Lewis Gordon Blackmore – Gallipolli and Pozieres

Lewis was the seventh child of Edwin Gordon Blackmore and Eleanora Elizabeth Blackmore (Nee Farr) Born Adelaide SA 21st May 1886 -­ Killed in action 23rd July, 1916 at Pozieres, France by machine gun fire. Lewis attended St Peters Collegiate School, Adelaide SA 1898-­1902. In 1902 he passed the Junior Public Examination of the Adelaide University in 6 subjects, with Honours in Physics. He then moved to Melbourne and entered the Church of England Grammar School. He became a School Prefect and as his acting headmaster stated “a strong one, and…a good athlete.” He also represented the school in cricket and Australian Rules football. He played cricket in the 1st XI Pennant for Melbourne University in the 1905-­06 and 1907-­08 seasons and also played Australian Rules Football (VFL) with Essendon from 1905 to 1907. He kicked four goals in debut against St Kilda. In a letter dated 2nd February, 1906, to the Senate, Melbourne University, written by his father Edwin, formal application was made for permission for his son to enter their new School of Mines – a three year course. This had to be given up following his father’s stroke in 1907 and the family (Brothers Lewis, Jack and Gordon and sister Jane) decided to pool their financial resources, buy a property, they named “Landsdowne” at Wattamondarra near Cowra and move there. Three other brothers, George, Edd and Jim had previously moved to South Africa and their mother Eleanora had died in 1901. On the 23rd September, 1914, Lewis Gordon Blackmore enlisted as a Private (Trooper) in the Australian Imperial Forces, at Rosebery NSW, as a member of the 6th Australian Light Horse Regiment, A Troop, A Squadron. (Regimental Number 79) On the 24th December 1914 Lewis was promoted to Lance Corporal.

The 6th Light Horse Regiment distinguished itself from all other Light Horse Regiments with the use of the Wallaby fur puggaree on the felt hat. The puggaree is the band around the felt hat, usually made of pleated cloth. Lewis embarked from Sydney on board Transport A29 Suevic on the 21st December, 1914. The ship was bound for Albany WA and then direct to Aden and Suez and to the Australian Light Horse Camp Ma’adi (a suburb of Cairo) in Egypt.

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The 6th Light Horse Regiment was raised in Sydney in September 1914 from men who had enlisted in New South Wales, and became part of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade. Sailing from Sydney on 21 December 1914, the regiment disembarked in Egypt on 1 February 1915.

The light horse were considered unsuitable for the initial operations at Gallipoli, but were subsequently deployed without their horses to reinforce the infantry.

May 19th, 1915 Lewis writes “We are anchored at the entrance to the Dardanelles i.e. at Cape Hellas. How we will feel when the bullets are amongst us I do not know, but up to date you never saw a more confident or cheery crowd of men together in all your life.” The 6th Light Horse Regiment landed at Gallipoli on the 20th May 1915. The 2nd Light Horse Brigade landed in late May 1915 and was attached to the 1st Australian Division. The 6th Light Horse became responsible for a sector on the far right of the ANZAC line, and played a defensive role until it left the peninsula on 20 December 1915.

May 31st “The more you see of this place the more you wonder how they did it….It was undoubtedly a wonderful piece of work ….We are only 200 yards from the enemies trenches and so have to keep our eyes skinned at night….What we miss most is sleep….When we get time we go down to the beach for a swim….Have had two shaves since landing so am not quite the unkempt looking soldier of the papers.” Lewis was wounded on 14th July 1915 at Gallipoli and was invalided to England Via Malta. Most of the men recruited into the Australian Imperial Force at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 were sent to Egypt to meet the threat which the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) posed to British interests in the Middle East and to the Suez Canal. After four and a half months of training near Cairo, the Australians departed by ship for the Gallipoli peninsula, together with troops from New Zealand, Britain, and France. The aim of this deployment was to assist a British naval operation which aimed to force the Dardanelles Strait and capture the Turkish capital, Constantinople.

