Lieutenant General John Whitham CMG DSO was an officer in the Australian Army who held senior commands in the 1930s and early 1940s. He served his adopted country in three wars: Second Boer War, The Great War and Second World War.
John Lawrence Whitham was born on 7th October 1881 in Jamālpur, Bihar, West Bengal, India, second son of Lawrence Yates Whitham, a Major in the Indian Army who brought his wife Ellen Brien and family to Tasmania in 1886 and joined the local police force. [1] As soon as John was old enough, in 1998, he enlisted in the Tasmanian Militia.
He rejoined the battalion in May, as a Major and its second-in-command. In August he briefly commanded the battalion, but shortly afterward was invalided ill and did not return to Gallipoli. In Egypt in February 1916 he was appointed deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster general for the 2nd Australian Division, then preparing to deploy to the Western Front. Promoted Lieutenant Colonel, in May 1917 John was given command of the 52nd Australian Infantry Battalion, a unit formed partly from his old 12th Battalion. Several weeks later he led his battalion throughout the bloody fighting beyond Ypres, Belgium. [5] John was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in January 1916; [6] following his work at Villers-Bretonneux in 1918 he was appointed Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). [7] He was Mentioned in Despatches (equivalent to today's Commendation for Gallantry) three times. [8][9][10] For this additional war service he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
In 1918, John was sent as an instructor to the Senior Officers' School at Aldershot, England. Here he met, and on 12th April 1920 married, war widow Olive Young nee Le Pays, three years his junior, in St John the Evangelist Parish Church, Littlewick Green, Berkshire. [11] He thereby became step-father to Olive's two young children, aged about nine and eight years. The family came to Australia aboard the Osterley, departing England on 15th January 1921. [3][12]
Family name | Given name | Age | Year arrived | Month | Ship | Captain |
WHITHAM | COL | 40 | 1921 | FEB | OSTERLEY | COAD A J |
WHITHAM | MRS | 37 | 1921 | FEB | OSTERLEY | COAD A J |
WHITHAM | CHILD WITH | 10 | 1921 | FEB | OSTERLEY | COAD A J |
WHITHAM | CHILD WITH | 9 | 1921 | FEB | OSTERLEY | COAD A J |
Between the world wars, John served as director of organisation and personal services. Promoted to Brigadier, he served as district commandant of military forces in Tasmania (1933-35), Queensland (1935-37) and Victoria (1937-39). When he and Olive arrived in Brisbane to take up his new command in June 1935 they received considerable media attention, with numerous articles in the Queensland newspapers. [13]
Too old for active service in the Second World War, he commanded the Volunteer Defence Corps in Victoria. [14] For his third war service he was awarded the Australia Service Medal 1939-1945.
In 1944 John transferred to part-time duty and retired in 1946 as an honorary Lieutenant General. He and his wife retired to Wahroonga, New South Wales.
John died of cancer, aged 70 years, on 12th May 1952 in the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, New South Wales [15] and is buried in the Botany Cemetery (now Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park), Matraville. [16] John was survived by his wife and step-children. Although he had no children of his own, John clearly influenced his step-children as his step-son served in the Australia Artillery during the Second World War and his step-daughter's husband attained the rank of Wing Commander in the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve as a medical officer.
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Categories: Australian Army Generals, World War II | 3rd Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse | 12th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, World War I | 52nd Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, World War I | Victoria, Volunteer Defence Corps, World War II | Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George | Distinguished Service Order | Mentioned in Despatches | Australia Service Medal 1939-1945 | Bengal, India | Osterley, Arrived 3 Mar 1921 | Wahroonga, New South Wales | Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, New South Wales | Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, Matraville, New South Wales | Australia, Notables in the Military | Notables | Anzacs, World War I | Wounded in Action, Australia, World War I