Most decorated · 16 medals and honours, 2 for gallantry
Brigadier Alexander Falconer
Alexander 'Acky' Falconer left Mosgiel as a Main Body sergeant in 1914, was commissioned at Gallipoli, and ended the First World War as brigade major of the 2nd NZ Infantry Brigade with an MC, a DSO and two mentions in despatches. He raised and led the 23rd Battalion in 1940, later served as a brigadier and Maadi Camp commandant, and added a CBE, giving him sixteen medals and honours in all.
16medals and honours
2of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Won for gallantry
Gallantry award
Military Cross (MC)
Act: staff work to September 1916; award 1 January 1917 · Western Front, Somme (brigade headquarters) · Lieutenant (temporary Captain), Otago Regiment, on brigade staff, Otago Regiment, NZEF; headquarters staff of his brigade
Gazetted: London Gazette supplement 29886, p. 45, New Year Honours dated 1 January 1917 (published 29 December 1916)
Falconer left New Zealand as a sergeant in the Otago Battalion's Main Body and was commissioned in the field at Gallipoli in May 1915. By September 1916 he was a lieutenant (temporary captain) on his brigade's headquarters staff in France, where he had spent about eighteen months. The Military Cross appeared in the 1 January 1917 New Year Honours list. The recommendation in the NZEF Project record is a brigade commander's note: in that time Falconer had filled every staff appointment at brigade headquarters to his entire satisfaction, was hard-working and courteous to all ranks, and was 'the best type of New Zealand Officer'. The commander singled out one episode, Falconer's work as acting brigade major on 26 and 27 September 1916, when the brigade attacked, took and held two trench lines called Grid Lines and Goose Alley in the Somme fighting. It was a staff award, earned by organising an attack and keeping the brigade's fight supplied with orders and information rather than by a single act at the front, and it marked him as a staff officer of promise.
The Gazette entry gives only his name and unit (Lt (temp. Capt.) Alexander Smith Falconer, Otago R.). The quoted recommendation text comes from the NZEF Project transcription, not the Gazette. The Cenotaph just says 'London Gazette 01/01/1917'.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: NZEF Project, Alexander Smith Falconer (https://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=78332); London Gazette supplement 29886, p. 45 (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29886/supplement/45); Online Cenotaph record C36278 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36278)
Gallantry award
Distinguished Service Order (DSO)
Somme operations, March to September 1918; award 1 January 1919 · Somme, France (1918) · Captain (temporary Major), Otago Regiment, Brigade Major, 2nd New Zealand Infantry Brigade
Gazetted: London Gazette supplement 31092, p. 22, New Year Honours dated 1 January 1919
By 1918 Falconer was brigade major of the 2nd New Zealand Infantry Brigade, the senior staff officer who turned the brigadier's plans into orders and kept the brigade's movements and supplies working. His DSO was announced on 1 January 1919 and the NZEF Project gives its recommendation, which covers the Somme operations from March to September 1918, a period that took in the German spring offensive and the Allied advance in the late summer. It says he had done conspicuously good work as brigade major and that in the recent operations he had repeatedly gone round the line in very strenuous circumstances and sized up the situation with great accuracy. His keenness and untiring energy, it added, had set a splendid example of devotion to duty to the rest of the staff. The Cenotaph quotes a shorter Gazette line, 'for distinguished service in connection with military operations in France and Flanders'. A staff officer who personally walked the front line in a crisis was the sort of man the DSO was often given to.
Cenotaph has the DSO once, 'London Gazette, 1 January 1919'. I saw him in the DSO list (Capt. Alexander Smith Falconer, M.C., Otago R.) at p. 22.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: NZEF Project, Alexander Smith Falconer (https://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=78332); London Gazette supplement 31092, p. 22 (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31092/supplement/22); Online Cenotaph record C36278 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36278)
Every other medal and honour (14)
1914-15 Star1914-1915 · Egypt and GallipoliQualified by embarking with the Main Body in October 1914 and serving in Egypt and at Gallipoli in 1915.British War Medal (1914-1920)1914-1918Standard First World War service medal for his overseas service from 1914 to 1918.Victory Medal1914-1918Standard First World War allied victory medal for theatre service.New Zealand Territorial Service MedalInter-war · OtagoTerritorial Force service between the wars, including some years in the Southland Regiment and five years commanding the 1st Battalion, Otago Regiment, as a lieutenant-colonel.Efficiency Decoration (ED)Inter-war or WW2 (not found)Territorial officers' long-service decoration; the post-nominal E.D. is already attached to his name in the Auckland Star on 9 January 1943.New Zealand Long and Efficient Service MedalNot foundLong-service award for Territorial service.Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)Service November 1941 to April 1942; announced 9 September 1942 · Middle East (Egypt)Falconer was one of the 2nd NZEF's brigadiers and served as commandant of Maadi Camp, the training and base camp outside Cairo, from June 1941 to October 1942. The CBE was gazetted on 9 September 1942 in a long…1939-1945 Star1940-1943Operational service with 2 NZEF (Greece, Crete and the Middle East) in the Second World War.Africa Star1941-1942 · EgyptService in Egypt and the North African theatre in 1941-42.Italy StarNot foundListed by the Cenotaph. I found no evidence that he served in Italy.Defence Medal1940-1945Home and non-operational overseas service (Britain, Egypt, New Zealand).War Medal 1939-1945 (with oak leaf)1939-1945Full-time service in the Second World War; the Cenotaph notes an oak-leaf emblem.New Zealand War Service Medal1939-1945New Zealand's own medal for Second World War service.Mentioned in Despatches28 December 1917 and 31 December 1918 · Western FrontTwo mentions. The first, in December 1917, was for 'conspicuous and continuous good work in the Field' as staff captain and on the many occasions he acted as brigade major. The second, in Haig's despatch of 8…
His story
Mosgiel and the Cycle Company
Born in Mosgiel on 4 November 1892, Falconer joined the Dunedin Cycle and Signalling Company in 1910 and was a Territorial non-commissioned officer when war came.
Source: Press obituary 28 October 1966 (https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19661028.2.121); 23 Battalion history
Main Body sergeant
He enlisted as a volunteer in August 1914 aged 21 and sailed from Wellington on 16 October 1914 as a sergeant of the Otago Infantry Battalion (HMNZT 5 Ruapehu or 9 Hawke's Bay; the nominal roll cannot say which). He served in Egypt, Gallipoli and on the Western Front.
Source: NZEF Project, Alexander Smith Falconer (https://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=78332)
Commissioned at Gallipoli
He was commissioned second lieutenant in the field at Gallipoli in May 1915. His brigade commander later said he had been attached to brigade headquarters for the eighteen months before September 1916.
Source: Evening Star 10 September 1942; NZEF Project
Acting brigade major on the Somme
As acting brigade major he handled the staff work when his brigade attacked, took and held trench lines called Grid Lines and Goose Alley. This is the episode singled out in the recommendation for his Military Cross, gazetted 1 January 1917.
Source: NZEF Project; London Gazette supplement 29886, p. 45
Staff captain, MC and first mention
A captain with the Military Cross, he served as staff captain and often as acting brigade major, work praised as 'of a very high order indeed'. He was mentioned in despatches on 28 December 1917.
Source: NZEF Project; London Gazette supplement, 28 December 1917, p. 13574
Brigade Major, 2nd NZ Infantry Brigade
Temporary major and brigade major of the 2nd NZ Infantry Brigade through the 1918 Somme fighting, he repeatedly walked the line to judge the situation for himself. The DSO followed on 1 January 1919 and a second mention on 31 December 1918.
Source: NZEF Project; London Gazette 31092, p. 22 and 15230 (31 Dec 1918)
Territorial officer and tobacconist
Between the wars he served in the Southland Regiment, then commanded the 1st Battalion, Otago Regiment, for five years as lieutenant-colonel. He farmed at Ashley Downs, sold up in 1932, worked for the Yorkshire Insurance Company, then ran a tobacconist's at the corner of Moray Place and Princes Street, Dunedin. He was a foundation member of Toc H in Dunedin, a past president of the Dunedin RSA and a National Party organiser who twice stood for Dunedin North.
Source: Evening Star 10 September 1942; Auckland Star 9 January 1943
First CO of the 23rd Battalion
He raised the 23rd Battalion (12 January 1940), took it to Britain with the Second Echelon, commanded 7th and 5th Brigades there, and led the 23rd again from 5 March to 12 May 1941, through Greece and the opening of the Crete campaign before being promoted to brigadier and taking 10 Composite Brigade.
Source: A. Ross, 23 Battalion (official history), footnote and pp. cited (https://www.22battalion.org.nz/publications/histories/23battalion.pdf)
Maadi Camp, CBE, 5 Division
He commanded Maadi Camp from June 1941 to October 1942, was made CBE (gazetted 9 September 1942), and in December 1942 took command of 5 NZ Division at home, announced on 9 January 1943.
