James LAWSON Lt. Col. DSO [6819] ³⁴⁵⁹

  General Notes:

Enlisted in WW1 in 1914 Sern V26144. Mentioned in dispatches and awarded the DSO. By the time James returned home in 1919 after the end of WW1 he had risen to the rank of Major and in around 1927 he was awarded the rank of Lt. Colonel.

Rupanyup Spectator and Lubeck, Banyena, Rich Avon and Lallat Advertiser (Vic. : 1914 - 1918) View title info Thu 2 Dec 1915 Page 2
THE Rupanyup Spectator
The many friends of Lieutenant James Lawson will be pleased to hear that he has been recommended from the firing line at
Gallipoli for promotion to captain.

It will be remembered with pride that Lieut. Lawson, with his troop of Rupanyup Light Horse, were in the first expeditionary force in 1914 to leave Australia for active service at the front. After some months' training in Egypt the Light Horse were ordered to the Peninsula as infantry, and Mr Lawson was "promoted from 2nd to 1st ' lieutenant. He and his company, "many of whom, alas, have been killed and others wounded or incapacitated through illness, have had six months of solid trench: fighting in the-front firing line, with only four days' leave during, that period; and it is with pride we record his recommendation for promotion to captain, which will be equally rejoiced' in by his troops; at the front, with whom he particularly popular and by our local soldier boys.

Rupanyup Spectator and Lubeck, Banyena, Rich Avon and Lallat Advertiser (Vic. : 1914 - 1918) View title info Thu 16 Mar 1916 Page 3
Our Boys In Egypt.
Captain James Lawson of the 4th Light Horse writing from Heliopolis, Egypt, encloses a programme with the results of a tourney by the Third Australian Light Horse Brigade and Fourth Light Horse Regiment to commemorate Australia's Anniversary Day, January 26, 1916, at Heliopolis. It will be remembered that when the Fourth Light Horse (of which the Rupanyup troop were a part) were in camp at Egypt going into active service on the Peninsula, they were successful in almost every competition against the other troops in camp.
It is pleasing to note that after the rigors of the Gallipoli campaign our boys, are still fit and more than held their own out of a camp of over 4000 troops in the tourney on Australia Day-securing first and second in the rescue race; first and second in the Anzac Sheffield second in the obstacle event; first in tug-of war (bare back); first wrestling on horse back (bare back); and fourth in sections of four race.
The following letter was received during last week from Sergeant Burton of the Fourth Light Horse, who is in hospital at Ghezireh, Egypt, concerning Captain James Lawson .... " Being on the Peninsula six months under Captain Lawson we had many opportunities of witnessing the great work done by him, the coolest of cool under fire, nothing daunted him-it was this that made us all have such implicit faith in him-for when things looked blackest he never failed us. He was an officer who would stick to his men, lead them, cheer them when things, looked hopeless and praise them, when success was attained. We all hope he will be spared to return, receiving the praise he richly deserves, and would like all the boys at home to know what a great name Captain Lawson has made for himself amongst the boys who served under him on the heights of Gallipoli."
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/121050896

Hopetoun Courier and Mallee Pioneer (Vic. : 1914 - 1918) Fri 1 Jun 1917 Page 2 Personal Pars.
Personal Pars.
Mrs. Lawson, of Rupanyup, niece of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin, of Hopetoun, received a cable message from her husband last week, forwarded from Palestine informing her that he had been promoted to the rank of major. The cable also mentioned that Lieut. Phillips and Private Dunlop were in good health. Mrs Lawson has been the recipient of hearty congratulations on her husband's promotion,

Rupanyup Spectator and Lubeck, Banyena, Rich Avon and Lallat Advertiser (Vic. : 1914 - 1918) View title info Thu 13 Dec 1917 Page 2
Major LAWSON D.S.O.
Major LAWS0M, D.S.O.
Major James Lawson, mentioned in Sir Archibald Murray's dispatches in June last has now been awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
Major Lawson volunteered as a 2nd Iieut. with the Rupanyup troop of 4th Light Horse in August 1914 and is now serving with the4th Light Horse in Palestine.


The Horsham Times (Vic. : 1882 - 1954) View title info Fri 2 Aug 1929 Page 2
LIGHT HORSE DISBANDS.
The 49th Light horse Regiment of which Lieut Col. J. Lawson, of Rupanyup is commanding officer has been disbanded in accordance with the economy proposals of the Defence Department and instructions have been issued to trainees to return all equipment accept uniforms. The troops affected are Natimuk, Dimboola, Rupanyup, Skipton and Horsham, the last named being under the control of Major Faux.

