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placement in the Light Horse Battalion, a prestigious unit. He listed
Cowlishaw Street as his home address. Edward spent most of the war in
the Middle East and was involved in the capture of Jerusalem.
He enlisted on 31 July 1915 and embarked on 2 November 1915 from
Sydney. This meant that he would not have gone to Gallipoli where the
British Empire troops, including the ANZAC troops, were about to
evacuate. Initially he was a Private in the 7
th
Light Horse Regiment, 11
th
Reinforcement. But the horse, as a “weapon” of war, was not able to
compete with new technologies, and during the war the role of the horse
changed very quickly from an attacking weapon to a carrier of artillery
pieces and ammunition to soldiers at the front. Because of this and
Edward’s engineering skills he completed the war as a Gunner in the 10
th
Field Artillery Brigade. At the end of the war, Edward’s rank had
improved from Private to Lance Corporal. He returned to Australia on 1st
May 1919.
(NOTE: The 7
th
Light Horse did fight at Gallipoli as part of the 2nd Light
Horse but Edward was part of a Reinforcement Group 11-13 and they
didn’t arrive early enough to participate in the fighting. Plans to evacuate
Gallipoli would have already been in place. At Gallipoli, due to the
unsuitable terrain for horses, the 7
th
Light Horse Regiment did leave their
horses to fight in a defensive position on the attacks right hand side. Also
many 2
nd
Light Horse members did lose their lives at the notorious The
Nek.
Further Research
What happened at The Nek?
Frederick Herbert Clayton Barley (Regimental No 1)
Frederick Barley enlisted on 18 September 1914. Born in Chatham Kent,
England, he claimed at his enlistment that he was a veterinary surgeon,
although later, relatives indicated that he was only a horse stable manager.
He convinced authorities in Australia that he was a veterinarian - so much
for the accuracy of official documents. However, he was skilled at his
work. Fred, as he was called, had moved to Wellington, New Zealand and
married Emma Jackson and had 6 daughters. The family was only aware
that he had enlisted when he returned after the war.
Fred was 42 years old when he enlisted. At 5 feet 5 inches (1.6 metres)
and weighing 106 lbs (48 kg) he was not a big man. He listed on his
enlistment paper (attestation paper) his wife Mrs E Barley of Wellington,
New Zealand as his next of kin. Fred indicated that he had previous
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