Brigadier General William Grant, (30 September 1870 – 25 May 1939) was an Australian Army colonel and temporary brigadier general in the First World War. Early life and career William Grant was born on 30 September 1870 in Stawell, Victoria, the son of a miner. He was educated at Brighton Grammar School and Ormond College at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (BCE) in 1893. He worked in railway construction in New South Wales but after his father's death in 1894 he became a pastoralist, purchasing Bowenville Station on the Darling Downs in Queensland in 1896. Grant was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Queensland Mounted Infantry on 1 January 1901. He advanced rapidly and became commander of the 14th Light Horse in 1910, and was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel on 18 December 1911. He was still in command when the First World War broke out. First World War Grant joined the Australian Imperial Force on 16 March 1915, taking command of the 11th Light Horse Regiment. Part of the 4th Light Horse Brigade, it was sent to Egypt dismounted and there broken up on 26 August 1915. The 11th Light Horse Regiment was sent to Gallipoli, and there itself broken up, with a squadron being attached to each of the 2nd, 5th and 9th Light Horse Regiments. When the commander of the 9th Light Horse, Lieutenant Colonel Reynell was killed in the fighting for Hill 60 on 29 August 1915, Grant took over command of his regiment. He remained with the 9th Light Horse until he was sent for duty at the rest camp on 2 December 1915. When the 11th Light Horse was reformed in Egypt on 22 February 1916, Grant was given command again. At Romani, the 11th Light Horse formed part of a mobile column of light horse and took part in the defence of the Suez Canal. At Maghara in October, the 11th Light Horse led a column on a night march across the desert, navigating by the stars. On the second night of the march, dense fog closed in and hid the stars, but somehow Grant, who apparently had a phenomenal sense of position and direction, managed to lead the column through the desert to emerge at daybreak directly in front of the Turkish position. For his part in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, Grant was awarded