Leslie Hore

Leslie Fraser Standish 'George' Hore was born in Murree, India in 1870. He was educated in England and worked as a solicitor and barrister in London and then Hobart, Tasmania before joining the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) in 1914. Captain Hore departed Australia on 25 February 1915, serving with the 4th reinforcements, 8th Australian Light Horse Regiment. He joined the Regiment at Gallipoli on 26 May and was wounded at the Battle of the Nek on 7 August. While he was at Gallipoli, Hore sketched the men, the animals, the trenches and the terrain, documenting life at Anzac between June and December 1915.

Preferring to fight in France rather than stay with the Light Horse regiments in the Middle East, Hore accepted an offer as Brigade Machine Gun Officer of the 6th Infantry Brigade. In March 1916 he travelled with the Brigade to France. 'His knowledge of machine guns was summed up in three letters-nil, and at the time of his transfer he did not know a soul or a soldier in the brigade. But by the time the command of the 6th M.G. Coy. became vacant at Fleurbaix, it was obvious that Hore was the man to make individuals into a unit.' So said Major-General Sir John Gellibrand, who was quoted in Hore's obituary, Reveille, November 1935. Hore was promoted to Major at Pozieres in France and then to Lieutenant Colonel. On 18 June 1916, he was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for conspicuous gallantry at Pozieres. He continued to draw and his sketches of the Western Front are also in the State Library's collection. On 7 November 1917, Hore was mentioned in dispatches by Sir Douglas Haig. In February 1919, Lieutenant Colonel Hore left England for Australia in the troopship, Orca.