Major General Walter Adams Coxen (22 June 1870 – 15 December 1949) was a senior Australian Army officer in the First World War. In April 1930 Coxen was promoted to the position of Chief of the General Staff. He retired in 1931. Early life and career Walter Adams Coxen was born at Egham, England, on 22 June 1870. Coxen and his family moved to Australia in 1880. Walter was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and Toowoomba Grammar School. He took a job with the Queensland Department of Railways as a clerk and draftsman on 18 August 1887, but was retrenched in 1892 due to the depression of the 1890s. In 1893 Coxen was commissioned into the Queensland Militia Garrison Artillery as a second lieutenant. In June 1895 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Permanent Military Forces, in the Queensland Artillery. In 1897 he was sent to England to study at the Royal School of Gunnery at Shoeburyness, concentrating on coast defence and siege artillery, and then went to Aldershot for training with the Royal Artillery in 1898. On returning to Australia in 1899 he was appointed commander of the garrison on Thursday Island, with the rank of captain. In July 1902 he succeeded Major William Bridges as Chief Instructor at the School of Gunnery at Middle Head. In November 1907, Coxen again went to England for ordnance training at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He was promoted to major in 1908, and returned to Australia in February 1910. Coxen served briefly with the coast artillery at Fort Queenscliff before becoming Inspector of Ordnance and Ammunition at Army Headquarters in Melbourne. In January 1911 he became Director of Artillery. On 14 August 1914, Coxen also became Inspector of Coast Defences with the rank of lieutenant colonel. First World War On 21 May 1915 Coxen was ordered to raise the brigade of siege artillery (SAB) for service in Europe. The brigade was to consist of two batteries, with eight siege guns to be supplied by Britain and 415 officers and other ranks, about half of whom would be permanent force artillery gunners. The brigade, which became known as the 36th Heavy Artillery Group (36 HAG), departed Melbourne on 17 July 1915 and landed in England on 25 August 1915. After a delay due to a short supply of heavy artillery pieces, the 54th Siege Battery was equipped