LESLIE, Alexander Henry
| Service Number: | 1203 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 8 March 1915, Enlisted at Liverpool. |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 18th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom, 19 July 1890 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Locomotive Fireman |
| Died: | Killed In Action, Belgium, 20 September 1917, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Panel 7 - 17 - 23 - 25 - 27 - 29 - 31. |
| Memorials: | Bathurst War Memorial Carillon, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient) |
World War 1 Service
| 8 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1203, 18th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Liverpool. | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 1203, 18th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 1203, 18th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney | |
| 29 Aug 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 1203, 18th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, Shrapnel wound to head | |
| 23 Nov 1915: | Promoted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 18th Infantry Battalion, Promoted at Gallipoli. Did not pass through intermediate ranks. | |
| 18 Oct 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 18th Infantry Battalion | |
| 29 Jan 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 18th Infantry Battalion | |
| 20 Sep 1917: | Involvement Lieutenant, 18th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: 18 Battalion awm_rank: Lieutenant awm_died_date: 1917-09-20 |
Help us honour Alexander Henry Leslie's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He was 27 and the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Leslie, of Railway Terrace, Boat of Garten, Inverness-shire, Scotland. He had connections with Duthil (Scottish Gaelic: Daothal) is a small village, Badenoch and Strathspey area, by-passed from the A938 road, at the junction with the road B9007, near Carrbridge in Inverness-shire, Scottish Highlands.
He is one of 13 Australian casualties of the Great War commemorated on the Grantown on Spey War Memorial.
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He is also honoured on the Boat of Garten War Memorial. Boat of Garten (Scottish Gaelic: Coit a' Ghartain; originally: Garten) is a small village and post town in Badenoch and Strathspey, Highland, Scotland.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Alexander Henry LESLIE rose through the ranks with service number 1203. He was born on 19th July 1890 at Aberdeen City, Scotland.
He began working for the NSW Government Railways at Bathurst Locomotive Depot as a cleaner, the first rung on the career path to locomotive driver, on 1st September 1913. Within three months he had progressed to fireman at Clyde. After only three more months he returned to Bathurst as a fireman. It was from this role that he was released to join the Expeditionary Forces on 8th March 1915.
He enlisted at Liverpool on the same day. He nominated his father, who was still living in Scotland, as his next of kin. He claimed to have served an apprenticeship with C C Stuart & Son of Kingussie. He was allotted to the 18th Australian Infantry Battalion. He embarked in Sydney on HMAT ‘Ceramic’ on 25th June 1915. He proceeded to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 16th August.
On 29th August he was at Anzac and received a shrapnel wound to his head on that day. He was soon returned to duty.
Before the end of the campaign he was promoted to Sergeant on 23rd November 1915, without passing through the intermediate ranks. By 9th January 1916 he was in Alexandria after the general evacuation of the peninsula in December 1915.
As with most of the Australian Battalions, by March the 18th was embarked at Alexandria for passage through Marseilles to France and the Western Front.
On 18th October 1916 Leslie was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, and on 29th January 1917, a Lieutenant.
In February he was seconded for duty with the 5th Infantry Training Battalion at Rollestone in England. During his time in England Leslie attended the 8th Rifle Course held at the School of Musketry, Tidworth in February and March. He qualified as ‘First class’ and had a fair knowledge of the Lewis Gun.
In July his posting at the Training Battalion ended and he proceeded overseas to France. He re-joined the 18th Battalion on 7 August 1917.
He was killed in action in Belgium on 20th September 2017.
The Commanding Officer of the 18th Battalion reported:
‘Lieutenant Leslie was killed by a sniper’s bullet and shortly afterwards his body was blown up by shell fire. In the circumstances it is impossible to say whether this officer was buried or not, but the Battalion would have no record of burial.’
No record of a burial, or any remains have ever been located, and Leslie is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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