After three years as Inspector-General , and in order to gain staff experience , Davies was attached as an observer to a number of units in the United Kingdom in 1909 – 10 . During this time , he also attended the Imperial Defence Conference and represented the New Zealand forces at the funeral of King Edward VII . At the end of the one-year attachment , he had so impressed the British Army that they offered him an appointment as commander of 6th Brigade in October 1910 , with the temporary rank of brigadier general . As such , he became the first overseas officer to command a regular brigade , only eleven years after taking up a permanent military commission
Imperial Defence Conference
1911 Imperial Conference
Richard Hutton Davies