Alexander Godley (4 February 1867-6 March 1957) was a British Army General who commanded the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and the II ANZAC Corps during World War I.
Biography[]
Alexander Godley was born in Gillingham, Kent, England on 4 February 1867, and he joined the British Army in 1886 and first served in the Second Boer War, serving as chief of staff to Herbert Plumer. He then served in a number of staff positions in England before being appointed Commandant of New Zealand Military Forces in 1910, being promoted to Major-General and reorganizing the country's military establishment. After the outbreak of World War I, he was appointed to command New Zealand's expeditionary force, commanding the New Zealand and Australia Division during the Gallipoli campaign in Anatolia. He was promoted to Lieutenant-General and given command of the II ANZAC Corps in 1916, and, after reforming his corps in Egypt, he led the corps on the Western Front, including at the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Messines, the Third Battle of Ypres, the Second Battle of the Marne, and the Hundred Days Offensive. After the war, Godley led the IV Corps in occupying Germany before leading the British Army of the Rhine from 1922 to 1924. In 1924, Godley was appointed to command the Southern Command in England, and he served as Governor of Gibraltar from 1928 until his retirement in 1933. Godley commanded a Home Guard platoon during World War II, and he died in Oxford in 1957 at the age of 90.