Captain Leslie Russell Blake MC

In 2001 I discovered a single egg of the royal penguin Eudyptes schlegelli in a rather dusty cupboard in the Aberdeen University Zoology Museum. The egg had been collected on Macquarie Island, the only place in the world where royal penguins breed, and on it were the letters AAE, the initials L.R.B. and the date 20.10.12. After a degree of research I now know that it was collected on one of the series of epic Antarctic expeditions that took place in the opening years of the 20th century. I even know the name of the man who collected it!

Following Shackleton's heroic but failed effort to attain the South Pole in 1908, the Australian geologist Douglas Mawson was organized an Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE). The expedition vessel, the Aurora was purchased from the Newfoundland sealing fleet, but had been built in Dundee, Scotland. The chief objective of the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition was to investigate, as far as possible, a stretch of essentially unknown Antarctic. There were no plans to reach the South Pole but included in the scientific program would be the scientific examination of Macquarie Island lying 850 miles south-south-east of Hobart. From Hobart a course was to be set for Macquarie Island. A small party of 5 would land with stores and a hut and proceed to undertake scientific studies over the next year, as well as to establish a radio relay station. One of the five expedition members to be left on Macquarie Island was one Leslie R. Blake, Cartographer and Geologist. This was the L.R.B who collected the Aberdeen egg on the 20th of October in 1912. The rest of the expedition then moved on to the Antarctic mainland.

After Blake had visited the Antarctic mainland during the final cruise of the Aurora in the summer of 1913-14 he returned, with his Polar Medal, to carry out geological work in the goldfields of Queensland. At the outbreak of the First World War Blake volunteered for the army and enlisted as a gunner in the artillery. Not surprisingly, the army soon recognized Blake?s qualities and he had been promoted to sergeant by November of the same year. He briefly served in the Middle East, landing at Suez in December 1915, but mainly on the Western Front in France and Flanders, disembarking at Marseilles on the 25th of March 1916 as a newly commissioned second lieutenant.

Blake had what used to be called a 'good war'. The edition of the London Gazette published on November 25th 1916 announced that Lieutenant Leslie Russell Blake of the Field Artillery, Australian Imperial Force had been awarded the Military Cross. The award was for conspicuous and continual gallantry in the field, around Pozières during the great Somme offensive. Under heavy fire, Blake had used his special skills to full advantage by making a detailed survey of the line held by the Allies from Pozières to Monquet farm. This information, obtained under heavy fire, was vital for ensuring the relative safety of friendly soldiers during the forthcoming barrage against the German positions. Blake was also Mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig's Despatch of November 13 1916, for distinguished and gallant services and for devotion to duty.

By July 1917 he was attached to the 105th Battery (4.5 inch Howitzers) and took part in the third Battle of Ypres, in Flanders, along with almost the whole of the artillery of the Australian Imperial Force, which suffered severely.

Blake was wounded on a number of occasions, most seriously in September 1917 when a fragment from a High Explosive shell so badly damaged the tendons and bone of his right arm that he was evacuated to hospital in England. He rejoined the Brigade in February 1918 and was promoted to the rank of Captain on the 13th of May. Towards the end of August he enjoyed a period leave in France, returning to the front on the 15th of September. He then had just a few days left to live.

In 1917 the Germans had retreated to behind the Hindenburg Line, or the Siegfried Stellung as they called it, a vast system of formidable defences in Northern France built during the winter of 1916-17. It ran from the area around Arras all the way to beyond St Quentin, and consisted of deep and wide trenches, thick belts of barbed wire, concrete machine-gun positions, concrete bunkers, tunnels and command posts. It was considered virtually impregnable but was successfully attacked and broken by the Allies in late 1918 after which the Germans began to talk seriously of peace.

On October 2nd 1918 with the offensive very nearly over, Blake found himself in action at Hargicourt, near to the Hindenburg line, between the villages of Nauroy and Estrées on the Somme. Blake was on horseback, directing ammunition wagons and guns to their laying positions, when he was hit by a shell, which blew off his leg and killed his horse from under him. He was still alive when taken to the 58th Casualty Clearing Centre, but most grievously wounded; his left leg was amputated above the knee, he had shell wounds to the face, a fractured skull and multiple wounds to the left thigh and he died about 6.10 am on the following day. He was buried in the Military Cemetery, (New British Cemetery) at Tincourt near to Peronne. This is his grave with a poppy that I brought for him, from Scotland.