Louis James Lipsett (14 June 1874-14 October 1918) was a British Army Major-General who commanded the 3rd Canadian Division during World War I.
Biography[]
Louis James Lipsett was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland in 1874, and he was raised in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales and Bedford, England before graduating from Sandhurst in 1894. He served in the Royal Irish Regiment in the North-West Frontier Province of British India and battling Pashtun tribes, reaching the rank of lieutenant. He was promoted to captain after serving in the Second Boer War, and, at the outbreak of World War I, he was dispatched to British Columbia to organize local militia forces as the Imperial German Navy's East Asia Squadron threatened Canada's Pacific coast. He helped develop military training and education throughout Canada before being appointed to command the 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. During the Second Battle of Ypres, he pioneered the use of urine-soaked cloths to neutralize the Germans' chlorine gas. He was promoted to brigadier-general in 1916 and given command of the 3rd Canadian Division on Malcolm Mercer's death at Mount Sorrel, and Lipsett led his division through the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Vimy Ridge, the Battle of Passchendaele, and the Battle of Amiens. On 14 October 1918, while planning an assault on Saulzoir, Lipsett was ambushed and killed by a German machine-gun.