223932 Gnr. Leslie Bunbury Lousaine Forrest Australian Imperial Force 5th Australian Divisional Ammunition Column from:Miles, Queensland Leslie Forrest originally enlisted as a Trooper in 2nd Australian Light Horse on 24th of November 1914, and trained as part of the unit’s second reinforcement at Enogra Camp in Queensland, Australia. What is unusual is that Leslie was a British national who had emigrated to Australia, becoming a labourer working in the Outback town of Miles. What is also remarkable is he was the son of a British Army Colonel and his brother served as a British infantry officer, although his sibling died of blood poisoning in a hospital in Malta in December 1915. Also of note is that the brothers both served in the Dardanelles Campaign, though not in the same sectors.
What is clear is that on reaching adulthood Leslie had chosen to live a simpler and rougher existence than the one his family had probably imagined. All the more remarkable as he was descended from Irish aristocracy on his mother’s side, having a direct link to a Kildare baronetcy. His father had also been the commandant of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School up until his death.
Leslie left the Australian Light Horse, transferring to the Royal Australian Artillery joining the 5th Australian Divisional Ammunition Column Royal Field Artillery. He appears to have transferred once he had returned to Egypt from the UK, where he had been evacuated to, after contracting dysentery in the Dardanelles. The 5th Australian Division began form up in Egypt in February 1916, after the original Australian Imperial Force had withdrawn from Gallipoli. However, delays in assembling the division’s artillery meant that it did not depart for France until June 1916. Leslie did attempt get a commission in the British Army Service Corps, but his application was rejected; not surprising as he seemed to have difficulty retaining his non-commissioned officer rank, he had asked to be reduced in rank from bombardier at one stage in his service, he retired as a gunner.
Leslie married Kathleen May Ashman in 1918 and on demobilisation in 1919 went to settle in his wife’s home county of Berkshire. She was the daughter of a Suffolk saddle-maker. Leslie lived until 1960 and probate records show him passing away on 9th February 1960 in the town of Wokingham, Berkshire. The reasons why he left his comfortable home in England to travel to the Australian Outback will never be known; one might speculate that he was uncomfortable with the family’s aspirations for him and he rebelled by heading down under. However, the irony is that he, the probable black sheep of the family, survived the war; but his elder brother Evelyn who had probably fulfilled his parents’ wishes (i.e. he excelled at Sherborne School, Corpus Christi College Oxford and as a junior officer in the Glosters) did not.
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