The Australians landed at what became known as ANZAC Cove on 25 April 1915, and they established a tenuous foothold on the steep slopes above the beach. During the early days of the campaign, the allies tried to break through the Turkish lines and the Turks tried to drive the allied troops off the peninsula. Concerted but unsuccessful allied attempts to break

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through in August included the Australian attacks at Lone Pine and the Nek. All attempts ended in failure for both sides, and the ensuing stalemate continued for the remainder of 1915.

The most successful operation of the campaign was the evacuation of the troops on 19–20 December under cover of a comprehensive deception operation. As a result, the Turks were unable to inflict more than a very few casualties on the retreating forces. The whole Gallipoli operation, however, cost 26,111 Australian casualties, including 8,141 deaths. Despite this, it has been said that Gallipoli had no influence on the course of the war.

On the 14th July a cable from Roy Morell arrived at “Lansdowne” saying that “Loo was wounded in the arm”. July 21st from Malta “Was out with Roy (Morell) and 20 men putting out a new trench about 400 yards in front of our position….a stray bullet came down from our left and got me. It went in the fleshy part of forearm and came out above the wrist breaking the bone. It did not hurt much but bled a lot…after the Dr had dressed it…. (they) saw me off on the boat” (Lewis had a fracture of the bone in the right arm) July 25th “The Dr told me I am to go to England. It will be about 10 weeks before I get back to the front so I hope the Turks are settled by then.” September 10th Lewis writes from Malta and mentions having had enteric. “We had it pretty rough on the Peninsular, but I have never once regretted coming, the only thing it was stiff luck to put in two months rather dull trench work and then miss the good advance our fellows made in August. The Turk is a fair and decent fellow to fight but they could never shift our fellows after once the got properly entrenched….The efforts of the Turks to hit our aeroplanes always made an interesting sight, as the schrapnel would burst like a big white puff, they never scored a hit.” He writes again on the 25th “ Have just got a letter from Edith date June 3rd also Janie June 8th for which I was very thankful as I had had no letters since leaving the Peninsular….Off to England tomorrow…..” The letters that follow tell of his impression on his leave in England and Scotland, which followed a period in Hospital. On December 29th he wrote “We are off tonight, almost certainly for Egypt” Lewis rejoined his unit in Ma’adi, Egypt, on 16th January, 1916. On the 16th January he writes “I arrived from England OK….the old regiment is very much altered nearly all the old hands that are left have either got a commission in the Reg. or in the Infantry.” Lewis was anxious to obtain a commission himself. The commission of 2nd Lieutenant must have come through in February as on the 24th he cabled Janie for money for a uniform. (On the 21/2/1916 he had transferred from the 6th Light Horse Regiment to the Ist Battalion of the 1st Brigade Infantry) “The Thirty quid from Janie arrived OK and will see me through well. I am entitled to 15 pounds kit allowance but have not got that yet….We have a fine lot of fellows as officers and I can assure you being an officer is not half bad. We feed well, have interesting work and live comfortably.”

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24th February, Lewis writes “…we are camped on the old Battlefield of Fel El Kebir and Araby Pasha’s trenches and gun emplacements are still there. We may go off to the Canal soon.” A letter dated the 5th March from Roy Morell said:-­ “Loo has gone to the 1st Brigade”. Lewis is believed to have been in the 1st Battalion which was the first infantry unit recruited for the AIF in New South Wales during the First World War.

The battalion was raised within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked just two months later. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving on 2 December. The battalion took part in the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915 as part of the second and third waves, and served there until the evacuation in December. Its most notable engagement at Gallipoli was the battle of Lone Pine in August. Two members of the battalion, Captain A. J. Shout and Lieutenant L.M. Keysor were awarded Victoria Crosses for their valour at Lone Pine, Captain Shout posthumously.

After the withdrawal from Gallipoli in December 1915, the battalion returned to Egypt. In March 1916, it sailed for France and the Western Front (Lewis Blackmore had by now transferred to the 1st brigade) From then until 1918 the battalion took part in operations against the German Army, principally in the Somme Valley in France and around Ypres in Belgium.

Battle Honours awarded to the 1st Battalion for operations conducted as part of the 1916 British Somme offensive in the vicinity of the village of Pozières, including the battle of Mouquet Farm.

