Leane, Alice Ann (nee Short, b.1846 - d.1932)

Places
Accession Number AWM2016.721.3
Collection type Private Record
Record type Collection
Measurement Extent: 1 cm; Wallet/s: 1
Object type Letter
Maker Buckingham Palace
South Australian Government
Place made Australia: South Australia, Adelaide, United Kingdom: England, Greater London, London
Date made 1915
Access Open
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Copying Provisions Copyright expired. Copying permitted subject to physical condition. Permission for reproduction not required.
Description

Collection relating to the service of the Leane family, First World War, Gallipoli and France 1914-1918.

The collection consists of two letters addressed to Alice Leane, whose five sons and six grandsons served in the First World War. Of her five sons one became a Brigadier-General, and others a Colonel, a Major, a Lieutenant-Colonel, and a Warrant Officer. The Colonel's four sons and the Warrant Officer's two sons also enlisted. Of the eleven Leane's who served, four were killed: Arnold Leane was killed in action in 1916, Allan Edwin Leane and Allan William Leane both died of wounds in 1917, and Benjamin Bennett Leane was also killed in 1917.

The first letter is dated 27 May 1915, written on behalf of the Governor of South Australia, to Mrs Leane conveying "[the Governor's] warm congratulations on what he considers to be a splendid example of a Mother's Self-Sacrifice and Love of Country", after learning her eleven sons [sic.] are serving in His Majesty's Naval and Military forces.

The second letter is dated 15 October 1915 and is written by the Keeper of the Privy Purse, Buckingham Palace, on behalf of the King, to Mrs Leane. The letter expresses "His Majesty's appreciation of the patriotic spirit which has prompted your five sons to give their services at the present time to His Majesty's forces".