LOWE Leslie
Born: 1891 as Leslie James Howard Tritton
Regimental number: 248
Rank: Private
Unit: 12th Infantry Battalion
Leslie died on 25 April 1915, drowned en route to Gallipoli beaches
Age: 23
There is no known grave. He is commemorated at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
Leslie died on 25 April 1915, drowned en route to Gallipoli beaches
Age: 23
There is no known grave. He is commemorated at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
Leslie's birth is somewhat of a mystery, although there are clues, some of them in his World War One file. There is no record of the birth of Leslie, son of Lawrence Lowe. There is a record of the birth of Leslie Howard James Tritton on 27 May 1891 in Ringarooma, son of Florence Tritton; his father's was not recorded. We do know that Lawrence Lowe was working in the area around the time. Florence moved to Cape Barron Island and died. It seems that young Leslie did not go with her.
We first hear of a Leslie Lowe in January 1903 when he was mentioned in the newspaper report of the trial of a man who had burgled the home of Mrs Robins of Youl's Lane Launceston. Leslie described Mrs Robins as his grandmother in the report.
The following year Leslie Lowe again appeared in print on 9 February 1904 when it was reported in the Launceston Telegraph that:
A lad named Leslie Low, aged 12 years, sustained severe injuries at Scottsdale on
Saturday. He threw a dynamite cap into the fire, which exploded. The boy's right hand and face were very badly cut. He was attended to at Scottsdale by Dr.Cummings, and brought into town yesterday, and taken to the General Hospital by Sergeant O'Byrce.
When Leslie Lowe signed his enlistment form on 26 August 1914 he said he was 22 years and three months old and had 2.5 years experience in the 92nd Infantry. He also had a scar on the first finger of his right hand, the legacy of the dymanite cap when he was aged 12. He departed in the SS Geelong in October 1914, and was one of the men who dismbarked from the ships to land at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.
It appears that he didn't even make it to shore. He was noticed to be missing early in May 1915 and there was a commission of enquiry in June 1916, when he was declared killed in action.
Not long after Leslie was announced as missing, a letter arrived in AIF offices in Melbourne from Mrs Ellen Smith who was Florence's half-sister claiming that Leslie had no father or mother. Mrs Smith said that she & her sister Eliza Appleby (also Florence's half-sister) of 19 Regent Street, Scottsdale, were Leslie Lowe's only surviving relatives. The AIF replied that Leslie had given the name of his father, Lawrence Lowe, as his next of kin. There was no further correspondence.
These letters seem to confirm that Leslie Lowe was Leslie Howard James Tritton, and that after his mother's death, he lived with his aunt, Eliza Appleby in Scottsdale, and considered Eliza's mother-in-law, Mrs Robins, as his grandmother. As well, it is clear that Lawrence acknowledged Leslie as his son at least as early as 1903.
We have worked hard to find a photo of Leslie, but as yet have had no luck
Contact Heritage Lilydale if you are able to share more information.