military district. He was Assistant Adjutant General at Army Headquarters from 1905 and Commander of 6th Infantry Brigade at Aldershot Command in 1907. From 1910 to 1913, he was Chief of the General Staff, Canada. His departure from that post was caused in part by a disagreement between Mackenzie and Sam Hughes, the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence, as to (among other things) the merits of the Ross rifle. Mackenzie subsequently regarded himself as vindicated by the Ross rifle's unsuitability for combat conditions on the Western Front. On 3 March 1914, he became General Officer Commanding the Highland Division. He served in the First World War as General Officer Commanding the Highland Division, as General Officer Commanding 9th (Scottish) Division, as General Officer Commanding 15th (Scottish) Division and as General Officer Commanding 3rd Division on the Western Front all in 1914. He took over 3rd Division following the death in action of Major-General Hubert Hamilton; however he only lasted for two weeks in this post before he was relieved of his command following the inconclusive result at the Battle of La Bassée in October 1914. He went on to be Director of Staff Duties at the War Office in 1915 and General Officer Commanding 61st Division from February 1916 and was engaged in the disastrous diversionary battle for the Somme offensive at Fromelles on 19 July 1916. This operation led to the death of many Australian and British soldiers and achieved nothing. Casualties were: 5th Australian Division had 5,513 casualties and the 61st British Division had 1,547 casualties. Mackenzie himself was wounded by an enemy sniper on 27 April 1918 while he was visiting the line of the 183rd Brigade south of St. Floris, being shot through the cheek and parotid gland. The wound did not respond to treatment and he was evacuated sick to England on 31 May 1918. Thereafter, Mackenzie was Inspector of Infantry in 1918 and Commander of the Dover Area 1919 until his retirement from the army on 1 April 1920. Between 1924 and 1931, he was Colonel of the Seaforth Highlanders. Family Mackenzie married Ethel Ross, the daughter of Hercules Grey Ross I.C.S. and Mary Henderson. They had one son, Colin Hercules Mackenzie. References Bibliography Further reading |- |- |- |- |- 1861 births 1956 deaths British Army major generals Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment officers Seaforth Highlanders officers