DEATH OF GENERAL CHAYTOR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 142, 19 June 1939, Page 8

DEATH OF GENERAL CHAYTOR

FORMER O.C. ANZAC DIVISION LEADER OF PALESTINE CAMPAIGN ( Per Press Association.) BLENHEIM, June 17. Relatives here have received cabled advice of the death in England of General Sir Edward Chaytor. General Chaytor had a long association with the New Zealand military forces, and commanded the Anzac Division, which included the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and two Australian Mounted Brigades, in Palestine during the Great War. For several years he has resided in England. Born in 1868, General Chaytor’s first association with the military forces was when he became a lieutenant in the Marlborough Mounted Rifles. In 1892 he rose to the rank of captain, later serving in the South African campaign, being appointed in 1900 to take charge of the 3rd. New Zealand Contingent. In 1902 he was appointed to the command of the 2nd. Regiment of the Sth. Contingent. In the Palestine campaign he was present at the recapture oi Jerusalem. Gpneral Chaytor's decorations included the C.B. (1915), C.M.G. (1917), K.C.M.G. (19181, Serbian Order of the White Nile (1916), and the Egyptian Order of the Nile (1918). On his return to New Zealand in 1919 he was appointed to the command of the New Zealand Forces and retained the appointment until 1924. The announcement of the death of General Chaytor will be received with regret by all the “diggers” who served with him in the Palestine campaign. He was an officer whose first thought was for his men, and if he could improve their Jot in any way, he was always ready and willing to do so. This course of action made him popular with all the troops of the division.