The first former Sydney University cricketer to be killed in the Great War.
27 April 1915
During the afternoon of 27 April 1915, just two days after the first landing at Anzac Cove, at about 3.15pm, 36 year old Lieutenant Colonel MacLaurin was standing on the slopes of the ridge that now bears his name (MacLaurin's Hill). He was responsible for the 4000 soldiers of the 1st Infantry Brigade and he ordered his men to keep under cover to avoid Turkish fire. He himself, however, was shot dead. MacLaurin was buried by his grieving men where he fell. In 1919, he was re-interred at the 4th Battalion Parade Ground.
Cricketer. Barrister. Soldier.
MacLaurin was a much respected barrister at Wentworth Chambers in Elizabeth St, specialising in accountancy. He was active in the militia forces of the NSW Scottish Rifles where he rose to command a regiment and he enlisted on 15 August 1914, almost as soon as war was declared. He had played two seasons for the Sydney University Cricket Club when he was an undergraduate. In 1896-97, aged 18, he scored only 44 runs in 2nd Grade before being inexplicably promoted to 1st Grade (SUCC 1st Grade cap no53) where he played another two games without distinction (15 runs @7.5).
Then, in 1898-99, he was twice selected in University's 1st XI (which was playing in the 2nd Grade competition) when University won the 2nd Grade Premiership. MacLaurin's energetic 54 was followed by a non-descript 5 and he played no more after graduating with a BA in 1899 and after admission to the NSW Bar.
A distinguished family.
MacLaurin's father, Sir Henry Normand MacLaurin (1835-1914), was Chancellor of the University from 1896 until his death. MacLaurin Hall at the University is named for the former Chancellor.
Sir Henry was a dominant figure in conservative politics and was President of the Legislative Council, the Upper House of the NSW Parliament. Three sons, Charles, Hugh and Henry, all served in the Great War. Charles was the father of Catherine who was, in turn, mother of the prodigiously talented Mackerras family including Alistair Mackerras, Headmaster of Sydney Grammar School from 1969 until 1989.
Henry was firstly educated at Blair Lodge School, Polmont in Scotland and then at Sydney Grammar School where he flourished.
The Great War.
Lieutenant MacLaurin was a stern but kindly disciplinarian with a deserved reputation for encouraging his men to their best endeavours. They respected his energy and enthusiasm especially when they trained under him in Egypt before the Gallipoli campaign. When orders for the landing at Gallipoli came through, MacLaurin was said to have "bounded smiling up the stairs to the General's office to plan the attack."
MacLaurin was one of 337 Sydney Grammar students to be killed during the Great War.
He was the first of the Sydney University Cricket Club's players to be killed.
Envoi.
CEW Bean, the Great War's pre-eminent historian , described MacLaurin as
"... a man of lofty ideals, direct, determined, with a certain inherited Scottish dourness...but an educated man of action of the finest type that the Australian universities can produce."
LEST WE FORGET.
James Rodgers