4th March, Lewis writes from Cairo “here to do a three week Infantry Training School…It will mean a lot of toil as we are supposed to learn in three weeks what in ordinary times takes a couple of years….then be able to do our job fairly decently.” (on the 21/3/1916 he re-­joined his Unit and on the 23/3/1916 disembarked from Alexandria and arrived Marseilles, France on the 28/3/1016) April 4th from France “in billets and very comfortable my old madame looks after me very well” April 12th and May 5th -­ letters both written after a spell in the trenches. May 28th he says “no mail coming through from home” (all his letters are full of interest in the bits of home news) June 14th “we are having it very wet and it is not good, however my little dug-­out is wonderfully dry” June 24th “As the Russians are doing so well and the Hun appear to have failed at Verdun I may be coming home earlier than I thought, of course not this year, and I can assure you I hope to return to the life on the land. We have had a fair amount of wet weather of late;; it is wonderful how we escape colds. I really think we are getting immune to the ills of the flesh….” June 29th “How is land selling now? I have great ideas of sneaking out near the Warrumbungle Mts and buying a place if we can raise the wind….”

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July 17th “Well old sport, we shall be busy now so letters may be a bit irregular, but shall drop you a line at every opportunity.” Then in a letter from Eric Shelly – “We moved up on the village of Pozieres on the night of July 19th and it was well into the morning of the 20th by the time we had taken over from the Tommies. Lew’s battalion were in the front. All that day, the next and the next, we lay quiet letting the artillery do its work. The attack was timed for 12.30am on the night of the 22nd-­23rd July. Two minutes prior to that time we started a violent artillery bombardment, then over our men went to the German first line and took it. For 30 minutes there raged another artillery bombardment our guns having lifted their range to the German 2nd line, then a signal and over we went again. As close as I can gather this is where poor old Lew went down. The boy knew no pain thank God, a machine gun bullet got him in the forehead and he died instantly. I saw him a few hours previously and he went into it laughing and joking and full of hope and the surety he was coming out as well as he went in” From Informant Cadet Pte Thos. 3261 “On Sunday, 23rd July I saw above-­named killed, struck by a machine gun bullet. We were attacking Pozieres about 1 am. I saw that Blackmore was dead. An Australian, short, thick-­set, dark, clean shaven, about twenty three” From Service Records:-­ “Buried just to the right of the right communication trench leading to Old German No 1 Trench near Pozieres.” “(No Grave No, No cemetery and no clergyman. He was buried in the heat of the action)” 1st August, 1916. Brother Jack writes:-­ “News from Loo is very cheerful and we hear from him practically every mail. He does seem contented and seems to be in a very comfortable billet and well looked after by the woman of the farm. Last letter he was expecting furlough to England shortly for 8 days. His Battalion seems to have taken part in those trench raids as his friend Lieut. Moffatt won the Military cross (Hayward Hugh Moffatt awarded 29/6/1916) and another officer the DSO. I wonder if they were in the Armentieres or Pozieres battles. Our men seem to be wonderfully good fighters and Kitchener’s men seem good enough for anything. The Empire was wonderfully lucky to have Kitchener at the helm for so long 8th August, 1916:-­ A cable arrives stating that Lieutenant L. G. Blackmore had been killed in action on the 23rd of July at Pozieres Pozières, a small village in the Somme valley in France, was the scene of bitter and costly

fighting for the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions in mid 1916.

The village was captured initially by the 1st Division on 23 July 1916. (the night that Lewis

Gordon Blackmore died) The division clung to its gains despite almost continuous artillery fire

and repeated German counter-­attacks but suffered heavily. By the time it was relieved on 27

July it had suffered 5,285 casualties.

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The 2nd Division took over from the 1st and mounted two further attacks -­ the first, on 29 July,

was a costly failure;; the second, on 2 August, resulted in the seizure of further German

positions beyond the village. Again, the Australians suffered heavily from retaliatory

bombardments. They were relieved on 6 August, having suffered 6,848 casualties.

