Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

Sir Clive Selwyn Steele, (30 September 1892 – 5 August 1955) was an engineer and a senior officer of the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...

who served in both the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

s. He was instrumental in the expansion of the

Royal Australian Engineers The Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) is the military engineering corps of the Australian Army (although the word corps does not appear in their name or on their badge). The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, b ...

(RAE) in preparation for the war against Japan.

Early life

Born on 30 September 1892 at

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

the son of Herbert Selwyn Steele and Alice Lydia née Sinclair, Clive was educated at Scotch College (prefect and captain of boats, 1910), and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

(B.C.E. 1919). He joined the

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

in 1912.Darryl Bennet
'Steele, Sir Clive Selwyn (1892–1955)'
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 16, Melbourne University Press, 2002, pp 296–297.

First World War

Appointed as a second lieutenant in the

(RAE), Australian Imperial Force on 8 October 1915, he sailed for Egypt in November with the 5th Field Company. Arriving on the Western Front in March 1916, he was promoted to captain in September. While on recreation leave he married Amie Osland Bilson on 6 January 1917 at

West Brompton West Brompton is an area of south-west London, that straddles the boundary between the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The centuries-old boundary was traced by Counter's Creek, now lost b ...

, London. During actions around Péronne, France in August 1918, he commanded a unit undertaking repairs to bridges while under artillery and machine-gun fire. On 31 August he undertook reconnaissance in front of the Australian lines, providing details of the state of bridges across the River Somme and the Somme Canal. For this action he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

. He was promoted to major in October. Arriving back in Australia he was discharged on 1 August 1919.

Interwar

Finishing his engineering degree at Melbourne University in 1919, he gained employment with Australian Reinforced Concrete & Engineering Co. until 1921 and then with James Hardie & Co. Pty Ltd from 1921 to 1923. Setting up private practice in 1924 as a consulting engineer, he designed and supervised structural works including the State Savings Bank of Victoria building in Melbourne, the members' stand at Flemington Racecourse, the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia Ltd building in Brisbane,

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and the

Melbourne Town Hall Melbourne Town Hall is the central city town hall of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and is a historic building in the state of Victoria since 1867. Located in the central business district on the northeast corner of the intersection between ...

. From 1919 he had continued to serve in the Militia. In 1926 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed to command the 4th Divisional Engineers (1926–1931) and the 14th Battalion (1933–1939).

Second World War

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Steele was seconded to the

Second Australian Imperial Force The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the name given to the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initia ...

on 13 October 1939 as the commander of the 6th Divisional Engineers. He was promoted to temporary brigadier and appointed chief engineer of

I Corps I Corps, 1st Corps, or First Corps may refer to: France * 1st Army Corps (France) * I Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * I Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French A ...

in April 1940. He sailed for the Middle East in September and during the

Greek campaign The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usu ...

in April 1941, he was chief engineer of the Anzac Corps. During the withdrawal at

Farsala Farsala ( el, Φάρσαλα), known in Antiquity as Pharsalos ( grc, Φάρσαλος, la, Pharsalus), is a city in southern Thessaly, in Greece. Farsala is located in the southern part of Larissa regional unit, and is one of its largest towns. ...

on 18 April, despite attacks by German aircraft, he organised the filling of a bomb crater in the road which was impeding the withdrawal of the allied forces. He was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

and the Greek War Cross, and was twice Mentioned in Despatches for his service in the Middle East. Transported to

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

, Netherlands East Indies in January 1942, he was then sent to Sumatra on 14 February, where he helped organise the evacuation of allied troops from Oosthaven. He returned to Australia in March, and in April was promoted to temporary major general and appointed engineer-in-chief at Land Headquarters, Melbourne. In preparation for the war against Japan, he established the RAE Training Centre at

Kapooka, New South Wales Kapooka is a suburb in the south-west of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. Kapooka is home to the Department of Defence's Blamey Barracks from where the Army Recruit Training Centre conducts its operations. It is located on the Olympic ...

and increased the size of the School of Military Engineering at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, which trained sappers who disarmed mines, demolished obstacles, provided water supplies and other services to military camps, cut and milled timber, built huts, roads, bridges, railways, airfields and wharves, and operated the army's water-transport vessels. With the reorganisation of Land Headquarters in October 1943, fortifications, works, engineer stores and transport were added to Steele's responsibilities. During 1944 or 1945 he personally designed the heavy lift ship ''Crusader''. On 12 March 1946 he transferred to the Reserve of Officers.

Later life

Steele had been awarded the W. C. Kernot medal for 1944 by the University of Melbourne. He was active in the Institution of Engineers, Australia and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1953. He died of

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

on 5 August 1955 at the

Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg The Austin Hospital is a public teaching hospital in Melbourne's north-eastern suburb of Heidelberg, and is administered by Austin Health, along with the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre. History The Au ...

and was cremated. He was survived by his wife; the couple were childless. Steele Barracks, the current home of the School of Military Engineering, is named in Sir Clive Steele's honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Clive 1892 births 1955 deaths 20th-century Australian engineers Australian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Australian generals Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Australian military personnel of World War I Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian recipients of the Military Cross Engineers from Melbourne Military personnel from Melbourne People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne Recipients of the War Cross (Greece) University of Melbourne alumni Australian military engineers People from Canterbury, Victoria