember War Dead

• Defends Colombo Plan Projects

• AWM Digitised Records

• AWM Digitised Records

See also

• Australian Knights and Dames