William Raines Marshall was born on 29 October 1865 in the village of Stranton, near Hartlepool, County Durham, England.

[3] He received a commission as a subaltern, with the rank of lieutenant, into the Sherwood Foresters, a line infantry regiment of the British Army, in January 1886.

[7][8] He "was present at the storming of the Daghai Heights and the capture of the Samphaga and Arhanga Passes, earning the Indian Frontier Medal of 1895 with two clasps".

[9] In July of that year he was promoted once again, this time to the brevet rank of major, and, in December, he took over the command of a mounted column, consisting of several thousand men.

[24] A series of divisional commands then followed: 42nd, 29th, and 53rd, before he was posted to Salonika with the 27th Division, and then, promoted to temporary lieutenant general in September 1916,[25] with III (Indian) Corps on the Mesopotamian Front.

[27] It was in this capacity that Marshall accepted the surrender of the Ottoman army at Mosul on 30 October 1918, with the signing of the armistice of Mudros.

[1] His decision to seize Ottoman territory around Mosul after the ceasefire is controversial, the Official History makes no mention of this action and is explained in a 2017 article.