MAYGAR, LESLIE CECIL,
Lieutenant, was born on the 26th
May 1871, at The Dean Station, Victoria, New South Wales, son of Mr Edwin
Willis Maygar, formerly of Bristol, and of Helen Maygar. He was educated
privately, and entered the Victorian Mounted Rifles, 1 March, 1891, becoming
Lieutenant in July, 1900, and serving in South Africa from 1 February 1901
to 31 July, 1902, under Major Daly, OC, 5th VMR, and Colonel Pulteney. For
his services in this campaign in the Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Cape
Colony, he received the Queen's Medal with four clasps, and was awarded the
Victoria Cross [London Gazette, 11 February 1902]: "Leslie Cecil Maygar,
Lieutenant, 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles. At Geelhoutboom, on the 23rd
November 1901, Lieutenant Maygar galloped out and ordered the men of a
detached post, which was being outflanked, to retire. The horse of one of
them being shot under him, when the enemy were within 200 yards, Lieutenant
Maygar dismounted and lifted him on to his own horse, which bolted into
boggy ground, causing both of them to dismount. On extricating the horse
and finding that it could not carry both, Lieutenant Maygar again put the
man on its back, and told him to gallop for cover at once, he himself
proceeding on foot. All this took place under a very heavy fire". His
Victoria Cross was presented to him at Pretoria on 8 June, 1902, by Lord
Kitchener. He joined the Australian Imperial Force 20 August 1914, and
served with the 8th Australian Light Horse Regiment, 3rd ALH Brigade,
arriving in Egypt with the 1st Division, Australian Imperial Force, in
December 1914. He served with his command in the field continuously without
being wounded or a day away from his command on sick leave, so he said when
he sent particulars of his services for this book. For his services in
Palestine he was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, and
was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in June 1917. He also received the
Volunteer Decoration in July, 1917. Lieutenant Colonel Maygar was mortally
wounded on 31 October 1917, during the fighting at Beersheba. A newspaper
account runs as follows: "Particulars of the death of Colonel Maygar, VC,
who was mortally wounded by an aeroplane bomb near Beersheba on 31 October,
have been received by his brother, Mr A E Maygar, of Longwood. Major A W G McLaurin wrote: 'We were in
the firing-line all day, and were relieved by the 11th Regiment about 4
o'clock in the afternoon. We were then retired to near Desert Corps
Headquarters, where we arrived just about dusk. Your brother went to
headquarters to report, and I took the regiment on some little distance to
await him. We had dismounted, and he had just joined us, and was talking to
some of the men in the rear of the regiment, when an enemy aeroplane came up
and bombed some transport in our rear. The Colonel at once galloped
forward, and was extending us when he was hit, and his horse bolted with
him. That was the last I saw of him, although I sent out men to look for
him. A man brought his horse back, and said he was severely wounded, and
had been taken to a field ambulance. The regiment had immediate orders to
go out to a certain position, and I was unable to see him. We were then
attached to another brigade, and were fighting for two days and a night, and
when we got back I inquired at the Beersheba Hospital, and was told that he
was sent back to Karm; we went back there a couple of days later, and on
arrival was told he had died. I was told that his arm had been amputated,
and that he was getting on well; in fact, a little before his death he was
laughing and joking with the men in the hospital, when a sudden haemorrhage
set in, and he died shortly afterwards (17 November 1917). He was buried
near the hospital at Karm.
