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4th Light Horse, Australian Imperial Force
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| Want to know more about 4th Light Horse, Australian Imperial Force? There are:-1 items tagged 4th Light Horse, Australian Imperial Force available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
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Tpr. John William Henderson 4th Light Horse Regiment  An original member of the Australian 4th Light Horse Regiment, my great-uncle John Henderson, known as Jock, enlisted in August 1914 and was at Gallipoli from 24th of May until 6th of October 1915. He was then hospitalised in Malta with enteric fever and subsequently sent to convalesce in England. When well enough, Jock went to serve in France with the 1st and 2nd Anzac Mounted Corps, NZ Salvage Party, and 12th Field Artillery Brigade. He returned to Australia under the early return scheme for 1914 lads, arriving in Port Melbourne on 25th of December 1918.
I have a post card of 'Gallipoli veterans' dated 22nd of August 1916, and I have transcribed the text that he sent home to his younger sister Kate Henderson:
'Dear Kate:
Just a PC to say I am still in England and in best of health. Hoping this finds you all the same. I have not heard from you for some time. This is a photo of the guard honour for Billy Hughes the day he got the freedom of London. Andy McIntyre is in this photo but I do not think you can pick him out. The officer on the right hand side is the boss here. He used to be a sergeant but was promoted at Gallipoli. All these chaps have been wounded. This was taken at Abbey Woods. So now Kate dear I will have to conclude. Hoping to hear from you soon.
I remain your loving brother, Jock'
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T/Sgt. Wallace Stanley "Blue" Findlay 4th Light Horse Wallace Findlay enlisted on the 24th of Sugust 1914, giving his occupation as farmer, and his next of kin as C Findlay, his brother. He embarked from Melbourne on board A189 Wiltshire on the 19th of October 1914
He served in the last charge of Bersheba.
In 1924 he was living in Kerang and became the
Secretary of the Soldiers Settlers Department at Casterton and Terang.
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Cpl. Geoffrey Arthur Nevett Mitchell 4th Light Horse Regiment Geoffrey Arthur Nevett Mitchell was born at Ballarat in 1894 and was a student at Melbourne University when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. Mitchell joined the 4th Light Horse Regiment on 24th August 1914 and departed Australia aboard HMAT Wiltshire on 19th October 1914. Geoffrey Mitchell's previous military experience came from his time as a senior cadet at Geelong College and a short period with the University of Melbourne Rifles.
Mitchell remained in Egypt with the 4th Light Horse until April 1915 when he was discharged from the AIF and proceeded to England to join the 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers, 29th Division in July 1915. He served with this unit at Gallipoli until being wounded in August 1915. After recovering from his wounds, Mitchell joined the Royal Flying Corps, quickly rising through the ranks to become a lieutenant in the 13th Balloon Company by late 1916. Mitchell's service with the Royal Flying Corps continued until mid-1918, when, as a major, he returned to England to take command of the Richmond Park Transport Depot.
After demobilising in 1919, Mitchell settled in Malaya, working on a rubber plantation until 1931. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War and remained in Victoria after the end of the war. Geoffrey Arthur Nevett Mitchell died at Lancefield, Victoria on 23rd July 1973.
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Lt.Col. Leslie Cecil Maygar VC. 4th Light Horse Regiment  Leslie Cecil Maygar was born near Kilmore, Victoria, on 27 May 1868. He was farming at Euroa when he volunteered for service with the Victorian Mounted Rifles and served in the South African War. It was during this conflict that Maygar was awarded the Victoria Cross for the rescue of a fellow soldier under heavy fire. After the war he returned to farming and once again volunteered for military service when the First World War broke out, enlisting with the Australian Imperial Force on 20 August 1914. Maygar departed Melbourne with the 4th Light Horse Regiment aboard HMAT Wiltshire on 19 October 1914.
