Wilkinson Bird

Dent was born 0n 4 May 1869, the son of J.D. Bird, a captain in the 20th Hussars. After studying at Wellington and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he took a commission as a second lieutenant in the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) on 22 August 1888.{{London Gazette|issue=25848|page=4512|date=21 August 1888}}

He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 December 1890, and to captain on 21 April 1897.Hart′s Army list, 1903{{cite web | url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26844/page/2218 | title=Page 2218 | Issue 26844, 20 April 1897 | London Gazette | the Gazette }} That year, he served with the Niger Expedition, where he was mentioned in despatches and received a brevet promotion to major on 6 June 1897. His next posting took him to the North-Western Frontier of India.Who Was Who

Bird served with his regiment in the Second Boer War, where he was present at the Relief of Mafeking and was again mentioned in despatches, but was severely wounded and returned home in 1900. For his service, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).{{London Gazette|issue=11296|page=466|date=23 April 1901|city=e}}

Bird was back as a regular captain in his regiment in July 1902.{{London Gazette| issue=27477 |page=6150 |date=26 September 1902}} From 1903 to 1905 he was chief instructor at the School of Musketry, and from 1905 to 1909 a lecturer at the Staff College, India. He was promoted to a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy in December 1909,{{London Gazette|issue=28318|page=9594|date=17 December 1909}} and appointed a General Staff Officer, Grade 2, at the War Office the following year.

In 1913 Bird was transferred to command the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, and promoted to colonel. He was in command of the battalion at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, when it was sent to France with the 7th Brigade, 3rd Division.Edmonds, p. 419 On 26 August, at the Battle of Le Cateau, he assumed command of the 7th Brigade when its commander, Brigadier General Frederick McCracken, was disabled by an artillery shell.Edmonds, pp. 172–174

Bird was severely wounded at the First Battle of the Aisne, on 15 September; his leg had to be amputated as a result, and on recovery he returned to the general staff rather than regimental service. He was promoted to brevet colonel in February 1915.{{London Gazette|issue=12776|page=307|date=23 February 1915|city=e}} He was made a General Staff Officer, Grade 1 in 1915, and appointed Director of Staff Duties in 1916. In May 1918, after being promoted to temporary major general,{{London Gazette|issue=30707|page=6209|date=24 May 1918|supp=y}} he took up the post of lieutenant-governor of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, and retired in 1923, having received a promotion to major general in 1921. He was appointed the Lees Knowles Lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge for the year 1927.[http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=399 Home > About Trinity > Public Lectures > Lees Knowles Lectures > Past Lees Knowles Lecturers], Trinity College, Cambridge.

From December 1929 to 1939, Bird served as the colonel of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), taking over from General Sir Charles Monro.{{London Gazette|issue=33582|page=1144|date=21 February 1930}}

Bird married Winifred Barker in early 1902; the couple had two daughters. The eldest daughter was born in Westminster on 1 January 1903.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Births |date=3 January 1903 |page=1 |issue=36968}}

{{reflist}}

• History of the Great War: Military Operations, France and Belgium 1914, by J. E. Edmonds. Macmillan & Co., London, 1922. [https://archive.org/details/militaryoperatio01edmouoft Digitised copy]
• "BIRD, Major-General Sir Wilkinson Dent". (2007). In Who Was Who. Online edition.
• {{cite book|last=Falls|first=Cyril|title=The history of the first seven battalions, the Royal Irish Rifles, in the Great War|year=1925|url=http://435728.com/web_documents/fallsrir.htm}}

• {{Librivox author |id=16512}}

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{{s-bef|before=Sir Charles Monro}}

{{s-ttl|title=Colonel of the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot|years=1929–1939}}

{{s-aft|after=Sir Ivo Vesey}}

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Category:1869 births

Category:1943 deaths

Category:Academics of the Staff College, Quetta

Category:Queen's Royal Regiment officers

Category:Royal Ulster Rifles officers

Category:British Army major generals

Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire

Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War

Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order

Category:British Army generals of World War I

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath

Category:British amputees

Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst