Major General Sir Andrew Hamilton Russell KCB, KCMG (23 February 1868 – 29 November 1960) was a senior officer of the New Zealand Military Forces who served during the First World War.

Running a sheep farm on land owned by his father, he retained an interest in soldiering and helped raise a local militia unit before becoming a senior officer in the New Zealand Territorial Force.

Russell's father also served in the 58th Regiment before emigrating to New Zealand where he ran an isolated sheep station with his brother in Hawke's Bay.

[3] In 1882, after coming top of his final year at Twyford, and encouraged by both his father and grandfather to pursue a career in science or law, he went on to Harrow School.

[4] In 1885, Russell left Harrow and after spending several months in Germany learning the language, he sat the entrance examination for the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.

[5] Excelling in his military studies, he won the Sword of Honour as the best performing cadet of his intake, making him "the first New Zealand-born officer to achieve that distinction", and passed out in August 1887.

[9] A year later, his battalion was transferred to garrison duties in Burma which, at the time, was experiencing some unrest as bandits carried out guerrilla warfare against the British rulers.

[20] Despite an active working and business life, Russell was prominent in the raising of a militia unit of the New Zealand Volunteer Force following the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899.

[21] The New Zealand Volunteer Force declined in the years after the Boer War and Russell endeavoured to keep his regiment, comprising five squadrons of mounted infantry, well trained and prepared for any future hostilities.

Godley later offered Russell a position as a professional soldier, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel, in the New Zealand Military Forces.

[24] In October 1913, New Zealand's military provided assistance to the government in maintaining order during a strike in Wellington involving mining and waterfront unions.

[31] The NZEF was originally destined for France to serve on the Western Front but the Turks then entered the war and were perceived to be a threat to the Suez Canal.

[37] On its arrival in the front lines on 12 May 1915, the Mounted Rifles was deployed on the northern (or left) sector of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) perimeter and relieved a brigade of Royal Marines Light Infantry.

[39] He made his headquarters on an elevated plateau which would become known as Russell's Top,[40] only 40 metres (130 ft) from the front line and sharing the discomfort and dangers with his men.

[54] General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force for most of the campaign, had come to view Russell as "the outstanding personality on the [Gallipoli] Peninsula".

[56] The New Zealand Division, which totalled some 15,000 men in its ranks,[57] departed Egypt in early April and proceed to the Armentières sector of the Western Front, as part of General Herbert Plumer's Second Army.

The Armentières front line was regarded by the Allies as a nursery sector where new units could undergo familiarisation without being called upon for intensive offensive operations.

[60] He was not content to take a defensive posture as the German troops opposing his division did; instead he sought to control no-man's land, ordering regular patrols be dispatched and seeking to establish dominance over the enemy's sniping activities.

In a letter to James Allen, the New Zealand Minister of Defence, Russell wrote: "What we want is a platoon officer who will look after his men exactly as a mother does her boy of 10".

On a visit to the front line at Messines, Russell was nearly killed when a "sniper's bullet passed through his steel helmet, creasing his scalp".

[76] Throughout 1918, Russell emphasised training as new mobile warfare tactics evolved: this proved its worth during the Hundred Days Offensive that ended the war.

[82] After a final reception at Hastings, Russell returned to his farm in New Zealand where he would spend much of the next two years resting from the strain of his command during the war.

He became the president of the National Defence League (NDL), which agitated for improved defensive arrangements in response to the New Zealand government's trimming of its expenditure on the military.

The NDL also promoted the idea of a "White New Zealand", a bastion of Western civilisation in the South Pacific that should be resistant to immigrants from Asian countries.

[91][92] Russell also occupied himself with veterans' affairs; he was unanimously elected president of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association (RSA) in 1921.

[94] Thanks in part to his efforts, the introduction of the War Pensions Act was introduced the following year, improving the financial position of many returned soldiers.

[98][99] Russell was involved in the Territorial Force in an honorary capacity and on 12 May 1935, presented a guidon to the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles at that year's training camp in Napier.

It was an important role, for there was a genuine threat of a Japanese invasion and it had been made clear to the New Zealand government that the Royal Navy, long thought to be part of the country's defence arrangements, would be unlikely to help.

[102] In his inspectorate role, Russell travelled extensively throughout the country, assessing its defensive arrangements as well as the training and equipping of military personnel.

[1][109] One of his two sons, John Tinsley Russell, served with the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry during the Second World War and was killed in action during the Western Desert campaign.