Blencowe Lewis V 1890

Lewis Victor Blencowe [10414]

Killed in action 25 April 1915

1890-1915

Fathers Name: John Abraham Blencowe 1847 Longford Tasmania – Oldest Known Ancestor: Thomas Blencoe died abt 1755 Kings Sutton. * DNA link Thomas Blencowe 1475 Marston St Lawrence.

Mothers Name: Annie Christina Brown.1878 Victoria

Marriage Dt:1914, Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1950, Spouse Name: Margaretta May Grace Copas, Marriage Place: Victoria Registration Place: Victoria, Registration Year: 1914 Registration number: 61.

K comments: Brother Clarence George died of wounds received in 1918 in France. Brothers Francis William Blencowe Sidney Blencowe and John Clarence Howard served in WW2

Spouse Comments: Margaretta May Grace Copas.

Children:

(Research): MW Birth Reg No.2007

Birth 1890 Australia Birth Index, 1788-1922

Birth Place: Cheltenham, Victoria, Registration Year: 1890, Registration Place: Victoria, Registration number: 2007.

1914 Occupation Painter

Note: Appears to have spelt and signed his name Lewis but official documents birth and marriage show Louis.


5^th/6^th Royal Victorian Battalion Arm Patch	Royal Victorian Cap Badge

Pre War

Conscripted to the Victorian Scottish Regiment and served for two and half years.

WW1

Blencowe Lewis Victor, Private, 180, 5^th (Royal Victorian) Bn. AIF

1914

18^th Aug. Enlisted at South Melbourne, Victoria. He was single at this time.
- Lewis Blencowe, Regimental number 180, Place of birth Sandringham, Victoria, Religion Presbyterian, Occupation Painter, Address : St Auburn’s Avenue, Balaclava, Victoria, Marital status Single, Age at embarkation 24 Height 5′ 6.5″ Weight 156 lbs. Next of kin Brother, Clarence Blencowe, St Auburn’s Avenue, Balaclava, Victoria. Previous military service V.S. Regiment (2.5 years), Enlistment date 18 August 1914, Place of enlistment South Melbourne, Victoria, Rank on enlistment Private. Unit name 5th Battalion, B Company, AWM Embarkation Roll number 23/22/1.
21^st Oct. Embarked on the A3 Orvieto to the Suez Canal, Egypt via Western Australia and London. The Orvieto left Colombo on 17^th Nov., stopped over at Aden 25^th-26^th Nov. and arrived at Port Said on 1^st December.
2^nd Dec. Arrived Alexandria Egypt. To Training Camp Mena which was located on the edge of the desert about 16kms from Cairo.

1915

Jan-Mar Training in the desert at the foot of the Pyramids was full of its deprivations extremely hot and food supplies very limited.
4^th Apr. Decamped and took a train to Alexandria where they boarded the ship SS Novian. The Novian was very small and inadequate for the purpose now put ie troopship transport. In total, the battalion spent three uncomfortable weeks in the Nouian, from 4^th Apr until the landing at Anzac Cove on the 25^th.³
9^th Apr. After four days of calm sailing, the Novian arrived at the harbour of Mudros, the chief town on the island of Lemnos, which was about 50 miles from the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. In Mudros harbour a large Allied armada had gathered: huge battleships, destroyers, troopships, supply ships and even a couple of submarines. The day after arrival, landing practices began. The men climbed down rope ladders hung over the swaying sides of the ship, scrambled into the ship’s boats and rowed to shore. Once ashore a short route march followed, then the troops re-embarked and rowed back to ship.³
24^th Apr. The morning brought definite orders to move, and the harbour re-echoed to the rattle and clank of anchor chains as, in turn, each transport moved out to the open sea. The Novian left its anchorage at 12.30 pm. On that day of the battalion’s departure for Gallipoli.³

25^th Apr. KIA -Landing at Anzac Cove. The landing took place north of where it was intended, The 3rd Brigade had landed nearly a mile too far to the north, and instead of advancing over gently undulating ground as planned, the men found themselves confronted by tall cliffs and steep gullies.

Objectives of the 1st Div AIF Landing — The 5th Bn. and its Brigade landed north of its intended point

The 5^thBn. part of the 2^ndBrigade which was the second wave of troops to land with the task of securing all of the Sari Bair range right up to Hill 971. The second wave was supposed to have the way cleared for them but alas this wasn’t the case and the confusion and complexity of the terrain was their undoing. From an eyewitness Lance Corporal Eric Moorhead, 5th (Victoria) Battalion “The officer ordered a bayonet charge – we lined the ridge, and with a shout doubled over it in a long line, expecting to find the enemy at close quarters. We were now in a scrub-covered plain, fairly in the open. No Turks were to be seen, but the air was literally full of bullets and the sound was deafening. The point-blank explosion of rifles and the concealed snipers firing on us at close quarters. The bayonet charge had failed, and the men became disorganised: some ran about distractedly, poking in the bushes for Turks; others fell on their faces, rendered nerve-wracked by the terrible fire. I ran forward into a slight depression in the ground, where several men were lying, and found myself beside one of my Mena tent mates. Some of the men were wounded, others dead. Still no Turks were to be seen and there was no target for our rifles. Some fired a few shots aimlessly into space, but were warned that they might easily be firing on their own men; others were hit in attempting to assume the firing position.” While we have no account of Lewis death we do know he killed in this action was buried where he fell and later moved to Gallipoli 7 Lone Pine Cemetery.

The Argus Melbourne, Vic Tuesday 29^th June 1915

Private Lou Blencowe

5^th Batt. (killed) was the fifth son of the late Mr. J. A. Blencowe, of Sandringham, and brother to Mr C. G. Blencowe, of Jersey street, off St. Aubin’s avenue, Caulfield. Private Blencowe was formerly a member of the Melbourne Scottish Regiment. His wife resides at Glenferrie.

Sources

Gallipoli by Peter Hart.
The Long, Long Trail.
The history of the Victorian Scottish Regiment and the 5th Infantry Battalion
Edited by Brigadier F.W. Speed QBE ED.
Raising and Training the 5th Battalion AIF
Gallipoli 1915.
Complete Service Record.

Medals

1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

In about 1921-22 the Kings Scroll and Plaque sent to his wife provided she had responded to an Army form in 1920 requesting details of address name etc. Margaretta had remarried by 1919 but she would have received the full war widows pension of 1 Pound per week for two years then it was stopped.