The 4th Division was next into the line at Pozières. It too endured a massive artillery

bombardment, and defeated a German counter-­attack on 7 August;; this was the last attempt

by the Germans to retake Pozières.

Lewis Gordon Blackmore buried approx location at junction of Pozieres Trench and OG1

For three days, 24 to 26 July 1916, the Germans relentlessly bombarded Pozières. The aim of this concentrated shelling was not simply to prepare for a counter–attack but to inflict as much damage and loss on the Australians as possible. One does not have to imagine what would have become of Lewis Blackmore’s last resting place “buried in the heat of action” and subsequently shelled.

Pozieres before shelling

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Pozieres after shelling

Back Home at “Landsdowne” On receiving the cable advising of Lewis’s death, it was typical of their concern for each other, that Jack should telegraph his Uncle, Canon William Hey Sharp, and ask him to telephone Granville to break the news to his sister Janie. Canon Sharp writes on August 10th, 1916. “Your telegram was a sad shock. Dear old Loo….I rang up Drummoyne. Janie answered, but I just asked her to get Granville to ring me up as soon as he came in. This soon happened. Having ascertained that he was in the surgery alone, I told him” Janie writes on the same day “John (Jack) my dear old Boy, there is little that we can say to each other;; we knew him best and so we loved him best and it means a big hole in our lives that no one can fill. Thank God you have Edith and I have Granville and the babies to love and comfort us, and I think we shall both try to give him up bravely as he gave himself…” Canon Sharp writes again on August 15th “I got your second letter this morning and I hope I have done something to meet your wishes…..I went off (after a good look at Loo’s photograph in uniform) to a quiet spot in the bush….I said the burial service for him….” August 13th letter from brother Jim address V.M. Reef Box 1091, Johannesburg, South Africa “ Yesterday I received your cable….which was a great shock….Only a fortnight ago I got a letter from dear old Loo in his usual cheery strain and Edd got one last Monday and it is very hard to feel there will be no more. I can appreciate old boy how you will miss him after so many years of battling along together and of course it will be a heavy blow to dear old Janie. I have written to George and yesterday Edd came into town so I was able to tell him….” August 17th letter from Aunt Ju (Miss Julia Farr) from New Zealand “My dearest Jack, Last night Uncle Cole brought home the sad news that our Loo has gone….You three were such a happy trio so absolutely close to each other. Poor old Janie has been Mother and Sister both and will feel it a double loss….but you Jack dear have lost your best friend and chum as well as a brother…..I hope soon some little “Loo” will appear to carry on the name and the traditions and be worthy of the world of liberty which has cost so dear….” (Jack and Edith’s only son Lewis Kinleside Blackmore, named after his uncle Lewis, was born on the 15th February, 1917)

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Lewis Gordon Blackmore was awarded the following medals:-­ 1914-­15 Star;; British War Medal;; Victory Medal He has no known grave and his war service is commemorated at the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour in Canberra

Location on the Roll of Honour

Lewis Gordon Blackmore's name is located at panel 28 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial (as indicated by the poppy on the plan).

His name (below) also appears on the Australian National Memorial, Villers-­Bretonneaux, in the Somme, a region of northern France, along with the names of 11,000 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave.

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Villers-­Brettoneaux Memorial, France

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Studio portrait (circa 1914) of 79 Private (Pte) Lewis Gordon Blackmore, 6th Light Horse Regiment, of Wattamondara, NSW. A grazier prior to enlisting in

September 1914, Pte Blackmore embarked from Sydney on board HMAT Suevic (A29) on 21 December 1914. He was wounded in action at Gallipoli on 14 July

1915 and evacuated to Malta where in September he contracted enteric fever. He proceeded to England for recovery and returned to his unit in Egypt in January

1916. Pte Blackmore was transferred to the 1st Battalion in February and promoted to 2nd Lieutenant (2nd Lt) in February/March. 2nd Lt Blackmore was killed in action at Pozieres, France, on 23 July 1916. He was 30 years of age.

A digital copy of Lewis’ service record can be viewed at the National Archives of

Australia at the following link:- http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=3088714