Vic Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Cecil Maygar

18 December 2014

Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Cecil Maygar

Biography

Also Known as: Edgar Leslie Cecil Willis Walker Maygar

Birth date: 27 May 1868

Birth place: Australia: Victoria, Kilmore

Death date: 01 November 1917

Death place: Ottoman Empire: Palestine, Beersheba

Final rank: Lieutenant Colonel

Conflict: First World War, 1914-1918

South Africa, 1899-1902 (Boer War)

Units:

4 Light Horse Regiment
8 Light Horse Regiment
4th Australian Light Horse Regiment
8th Australian Light Horse Regiment
5th Victorian Mounted Rifles

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.

Accession Number: P01285.001

C. 1903. Hand tinted studio portrait of Lieutenant (Lt) Leslie C. Maygar VC DSO. Lt Maygar was the first Victorian to be awarded the Victoria Cross. He won his VC at Geelhoutboom in South Africa on 1901-11-23 serving with the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1917-10 whilst commanding the 8th Light Horse Regiment. Lt Colonel Maygar was killed in action during the battle of Beersheba on 1917-10-31. This portrait was taken after 1903 and before 1914 as Lt Maygar is wearing the 1903 Commonwealth pattern full dress uniform. The 'rampant' horse badge of the 8th Light Horse Regiment (a militia badge pre 1903), the colour patch of the 8th Light Horse Regiment first AIF (on the left sleeve) and the ribbon of the DSO ( mistakenly painted out of order with his Boer War service ribbon) have been added to the portrait by the artist. (A near identical black and white image is held as H12606, an identical black and white image is held as P1285/02 and a black and white cropped version published in They Dared Mightily is held as P1285/03) (Original hand tinted framed portrait is held in the art frame store) (Donor H. Kerr)

Accession Number: A04436

Portrait of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Leslie C Maygar VC DSO VD, Commanding Officer of the 8th Light Horse Regiment. Lt Col Maygar died of wounds during the battle of Beersheba on 1 November 1917.

Accession Number: A04437

Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Colonel) Leslie C Maygar VC, (left) and an unidentified lieutenant seated in a rickshaw being transported by a behorned rickshaw runner in 'tribal dress'.