Henry Douglas Wynter CB CMG DSO (1886 - 1945)

Formative years

Henry Douglas Wynter was born on 5th June 1886 at Walla, near Gin Gin, Queensland (Australia). Douglas, by which name he went, was the sixth of seven surviving children and third and youngest surviving son of Henry Wynter, a sugarcane farmer, and his Irish-born wife, Maria Maunsell.^[1] He was a great great great grandson of James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton. Henry was just three years of age when his father died. He was educated at Maryborough Grammar School. Naturally, he helped his older brothers with the plantation.

Douglas was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Australian Militia's Wide Bay Infantry Regiment on 26th February 1907. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 24th March 1908 and Captain on 24th June 1909. On 1st February 1911, he was transferred to the Administrative and Instructional Staff of the 1st Military District (Queensland); an early indication of his administrative ability over command skill.

Later that year, on 5th September 1911, he married Ethel White, a nurse, in St John's Church of England (Anglican Church), Dalby, on Queensland's Darling Downs.^[2]

The Great War

Douglas became a 'full-time' officer of the Australian Military Force in 1911. When The Great War broke out in 1914, he transferred to the Australian Imperial Force.^[3] He was posted to 11th Infantry Brigade in 1916 as its brigade major, with whom he saw action in the Battle of Messines, Battle of Passchendaele, and the Hundred Days Offensive on the Western Front; for which services, he was Mentioned in Despatches four times, appointed Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO)^[4] and appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).^[5] His AIF appointment terminated in Brisbane on 18th April 1920 and he returned to the permanent forces as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Between wars

Wynter attended Staff College, Camberley, England, in 1921-22, before filling several staff postings in Australia. He next completed the 1930 course at the Imperial Defence College, London; another imperative step on the ladder to higher rank.

He was one of a small group of officers who, during the inter-war period, tried to stimulate military thought to bear on the possibility that Great Britain would be hard-pressed to support Australia in another global war and that 'the Fortress', Singapore, may not be as secure from Japanese invasion as generally considered. Wynter argued for a more balanced policy of building up the army and air force, rather than relying heavily on the navy, which was receiving the lion's share of defence funding at the time. His criticism of the government's Singapore strategy led to his being reduced in rank however. With Major General (later Lieutenant General Sir) John Lavarack, Chief of the General Staff, also critical of the Singapore strategy, Wynter gained an influential supporter, who didn't hesitate to 'bring him back from the wilderness' and, in July 1938, appointed Wynter commandant and chief instructor of the newly created Command and Staff School, Sydney.

Wynter was promoted to Brigadier on 28th August 1939 and, in October 1939 with the outbreak of the Second World War, he was given command of Northern Command, based in Queensland.

Second World War

Wynter transferred to the Second Australian Imperial Force (2AIF) on 22nd April 1940^[6] and accepted a reduction in rank to become Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General of I Corps. However, upon arrival in England, he discovered that he had been promoted to Major General and appointed him to command the 2AIF forces based in the United Kingdom. His force would become the nucleus of a new 9th Australian Division which, on 23rd October 1940 he was appointed to command. In January 1941, the medical authorities deemed him medically unfit for further active duty (9th Division would become the famous 'Rats of Tobruk' over the following eighteen months) and ordered his return to Australia for treatment. On 19th December 1941, he rose to temporary Lieutenant General and took over Eastern Command, based in New South Wales. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1942 New Year Honours.^[7]

In April 1942, Wynter was appointed Lieutenant General Administration (LGA) at Allied Land Headquarters in Melbourne. As such he was in charge of all of the Army's logistical activities. He answered directly to Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces, General Thomas Blamey. His principal subordinates were the Adjutant General, Major General Victor Stantke; the Quartermaster General, Major General James Cannan; and the Master General of the Ordnance, Major General Leslie Beavis. With this post Wynter had really 'come into his own', excelling in the administrative responsibility. He held the position for almost two and a half years, through the most crucial times for Australia as a nation.

Suffering from high blood pressure, Wynter relinquished his post of LGA on 19th September 1944 and was placed on the Supernumerary List pending retirement. He was admitted to the 115th General Hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria where he passed away, aged 58 years, on 7th February 1945. The medical officer listed the cause of death as uremia and hypertension. He was buried with military honours in Springvale Cemetery, Victoria.^[8] Wynter was survived by his wife and their two sons.

The war historian, Gavin Long, regarded Henry Wynter as 'perhaps the clearest and most profound thinker the Australian Army of his generation had produced'.

Sources

1. ↑ Queensland Birth Index #C10251/1886
2. ↑ Queensland Marriage Index #C812/1911
3. ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll; accessed 9 May 2018
4. ↑ Australian Honours: DSO; accessed 30 Aug 2019
5. ↑ Australian Honours: CMG; accessed 30 Aug 2019
6. ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll: QX6150 Lieutenant General Henry Douglas Wynter; accessed 9 May 2018
7. ↑ Australian Honours: CB; accessed 30 Aug 2019
8. ↑ Victoria Death Index #1567/1945

See also

• Perry, Warren. Wynter, Henry Douglas (1886–1945). Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2002, accessed online 23 Sep 2018.
• Wikipedia: Henry Wynter; accessed 9 May 2018.