with Major General Girdwood, GOC
74th (Yeomanry) Division, and Major General
Thomas Lambert, GOC 32nd Division, during his visit to the
Second Army, possibly La Brearde, 6 August 1918. Educated at the
Belfast Royal Academy, Girdwood was
commissioned into the 4th (
Militia) Battalion of the
Cheshire Regiment in March 1896. before transferring into the
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), and the
Regular Army, in May 1899. He served in the
Second Boer War in
South Africa with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment. They took part in the
Ladysmith relief force, including the battles of
Colenso (December 1899),
Vaal Krantz (February 1900) and
the Tugela Heights (February 1900). During this advance, he was promoted to
lieutenant on 25 January 1900. He served in the
Natal from March to June 1900. Following the end of the war, he left South Africa for England in July 1902. He was promoted to captain in January 1908. Girdwood also served in the
First World War, having been appointed a
brigade major with the
Scottish Rifles Brigade in 1911. He became commander of the
156th (Scottish Rifles) Brigade in Egypt and
Palestine in July 1916, He was made
general officer commanding (GOC) of the
74th (Yeomanry) Division in Palestine and France later that year. After the war Girdwood was appointed a
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. He became commander of the
9th Infantry Brigade and then GOC
3rd Division in 1919. GOC
Bombay District of India in 1926. He was appointed
Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst in 1927 and GOC
Northern Ireland District in 1931; he retired in 1935. ==References==