Francis Earl Johnston  Brigadier General Francis Earl Johnston, (1 October 1871 – 7 August 1917) was a New Zealand-born British Army officer of the First World War, who served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. Born in Wellington, he was educated in England. Joining the British Army, he served with the Prince of Wales’s North Staffordshire Regiment in the Sudan and later in the Second Boer War in South Africa. In New Zealand on secondment to the New Zealand Military Forces when the First World War began, he was posted to the NZEF as commander of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. He led the brigade through most of the Gallipoli Campaign. Later, on the Western Front, he commanded the 1st Infantry Brigade and, for a brief period, the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. He died as a result of sniper fire on 7 August 1917, one of three New Zealand brigadier generals killed during the war. Johnston was born at Wellington in New Zealand on 1 October 1871, the eldest son of merchant Charles John Johnston, who later became the Speaker of the Legislative Council. Sent to England for his education, he attended Stonyhurst College in Lancashire and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where he was awarded the Sword of Honour as the best of his intake. Johnston was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Prince of Wales’s North Staffordshire Regiment on 5 December 1891, and promoted to lieutenant on 30 November 1895. He saw service in the Sudan with the Dongola Expedition in 1896. Promoted to captain on 13 May 1900, he served from 1900 to 1902 in the Transvaal during the Second Boer War, for which he was mentioned in despatches for good service during the Battle of Boschbult on 31 March 1902. In 1914, prior to the outbreak of the First World War, Johnston, now with the rank of major, was in New Zealand on leave from his regiment, which was then serving in India. He had been seconded to the New Zealand Military Forces as a temporary lieutenant colonel, and was appointed commander of the Wellington Military District. When the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was raised in response to the declaration of war by the New Zealand government, Major General Alexander Godley, the commandant of the New Zealand Military Forces, promoted Johnston to the rank of colonel and put him in command of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. Shipped to Egypt in October along with the rest of the NZEF, Johnston's brigade underwent intensive training.