Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Henry Normand MacLaurin (Chancellor of the University of Sydney)
and Mother Eliza Ann MacLaurin.

Three brothers:
Older brother: Dr Charles MacLaurin MB, BS, FRCS, a lecturer in medicine at the
                      University of Sydney
younger brothers:  H.C.H. MacLaurin and J.B. MacLaurin

He was educated at Blair Lodge School, Polmont, Scotland;  Sydney Grammar School and
the University of Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts.
MacLaurin was later admitted to the bar in NSW and became a barrister.

Previous service: 
15/8/1899  First commission in NSW Scottish Rifles as a Second Lieutenant.
1900 Promoted to Lieutenant; 1903 Promoted to Captain and 1908 a Major.

1/7/1913  he took command of the 26th Infantry Regiment.

On enlisting he lived with his brother, Dr C MacLaurin at 'Wyoming', 155 MacQuarie Street,
Sydney, New South Wales.

Next of kin in service:
Brother   H C H MacLaurin,  1st Vet Section
              returned to Australia

Described on enlisting as 35 years 9 months old; single; 5' 9 1/2" tall; 11 stone 9 lbs;
Presbyterian

15/8/1914       Enlisted in Sydney, New South Wales

20/10/1914     Embarked from Sydney on board HMAT Euripides A14
                      as a Colonel (Commanding Officer) of the 1st Infantry Brigade, Headquarters

MacLaurin was the youngest of the three original brigade Commanders of the 1st Division,
and more than 10 years younger than any of his four battalion Commanders.
For a Brigade Major, he was given a British Regular Officer, Major Irvine of the Royal Engineers.

MacLaurin's brigade was the last to come ashore at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915.
By this time a crisis was developing and Major General Bridges was ordering units to fill gaps
almost as soon as they arrived ashore.

Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon of Tuesday 27 April 1915, when a Turkish counterattack
threatened, Major Irvine collected 200 stray men in Monash Valley and was about to send them
forward when the news arrived that the need for them had passed.

Irvine went up to Steele's Post, where he observed the positions.
He was warned about Turkish snipers, but brushed off the warnings and was quoted as saying:

"It's my business to be shot at".

Soon after he was fatally wounded by a sniper.

Less than ten minutes later, MacLaurin was standing on the slopes of the ridge, that now bears
his name. Unaware of Irvine's fate, MacLaurin was in the act of warning soldiers to keep under
cover when he too was shot dead, from the same point, possibly by the same Turkish sniper.

His body was buried by his men, where he fell, in an isolated grave (no.3) at Anzac, 20 feet
East from Bridges Road up a hill, Gallipoli, about half a mile East of Anzac Cove, marked with
a simple wooded cross.

Some weeks after his death, Brigade Commanders were upgraded from Colonels to Brigadier
Generals and MacLaurin was posthumously promoted to Brigadier General.

In 1919 he was reburied in:  4th Battalion Parade Ground Cemetery
                                          Plot 1, Row A, Grave 8
                                          on the slopes of Braund's Hill, East of Anzac Cove, Gallipoli

5/8/1915       London Gazette - Mentioned In Despatches

6/7/1927       AIF advised both parents were deceased

Medals:
1914-15 Star (24830); British War medal (2800); Victory medal (2801);
Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll (356277)

Sourced and submitted by Julianne T Ryan.  19/4/2015.  Lest we forget.