View source for Cecil Foott

{{Short description|Australian Army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Cecil Henry Foott
|image= Cecil Foott.jpg
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption= Portrait by [[George James Coates]]
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1876|1|16|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [[Bourke, New South Wales]]
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1942|6|27|1876|1|16|df=yes}}
|death_place= [[Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria]]
|placeofburial= Berwick cemetery, [[Berwick, Victoria]]
|allegiance= Australia
|branch= [[Australian Army]]
|serviceyears= 1895–1936<br/>1940–1942
|rank= [[Brigadier general (Australia)|Brigadier General]]
|unit=
|commands= Southern Division, [[Volunteer Defence Corps (Australia)|Volunteer Defence Corps]] (1940–42)<br/>[[4th Division (Australia)|4th Division]] (1930–31)<br/>[[3rd Military District (Australia)|3rd Military District]] (1930–31)<br/>[[1st Military District (Australia)|1st Military District]] (1926–29)<br/>11th Mixed Brigade (1926–29)<ref>{{cite news|title=Volunteer Defence Corps: General Foott Visiting Wagga To-Day|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/145229686|newspaper=[[The Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga)|Daily Advertiser]]|date=20 May 1941|accessdate=14 June 2018}}</ref>
|battles=
{{tree list}}
* [[First World War]]
** [[Gallipoli Campaign]]
** [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]
{{tree list/end}}
|awards= [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>[[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (7)<br/>[[Order of the White Eagle (Serbia)|Officer of the Order of the White Eagle]] (Serbia)
|relations= [[Mary Hannay Foott]] (mother)
|laterwork=
}}
[[Brigadier general (Australia)|Brigadier General]] '''Cecil Henry Foott''' {{post-nominals|size=100%|country=AUS|sep=,|CB|CMG}} (16 January 1876 – 27 June 1942) was a senior [[Australian Army]] officer who served as Chief Engineer of the [[Australian Corps]] in the [[First World War]]. He was educated as an engineer and, serving with distinction in senior staff and engineering positions through the First World War, was seven times [[mentioned in despatches]].
==Early life and career==
Cecil Henry Foott was born on 16 January 1876 at [[Bourke, New South Wales]], the son of a station owner, Thomas Wade Foott and his wife, the poet [[Mary Hannay Foott|Mary Hannay]] (née Black). He was educated at [[Brisbane Grammar School]] and [[Toowoomba Grammar School]], and qualified as a [[mechanical engineer]].<ref name="ADB">{{cite AuDB|first=Warren|last=Perry|title=Foott, Cecil Henry (1876–1942)|volume=8|year=1981|id2=foott-cecil-henry-6204|access-date=14 June 2018}}</ref>
In 1895, Foott was commissioned into the Queensland Militia Garrison Artillery as a [[second lieutenant]]. The following September he was commissioned as a [[lieutenant]] in the Permanent Military Forces, in the Queensland Artillery. In July 1901 he was promoted to captain in the [[Royal Australian Artillery]].
In 1902 Foott transferred to the [[Corps of Royal Australian Engineers|Royal Australian Engineers]]. After a year of training in England in 1908, he became Chief Engineer in [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]] in 1909. He was promoted to major on 1 August 1909, served as Director of Works from 1910 to 1911 and then as Director of Engineers from 1911 to 1912. In 1912–13 he attended the [[Staff College, Camberley]] in England, and was still on duty in the England on the staff of Southern Command when the war broke out.
==First World War==
[[File:1st Division Staff.jpg|thumb|left|Group portrait of 1st Division staff officers at Mena Camp, December 1914. Foott, then a major, is in the front row, second from the left.]]
Being one of only six staff college graduates in the Army, this made Foott in demand for staff duties and on the outbreak of the First World War Major General [[William Bridges (general)|William Bridges]] immediately requested him for the [[1st Division (Australia)|1st Division]] staff as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General. This part of the division staff was concerned with personnel administration. Foott joined the staff in Egypt in January 1915.
[[File:Général John Monash et son Etat Major, 31 mai 1918.JPG|thumb|right|Lieutenant-General Monash (seated, centre) at his headquarters in France, March 1918. Brigadier General Foott stands on the far left.]]
Foott was determined that the men should always be supplied properly, and made a point of letting the officers of the Lines of Communication, living palatially on board the Aragon, know exactly what he thought of them whenever they placed obstacles in his way. He remained in the post for two years. In France he found the logistics far more complex, but much better organised, and increasingly free of shortages, he was able to deliver there a quality of service that he had never been able to achieve at [[Gallipoli]].
On 23 July 1917 Foott became assistant adjutant and quartermaster general of the AIF Depots in the United Kingdom, with the temporary rank of [[Brigadier general (Australia)|brigadier general]]. Then on 17 March 1918 he became Chief Engineer of the [[Australian Corps]]. It was his first engineering post since before the war. Foott called conferences of his engineers and tried to build up a sense of esprit amongst the corps. Increasingly, the engineering effort was driven by corps, as the engineers attempted to keep the troops and supplies moving forwards.
==Post war==
After the war ended, Foott became deputy director of Repatriation, working under Lieutenant General [[John Monash|Sir John Monash]]. Foott himself returned to Australia in November 1919.
Foott became a colonel and honorary brigadier general in the [[Australian Staff Corps|Staff Corps]]. He served at first in the Quartermaster General's Branch at Army Headquarters. In 1926 he became Commandant of the [[1st Military District (Australia)|1st Military District]] in [[Queensland]]. Then in 1930 he became Commandant of the [[3rd Military District (Australia)|3rd Military District]] and commander of the [[4th Division (Australia)|4th Division]] in Victoria.
In July 1931, Foott was transferred to the Reserve of Officers. He was placed on the Retired List in February 1936 as an honorary brigadier general.
He died on 27 June 1942 and was buried at [[Berwick Cemetery]].
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070304021921/http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/~rmallett/Generals/index.html Cecil Henry Foott Biography]
{{Australian Generals of World War I}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foott, Cecil Henry}}
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Australian Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Australian generals]]
[[Category:Australian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:People educated at Brisbane Grammar School]]
[[Category:People educated at Toowoomba Grammar School]]
[[Category:Volunteer Defence Corps officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from New South Wales]]
[[Category:Burials in Victoria (state)]]