Edward Chaytor

Major General Sir Edward Walter Clervaux Chaytor KCMG, KCVO, CB (21 June 1859 – 15 June 1939) was a farmer, and a military commander of New Zealand troops in the Boer War and World War I.

Chaytor was the son of John Clervaux Chaytor and his wife Emma, daughter of Edward Fearon. His paternal great-grandfather was the industrialist and politician Sir William Chaytor, 1st Baronet. In the Boer War Chaytor was Lieutenant-Colonel in the Second and Eighth New Zealand Contingents. In World War I he was in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt and Gallipoli. In 1915 he was promoted to Major-General and given command of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, which was part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. In 1916 he personally reconnoitred the Turkish position from an aircraft.

In 1917 he took over the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division, and when taking part in the assault on Rafa he ignored Chetwode's order to withdraw from the attack and took the town. In 1918 "Chaytor Force" captured Amman in Jordan.

He was born in Motueka and died in London. He was educated at Nelson College, and was then a sheep farmer at Spring Creek near Blenheim.

ee also

*Chaytor Baronets

References

*"Fiery Ted: Anzac Commander" by Michael Smith (2008, Christchurch NZ) ISBN 9780473133634

External links

* [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=3C13 Biography in DNZB]
* [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/WaiNewZ-fig-WaiNewZ306a.html 1914 photograph of Staff and senior officers of New Zealand and Australian Division in Egypt]
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/ www.thepeerage.com]