- John Charles Hoad
Infobox Military Person
name=Sir John Hoad
caption=
lived=25 January 1856 -6 October 1911
placeofbirth=Goulburn,New South Wales ,Australia
placeofdeath=Melbourne , Victoria,Australia
allegiance=Victorian Military ForcesAustralian Army
rank=Major General
unit=
family=
nickname=
enteredservice=
currentlyresides=
serviceyears=1884-1911
battles=Second Boer War Russo-Japanese War
laterwork=
awards=Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Mention in Despatches Order of the Rising Sun ,Japan
Military Medal of Honor, JapanMajor General Sir John Charles Hoad KCMG (25 January ,1856 -6 October 1911 ) was an Australian military leader, best known as theAustralian Army 's second Chief of the General Staff.Australian Dictionary of Biography: [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090318b.htm?hilite=John%3BHoad John Hoad at ADB] ]Family
John Hoad's parents were George Hoad, born in
Winchelsea ,Sussex and Catherine Kearney, bornTipperary . They married in March 1851 atGoulburn, New South Wales . They had four sons and one daughter. Only one son died young, the other children all married and produced families. His mother may have died soon after the birth of her last child in 1860. George Hoad remarried to Hannah Vick in 1863 inAlbury , there were no children from this second marriage. George Hoad died 11 September 1874 inWangaratta , Victoria.Fact|date=September 2008John Hoad a talented athlete, excellent horseman,
Australian rules footballer player andcricketer . He married Sarah Denniston Sennetts, (née Brown), inWangaratta on22 December ,1881 . They had a daughter, who died as a child, and two sons. The younger son, Oswald Vick Hoad, enlisted in the Victorian militia in 1907 and transferred to permanent military forces in 1910; and he would ultimately retire from the Australian Army in 1946.Career
On 1 January 1878, John Hoad entered the
Victorian Education Department as a teacher atGooramadda State School and by September he was an assistant atWanaratta School and finally in April 1881 a head teacher atWangaratta North . Hoad began his military career in 1884, when he joined the Victorian Rifles as amilitia lieutenant . He soon resigned his position as a teacher to join the permanent military staff.On
4 June 1886 Hoad was appointed asadjutant of the Victorian Mounted Rifles, and through his aptitude, was quickly promoted toCaptain , and thenMajor within two years. In October 1889 he left Victoria forEngland where he studied signalling,military engineering andmusketry for two years before returning to Victoria to be appointed as the second in command of the Victorian Mounted Rifles.Hoad was an astute and capable commander, and by 1895 he had been promoted to
Lieutenant-Colonel , as well as becoming the first Australian born assistantAdjutant General at Victorian Military Headquarters.Hoad was again sent to England in 1897, and was appointed to the personal staff of
Lord Roberts and theDuke of Connaught forQueen Victoria 'sDiamond Jubilee . Immediately after he returned toMelbourne and by 1899 had attained the rank ofcolonel .Hoad saw service in the
Second Boer War as a special service officer, and upon arriving inCape Town on28 April ,1899 was given overall command of the 1st Australian Regiment, which contained colonial troops fromTasmania ,South Australia , Victoria andWestern Australia .The force moved to
Orange River , where the met up with theKimberley Relief Force . InBloemfontein in April 1900, the 1st Australian Regiment was merged with the 1st Mounted Infantry Brigade underSir Edward Hutton , and Hoad was appointed as assistantAdjutant general . However by July 1900, he had been invalided and evacuated back to Australia. For his services in the Boer War John Hoad was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, awarded theQueen's South Africa Medal , andmentioned in dispatches .Between 1902 and 1906 Hoad served as
aide-de-camp to theGovernor-General of Australia . From November 1903 to January 1904 he was temporarily commander of the 6th Military District (Tasmania).Hoad was sent by Chief of the General Staff
Edward Hutton toManchuria on attachment to theImperial Japanese Army . [Hitsman, J. Mackay and Desmond Morton. [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1983479 "Canada's First Military Attaché: Capt. H. C. Thacker in the Russo-Japanese War,"] "Military Affairs", Vol. 34, No. 3 (Oct., 1970), pp. 82-84.] Along with other Western military attachés, Hoad had two complementary missions -- to assist the Japanese and to observe the Japanese forces in the field during theRusso-Japanese War . For this service, he received the JapaneseOrder of the Rising Sun , 3rd class, and theJapanese War Medal .Upon returning to Australia in January 1905, Hoad was appointed to the newly formed Military Board with the title of Deputy
Adjutant General . In September 1906 he was promoted toBrigadier General , and again promoted toMajor General in January 1907. At this time he was serving the Military Board asInspector General . In 1908 Hoad again visitedLondon , this time to discuss plans for the establishment of an Imperial General Staff at theWar Office . He also participated in theBritish Army 's autumn maneuvers.Hoad's recommendations about the Imperial General Staff were accepted, and on
1 July ,1909 , then Secretary for Defence, SirGeorge Pearce appointed him as Chief of the General Staff. He metLord Kitchener in Darwin on21 December 1909 to discuss Australia's land defenses, and joined him for a two month long tour of inspection of the whole country. By 1911 he had begun planning for the introduction of Australian universal military training, but with failing health, took sick leave on1 June 1911 . John Hoad was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George upon the occasion of thecoronation of King George V on22 June ,1911 , but just 18 weeks later, on6 October ,1911 , Sir John Hoad died of a heart disorder inMelbourne .References
* Hitsman, J. Mackay and Desmond Morton. [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1983479 "Canada's First Military Attache: Capt. H. C. Thacker in the Russo-Japanese War,"] "Military Affairs", Vol. 34, No. 3 (Oct., 1970), pp. 82-84.
* Perry, Warren. (1983). "Hoad, Sir John Charles (1856 - 1911)" in "Australian Dictionary of Biography," Volume 9. Melbourne:Melbourne University Press .Notes
External links
* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090318b.htm?hilite=John%3BHoad John Hoad at ADB]
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