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Leslie Norman Alec CHAMBERS
| Rank | Reg/Ser No | DOB | Enlisted | Discharge/Death | Board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lieut | 5 | 23y3m | 19 Jan 1916 | 26 Sep 1919 | 3 |
Lieutenant Leslie Norman Alec Chambers (1894-1972)
The Chambers Family
Leslie Norman Alec Chambers, the sixth son of Oliver Cromwell and Ellen (née Bosher) Chambers, was born at Roma, Queensland in 1894. It appears that he preferred to be called 'Alec' as he is referred to as L. N. Alec Chambers in some documentation researched. The names of four Chambers soldiers appear on one of the Honour Boards at Saint Andrew’s Uniting Church and they are part of the large Chambers family of seven brothers and three sisters. Mr and Mrs Chambers began their married life in 1877 at Nhill, Victoria where the older children were born. They later moved to North Queensland then Roma in Western Queensland. At the time the four brothers were enlisting for service in the Australian Imperial Force in the Great War, their parents were living on a farm called Balmah at Elbow Valley between Killarney and Warwick.
L. N. Alec Chambers and his younger brother, Stuart, attended the small Loch Lomond Primary School at Tannymorel West on the Killarney Line in Queensland.
Enlistment and Service
When Alec enlisted for service abroad on 19 January 1916, he was a clerk, a single man, who gave his age as 25 years three months. His mother was listed as next-of-kin and was living at St Pirans, Vulture Street, South Brisbane.
With Service Number 5, Corporal Alec Chambers embarked from Sydney on HMAT Borda on 5 June 1916, bound for Alexandria and later, Southampton. He proceeded to France in November 1916 and soon afterwards was admitted to hospital at Rouen with mumps. Training during 1917 included Anti Gas School at Armentières in April and a Machine Gun course at Grantham, England in October.
In 1918, while attending Officer Cadet training at Cambridge, England Alec received promotion to the rank of Sergeant before receiving a commission. In June and July Second Lieutenant L. N. A. Chambers served in the Machine Gun Base Depot at Camiers, France and on 1 October 1918, gained promotion to Lieutenant, 3rd Machine Gun Battalion. Lieutenant Alec Chambers remained in France till 19 April 1919 when his unit marched out to Codford, England.
Return to Australia
Alec Chambers returned to Australia per HMAT Themistocles and his military appointment was terminated on 26 September 1919.
The 1921 Australian Electoral Rolls record Alec as working as a farmer with his brother, Howard Oliver Chambers at Netherdale in Mackay, north Queensland. By 1928 he had moved to Agnew Street, Norman Park in Brisbane where his occupation was recorded as a Commission Agent.
On 24 May 1941 an engagement notice appeared in the Courier Mail for L. N. Alec Chambers who was living at Norman Park to Evelyn Mary Waghorne of Sydney. Alec and Evelyn were married on the 2nd June 1941 at The Manse, Dauphin Terrace, Highgate Hill in Brisbane by the Rev Dr Gibson. Soon after their marriage Alec and Evelyn were living at Harle Avenue, Wilston.
Alec Chambers, while living at Hardings Court off Ambleside Street, West End, Brisbane in September 1944, wrote to Base Records in Canberra requesting his discharge papers be reissued as he was applying for the erection of a War Service Home.
From 1949 to 1954 the Electoral Rolls have him living with Evelyn at Ashgrove and his occupation during this period was a Brick Representative (salesman).
Passing
L. N. Alec Chambers died in Queensland in 1972.
Original Compiled by Noel E Adsett, February 2015 © Edits and additions by Miriam King 2023 ©
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