General Birdwood's World War I Campaign Trunk

General Sir W. R. Birdwood (1865 - 1951), World War I period campaign trunk, painted metal, with lift-out tray and compartments, the General's name painted on the top surface, 27.5 cm high, 55 cm high, 37 cm deep.. Provenance: Private collection, Florida, U.S.A. General Birdwood, (eventually Field Marshal, 1st Baron Birdwood, Gcb, Gcsi, G CMG, Gcvo, Cie, DSO) was a British Army officer. He saw active service in the Second Boer War on the staff of Lord Kitchener. He saw action again in the First World War as Commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (the ANZACs) during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915, leading the landings on the peninsula and then the evacuation later in the year, before becoming commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army on the Western Front during the closing stages of the war. He toured Australia to great acclaim in 1920 and later that year went on to be general officer commanding the Northern Army in India and Commander-in-Chief, India, in 1925. After leaving the service in 1930, Birdwood made a bid to become Governor-General of Australia. He had the backing of the King and the British government. However, the Australian Prime Minister James Scullin insisted that his Australian nominee Sir Isaac Isaacs be appointed. Lord Birdwood died at Hampton Court Palace, where he lived in a grace-and-favour apartment, on 17 May 1951. He was buried at Twickenham Cemetery with full military honours. The Australian Government still pays for the upkeep of his grave.