Source: 23 Battalion history footnote; London Gazette 35697, p. 3945; Auckland Star 9 January 1943
Rank and insignia
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
SergeantOctober 1914 · Main Body, NZEFThree chevronsSecond LieutenantMay 1915 · commissioned in the fieldShoulder strap: one pipLieutenantBy late 1916 · temporary CaptainShoulder strap: three pipsCaptain; temporary Major1917-1918 · Brigade Major, 2nd NZ Inf BdeShoulder strap: three pipsMajor / Lieutenant-Colonel1926-36 (Major); later Lt-Col commanding 1 Bn for five years · Otago Regiment (TerritorialShoulder strap: crown and one pipLieutenant-ColonelJanuary 1940 · 2 NZEF (CO 23 BnShoulder strap: crown and one pipBrigadier1941 (promoted on Crete, per the 1966 obituary)Shoulder strap: crown and three pips
His ships
HMNZT 5 Ruapehu or HMNZT 9 Hawke's BayMain Body transport, Wellington 16 October 1914The Nominal Roll cannot say which of the two ships carried him.
Afterwards
After the war he stayed in the Territorial Force and made a living as a farmer, insurance clerk and Dunedin tobacconist, while serving the Returned Services' Association and Toc H and working as an organiser for the National Party. In the Second World War he commanded the 23rd Battalion, the 7th, 5th, 10th Composite and 4th Brigades at different times, Maadi Camp, and then 5 NZ Division in New Zealand (December 1942 to August 1943), before serving as the NZ Patriotic Fund Board's overseas commissioner from November 1943 to February 1945.
He returned to New Zealand in 1945 and became colonel of the Otago-Southland Regiment when the two regiments were amalgamated in 1949. He retired from that post in April 1964, after a 54-year association with the Army, and died in Dunedin on 27 October 1966 aged 73. The 23 Battalion's official history credits him as the main source of the battalion's esprit de corps.
Later awards, not counted here: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), 9 September 1942; 1939-1945 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star (doubtful); Defence Medal; War Medal 1939-1945 (oak leaf); New Zealand War Service Medal.
This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.
The Service Record
Photograph
We haven’t hosted a photograph here
Rather than copy someone else’s image onto our own site, we’d rather send you to see it where it’s properly held: his full record at the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph.
SERVED WW1: yes (Main Body sergeant, commissioned at Gallipoli, MC/DSO/MiD). Nothing argues against listing him as a New Zealander: born Mosgiel, served in the NZEF throughout. The Cenotaph tags his 8/39 service number as WWII; that is a mis-tag, 8/39 being a 1914 Main Body number.
The Cenotaph lists 16 awards (MiD twice = one item). By the counting rule that gives 16. Independently confirmed from sources I read: MC, DSO, CBE, mentions in despatches (twice), the three WW1 medals by service, and the E.D. post-nominal (Auckland Star 1943). Cenotaph-only: the WW2 stars and medals, Defence Medal, NZ War Service Medal, NZ Territorial Service Medal, NZ Long and Efficient Service Medal.
ITALY STAR looks doubtful: nothing places him in Italy (Britain 1940-41, Greece/Crete 1941, Egypt 1941-42, New Zealand 1942-43, then Patriotic Fund commissioner). If it is an error the total is 15. The Defence Medal's qualifying period is also unconfirmed.
The Cenotaph's note says he commanded 23 Bn in Greece and Crete 1940-41 and 7 Bde in UK 1941, which is broadly right. The official history gives: CO 23 Bn 12 Jan-26 Aug 1940 and 5 Mar-12 May 1941, 7 and 5 Bdes in the UK 1940-41, Maadi Camp June 1941-October 1942, 5 Div Dec 1942-Aug 1943. The Cenotaph's 'Commander of 5 NZ Division 1943' fits.
A search-engine summary suggested Falconer commanded the 5th Brigade; that was a mis-reading of the Auckland Star of 9 Jan 1943, which says it of Wilder, not Falconer. Not used.
The CBE is shown as a Middle East award for November 1941-April 1942; the Gazette does not describe the deed, so the explanation in the story is inference.
Duplicates reconciled: none in the Cenotaph list apart from the two MiD, which are one item. The Cenotaph also lacks a WW2 mention in despatches; the oak leaf on the War Medal implies one, which I could not find, so only one MiD item is counted.
