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From the book Fallen Sains

Lewis Gordon Blackmore was born in Adelaide South Australia in May 1886 and educated at Melbourne Grammar School, Victoria as well as the Collegiate School of St Peter in Adelaide.

He was an exceptional sportsman who distinguished himself playing Australian Rules football and cricket. He played football for Essendon in the VFL and his name is listed on the Victorian Cricket Association Register 1st XI Pennant, District & Premier cricketers.  

His father Edwin Gordon Blackmore CMG was the Clerk of the Senate between April 1901 and June 1908 and for several years was an examiner and lecturer in history at the University of Adelaide and governor of the Collegiate School of St Peter. [i]

Edwin had served with the Taranaki Rifle Volunteers in the Maori War, was in the action at Poutoko in 1863 as well as the attack and capture of the Maori strongholds of Ahuahu and Kaitake in 1864.

Lewis’s parents were married in the St Peter's College chapel in 1872 so it is not surprising that after such a long and close association with the School he and all five of his brothers, Gordon, John, George, James and Edwin were educated there. Prior enlisting at Rosebery, New South Wales in September 1914, Lewis was a farmer and grazier and would have been used to working with horses, which was probably the reason he was posted to the 6th Australian Light Horse Regiment.

The 6th Light Horse Regiment was raised at Holsworthy New South Wales in September 1914, and with the 5th and 7th Light Horse Regiments formed the 2nd Light Horse Brigade.

Trooper Blackmore, A Squadron, 6th Light Horse Regiment sailed with his unit from Sydney Harbour, aboard HMAT Suevic on 21 December and on Christmas Eve was appointed lance corporal. In Egypt, the regiment trained with the remainder of the Brigade and after landing at Anzac on 20 May 1915 was attached to the 1st Australian Division.

On 14 July 1915, Lance Corporal Blackmore was shot in the right arm and admitted to the Hospital Ship Gascon suffering from a compound fracture of the Ulna; he was evacuated to Malta for further treatment and admitted to Floriana Military Hospital on 18 July.

In September he was transferred to Intarfa Hospital with enteric fever and at the end of the month was transferred via Hospital Ship Regina D’Italia to Wales and admitted to 3rd West General Hospital Cardiff.

In late December, he sailed from England aboard the Oriana and rejoined his unit at Maadi, Egypt in January. Perhaps when told the 2nd Light Horse Brigade was to remain in Egypt as part of the ANZAC Mounted Division, he thought France would be a more interesting option for in February 1916 he transferred to the 1st Battalion.

The majority of the men in the 1st Battalion like those of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions were from New South Wales and together these battalions formed the 1st Infantry Brigade.

At the beginning of March he attended a course on Command at the School of Instruction, Zeitoun Camp and after ten days was appointed Second Lieutenant; he sailed for France with the battalion aboard HMT Ivernia on 22 March.

On 23 July during the battalion’s first major engagement in France, Second Lieutenant Blackmore commander of 13 Platoon D Company was killed in action: he was 30 years of age.

Six days after he was killed, a man who was wounded during the battle, Private Thomas Cadet, said he saw Second Lieutenant Blackmore struck by a machine gun bullet on Sunday, 23rd July. ‘We were attacking Pozières about 1 am.  I saw that Blackmore was dead. An Australian, short, thick set, dark, clean shaven about 23’. [ii]

[i] Reid, G, Blackmore, Edwin Gordon, (1837 - 1909) Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, Melbourne University Press, 1969, p. 176-177
[ii] Australian War Memorial, Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files - Blackmore, Lewis Gordon / 0410403 viewed 26 September 2005