Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Leslie Perry was born the fourth child in a family of seven children to Samuel Perry who was a twenty nine year old saddler and his thirty one year old wife Martha nee Blake on 1st October 1877 in Surry Hills. Samuel had been born in Auckland, New Zealand into a Northern Irish family while Martha was born in Parramatta into a family with a Cornish background.

He was educated at the Cleveland Street School in Redfern which is the second oldest public school in Australia. He married Emma (aka Emily) Kenehan on 27 Jan 1909 at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Newtown with the ceremony being conducted by William Barry. Witnesses include his future sister in law Mary Elizabeth Kenehan. At the time he was 31 and his wife was 24. His occupation at the time was a commercial traveller. Their first and only child Max was born about four and a half years later in 1913.

He enlisted in the 7th Light Horse Regiment on 23 November 1914, a few months after Australia entered the war, for the duration of the war and four months after. His record shows that he was employed as a salesman. According to his military record, he was 37 years and 6 months old; 5 ft 8 1/2 inches tall; 154 pounds; chest 36 1/2 39 inches; dark complexion; brown eyes with black hair. His religion was Methodist as befitted his upbringing. (His uncle John Albert Knox Perry who also died in the First World War was a Methodist missionary.) He nominated his father as next of kin instead of his wife.

At this time of his enlistment the regulations stipulated that the maximum age of recruits was 35 years although the regulations were changed later to a maximum age of 45 years which meant that he was officially two and a half years too old to enlist. He was married which was also unusual as during the entire war married men made up only 17.4% of all enlistments. He had been married five and a half years and his son was just thirteen months old.

The Australian Light Horse Regiments were usually made up of men from the country, who were used to rough riding, rather than men like Leslie who lived and worked in the city. Those who aspired to join the Light Horse had to survive a riding test which varied from camp to camp. At one camp, they had to take a bareback army horse over a water jump and a sod wall. In another, they had to jump a log fence. Only then, were they sworn in and issued with their uniforms.
He was enrolled as a trooper and was initially posted to Liverpool, outside Sydney for training. He left Sydney on 8th February 1915 on board "HMAT Hymettus A1" bound for Egypt. After three months training in Egypt, the regiment left for Gallipoli.

On 15th May 1915, the 7th Australian Light Horse sailed to Gallipoli without their horses. After a short time, Leslie was promoted to Supernumerary Sergeant and would have involved in the fighting around Holly Ridge, Ryrie's Post and Lone Pine. Sometime later on 8th October, he requested that he be returned to the status of trooper. On 22nd October, he was appointed Regimental Quarter master Sergeant.

On 11th December 1915, according to the eye witnesses (Captain Edward Straker and Lieutenant Thomas Francis Humphreys ) Leslie stood on a box to arrange some sandbags at the entrance to the quarter master's store when he was hit in the heart by a bullet from a shrapnel shell from a 75 mm howitzer and died instantly. Later that day, he was buried in the Shell Green cemetery near the site of the famous cricket match played to confuse the Turks into thinking the ANZACs were staying for a lot longer.

His death was notified by telegram 1145 on 6/1/16 from Victoria Barracks. It is possible that news of the evacuation reached his family before news of Leslie’s death. His son Max was just under twenty six months old.

Extracts from the Official History of Australia in the War Volume II: “The news was thus known with certainty to the whole force before the evening of December 13th”. “The men hated to leave their dead mates at the mercy of the Turks. For days after the breaking of the news there were never absent from the cemeteries, men by themselves, or in ones, twos and threes, erecting new crosses or tenderly “tidying-up” the grave of a friend. This was by far the deepest regret of the troops. “I hope,” said one of them to Birdwood on the final day, pointing to a little cemetery, “I hope they won’t hear us marching down the deres (gullies).

His service was remembered at a Last Post Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial with the Federation Guard taking part in the ceremony on 15th June 2016.