Whilst serving on Gallipoli in 1915 Maygar was promoted to the rank of major and in October that year was appointed to command the 8th Light Horse Regiment. In December 1915 he began to document his experiences in a series of letters home, recalling in great detail the evacuation from Gallipoli, which he deemed "a marvellous piece of military strategy probably never equalled in all the annals of history." Maygar was in command of the last party to withdraw from the trenches at ANZAC Cove.
Rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel, Maygar distinguished himself as a fine leader and horseman in the desert campaigns of Sinai and Palestine, during which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Maygar continued to document his experiences, in particular the extensive preparations for the second battle of Gaza in April 1917. He died on 1 November 1917 from wounds sustained at the battle of Beersheba the day before. Leslie Maygar is buried at the Beersheba War Cemetery in Israel.
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S/Sgt. Henry Langtip 4th Light Horse Regiment Henry Langtip was born at Port Albert, Victoria, in 1888. Known as Harry, the 27-year-old farmer enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 25th January 1916. His brothers Bertie and Leslie enlisted at the same time and another brother, Ernest, enlisted the following day. All four brothers were allocated to the 4th Light Horse Regiment, and after several months of training they left Melbourne aboard HMAT Itria on 18th April 1916.
For the remainder of the year Henry Langtip and his brothers participated in training and performed mostly guard duty in the Suez Canal zone with the 1st Light Horse Double Squadron and then the Imperial Camel Corps. In February 1917 the brothers were transferred for the last time to the 4th Light Horse Regiment. In his diary Henry recorded the events of 31st October when, after a long and terrible ride through the desert all night, he and his brothers participated in the famous charge at Beersheba that helped break the Turkish defensive line. The unit moved into Palestine and then Transjordan, participating in several further raids and battles. Langtip's brother Leslie was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions in the advance towards Damascus.
On 15th June 1919 Langtip and his brothers embarked for home with the rest of their regiment. All four brothers had survived the war and some of the most daring feats in the Egyptian and Middle East campaigns. War would return to the region some two decades later and on 12th November 1940, while Axis forces bombed the towns of Palestine, Henry Langtip died at Rutherglen, Victoria.
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Tpr. Edward Randolph Cleaver 4th Light Horse Regiment (d.31st Oct 1917)  Edward Randolph Cleaver was born at Ferntree Gully in Victoria in 1886. He attended Sale State School and later trained as a butcher. He enlisted at 29 with the Australian Imperial Force on 19 August 1914. According to his sister Adeline, Cleaver was the first man in the town of Sale to have enlisted. He departed Melbourne with the 4th Light Horse Regiment aboard HMAT Wiltshire on 19 October 1914.
Cleaver was deployed to Gallipoli in July 1915 and served there until the evacuation in December. He spent 1916 patrolling with his squadron around the Suez Canal in Egypt. Like many of the troops he wrote home regularly, sending photos of himself and his mates in their small canvas shelters in the desert. He wrote: "The desert was better than Gallipoli where they were being fired at day and night. In the desert we can get on our horses and ride into the distance to get away from the noise of war."
On 31st if October 1917 Cleaver took part in one of the most famous actions of the First World War: the charge of the Light Horse at Beersheba. He was part of the first squadron to reach the enemy lines; his horse leapt over the first two trenches and then, as he dismounted to fight the Turks in the third trench, he was cut down by machine-gun fire.
Edward Cleaver is buried at the Beersheba War Cemetery, Palestine. Sadly, his father died just nine days later.
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2nd Lt. Francis James Burton Australian Light Horse (d.31st Oct 1917) Francis James Burton was born at Minyip, Victoria in 1894 and worked as a farmer before the outbreak of the First World War. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 22 August 1914 at Broadmeadows, Victoria. Burton departed Melbourne aboard HMAT Wiltshire on 19 October 1914. He served with the Australian Light Horse in the Middle East. Francis Burton died on 31 October 1917 and is buried at Beersheba War Cemetery, Israel
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