Birdwood was made a Baronet, of Anzac and of Totnes, in the County of Devon, on 29 December 1919. He toured Australia to great acclaim in 1920 and then became general officer commanding the Northern Army in India later that year. He was promoted to field marshal (with the corresponding honorary rank in the Australian Military Forces) on 20 March 1925 and, having been appointed a Member of the Executive Council of the Governor-General of India in July 1925, he went on to be Commander-in-Chief, India, in August 1925.