BIRDWOOD, SIR WILLIAM RIDDELL ), British field-marshal, was born Sept. 13, 1865. He joined the 12th Lancers in 1885 and was in the following year transferred to the Indian Staff Corps, joining the cavalry. After service in several frontier expeditions, and in the South African War 0899-1902), he was closely associated for several years with Lord Kitchener in India, acting as his military secretary. Lord Kitchener, in Dec. 1914, selected him for the command of the Australasian forces which were being assembled in Egypt, and in the following April he commanded this army corps in the memorable landing at Anzac. He was in charge of the troops clinging to this patch of the Gallipoli Peninsula until August, and his personality won the confidence and regard of these Australasian troops in a unique degree. Birdwood carried out the masterly withdrawal of the Dardanelles forces from their dangerous positions in the follow ing December and January. After a short period in Egypt he took his Australasian troops to the western front, where they played an important part in the last phases of the British advance in the autumn. For his services he was made a baronet, besides receiving a grant of £IO,000. In 192o he took up command of the northern army in India, was promoted field-marshal in 1925, and was C.-in-C. in India 1925-30. In 1931 he was appointed Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was created a baron in 1938.