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lawson-james-7119
Lawson, James (1884-1965)
by J. P. Haldane-Stevenson
This article was published:
in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10 , 1986
online in 2006
James Lawson (1884-1965), stock and station agent and soldier, was born on 16 February 1884 at Halifax, Yorkshire, England, son of James Lawson, police officer, and his wife Elizabeth, née Dickinson. Educated at Heath Grammar School, Halifax, he became a clerk at the Todmorden branch of the Manchester and Liverpool Bank. He came to Australia in 1905. Fair-haired, of powerful build and commanding presence, he had the traditional Yorkshireman's directness of manner and character and a dry sense of humour-qualities liked by his neighbours in the Wimmera district of Victoria. By 1912 he was a hotelkeeper at Rupanyup, and that year on 6 March he married Effie Maude Franklin at St Peter's Church, Melbourne.

In England Lawson had served in the Duke of Lancaster's Own Imperial Yeomanry and in 1912 he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 19th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Victorian Mounted Rifles. On 20 August 1914 he joined the Australian Imperial Force in the same rank and embarked for Egypt with the 4th Light Horse Regiment. They served dismounted at Anzac from 20 May 1915 until the evacuation; Lawson had been promoted lieutenant in February and in January 1916 in Egypt he became commander of 'C' Squadron. In 1916-18 his regiment served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under General Sir Edmund Allenby in Sinai and Palestine. Lawson was promoted major in May 1917 and from then commanded 'A' Squadron.

On 31 October 1917 Allenby, planning his main advance through the heavily fortified Gaza area, made a diversionary thrust at Beersheba. British infantry on the south-west formed the guard, while Australian cavalry charged the Turks from the south-east. Lawson's squadron and a squadron of the 12th Australian L.H.R. led the attack, storming the enemy trenches with wild and spectacular success; the official historian, (Sir) Henry Gullett, noted that the 'enemy had been beaten rather by the sheer recklessness of the charge than by the very limited fighting powers of this handful of Australians'. Lawson's leadership and personal valour in this key operation won him the Distinguished Service Order. After the fall of Gaza his regiment joined Allenby's advance into Syria, linked up with a force under Lawrence of Arabia and took part in the capture of Damascus in September 1918. Lawson was mentioned in dispatches twice in 1917-18.

He returned home in January 1919 and his A.I.F. appointment ended in April. He became a stock and station agent at Rupanyup, reverting to part-time soldiering with the Australian Military Forces as a major in the 19th L.H.R.; he was promoted lieutenant-colonel and commander of the regiment in 1927. In 1931-33 he commanded the 5th Cavalry Brigade as a temporary colonel and in 1929 received the Volunteer Officers' Decoration. During World War II, with the acting rank of brigadier, he held administrative command of a training brigade based at Geelong. He was placed on the retired list, A.M.F., as an honorary colonel in November 1943.

Never a man to pull his rank, Lawson was active in civic affairs, was master of his Masonic Lodge in 1922-23, sat for many years on the Wimmera League Football Tribunal and supported the local Anglican Church and volunteer fire brigade. In 1952 he retired to Melbourne where he was a member of the Naval and Military Club. Survived by his wife, son and daughter, Lawson died on 29 September 1965 at his daughter's home at Brighton and was cremated. He is depicted in George Lambert's painting of the battle of Beersheba at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
Select Bibliography
H. S. Gullett and C. Barrett, Australia in Palestine (Syd, 1919)
H. S. Gullett, The A.I.F. in Sinai and Palestine (Syd, 1923)
T. E. Lawrence, Revolt in the Desert (Lond, 1927)
London Gazette, 6 July 1917, 15 Jan, 14 June 1918
Herald (Melbourne), 29 Sept 1965
records (Australian War Memorial)
private information

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Immigration: arrived in Melbourne on the ship Ormuz, Aug 1908, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. ⁵⁸⁷⁴

James married Effie Maud FRANKLIN [6816] [MRIN: 2148], daughter of James FRANKLIN [3583] and Rose ROBINS [3533], in 1912 in , Victoria, Australia.⁵⁸⁶⁶ (Effie Maud FRANKLIN [6816] was born in 1889 in Warracknabeal, Vic, Australia ³⁴⁵⁹ and died in 1969 in Caulfield, Vic, Australia ³⁴⁵⁹.)