William Locke (general)

{{Short description|Australian general}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox military person

|name= William Locke

|image=

|image_size=

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|birth_date= {{birth date|1894|08|14|df=yes}}

|birth_place= St Kilda, Victoria

|death_date= {{death date and age|1962|04|03|1894|08|14|df=yes}}

|death_place=

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|allegiance= Australia

|branch= Australian Army

|serviceyears= 1912–1947

|rank= Major General

|unit=

|commands= 3rd Armoured Division (1943)
2nd Motor Division (1942–43)
2nd Cavalry Division (1942)
2nd Armoured Brigade (1941–42)

|battles= First World War
Second World War

|awards= Military Cross
Mentioned in Despatches (2)

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}}

Major General William James Macavoy Locke, MC (14 August 1894 – 3 April 1962) was a senior officer in the Australian Army during the Second World War and the immediate post-war period.

A graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Locke served in the First World War and spent much of the interwar period as a staff officer in Melbourne, Sydney and Tasmania.{{cite news|title=Naval and Military: Change in Headquarters Staff|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/30138256|newspaper=The Mercury|date=10 February 1937|access-date=2 June 2018}} During the Second World War he commanded cavalry and armoured units at the brigade and division level, and was responsible for supervising the transition of many of Australia's mounted units to motorised and armoured formations.{{cite book|last=McCarthy|first=Dudley|title=South-West Pacific Area – First Year: Kokoda to Wau|series=Australia in the War of 1939–1945|volume=V|year=1959|place=Canberra|publisher=Australian War Memorial|page=26}}{{cite news|title=Mechanisation of S.A. Forces|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48750917|newspaper=The Advertiser|date=31 March 1942|access-date=2 June 2018}} Locke finished his military career as Chairman of the Permanent Post-War Planning Committee (1944–1946).