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Brigadier-General Leane, late of the AIF, has for half a century been connected with commercial affairs, and has held several important positions.  He was departmental manager and buyer for the firm of D&W Murray Ltd of Perth and was later director of the Economic Stores Ltd trading at Fremantle, Kalgoorlie and Boulder.  At the latter place he was propietor of business organisation, wholesale and retail trading and is particularly experienced in buying and selling.

On his return from active service he was appointed Commissioner of Police for South Australia. He stood for election as director of the Army and Navy Stores in Dec 1920. He was chairman of the Sailors and Soldiers' Distress Fund.

Raymond Lionel Leane was born on 12 July 1878 in Prospect, South Australia, the son of a shoemaker, Thomas Leane, and his wife Alice.

One of eight children, he was educated at North Adelaide Public School (/explore/memorials/606) until age 12, when he went to work for a retail and wholesale business, which sent him to Albany in Western Australia. He moved to Claremont where he was elected to the local council. In June 1902, Leane married Edith Louise Laybourne.

Leane joined the militia and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 11th Infantry (known as the Perth Rifles) in 1905.

In 1908, he bought a retail business in Kalgoorlie and transferred to the Goldfields Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to Captain on 21 November 1910.

On 25 August 1914, Leane enlisted in the AIF as a company commander in the 11th Infantry Battalion, with the rank of Captain.

On 25 August 1914 he enlisted in the 11th Battalion as a Captain and Company Commander.  The Battalion went ashore with the Covering Force during the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, and Ray’s C Company moved into the Plugge’s Plateau sector.

On 4 May he led an attempt to capture Gaba Tepe fort, a Turkish position close to the beach which enfiladed the Australian trenches.  Charles Bean considered him the ideal choice for this hazardous enterprise.  After landing at dawn, Ray’s small force was pinned close to the beach by heavy fire, so that no advance could be attempted.  Having been given full discretion to depart from his orders as he thought fit, he organized a withdrawal and successfully brought off his men and their wounded with the aid of the Royal Navy.  For this he was awarded the Military Cross.

Ray was slightly wounded on 28 June in an assault on Pine Ridge, and again on 31 July when he led a successful attack against Turkish defences, and held the position thereafter against heavy counter-attacks.  This position became known as Leane’s Trench.  Promoted temporary Major on 5 August, he commanded the 11th Battalion from 11 September, and was promoted temporary Lieutenant Colonel on 8 October.  He remained at Gallipoli until evacuation on 16 November.  He was twice mentioned in dispatches for service at Anzac.  While there, he had been nicknamed ‘Bull’; his “tall square-shouldered frame, immense jaw, tightly compressed lips, and keen, steady, humorous eyes made him the very figure of a soldier”.

In Egypt on 26 February 1916, Ray was confirmed as Major and appointed Commanding Officer of the 48th Battalion (the ‘pup’ Battalion of the 16th Battalion).  Promoted Lieutenant Colonel on 12 March, he took his new Battalion to France in June.  After a week at Fleurbaix, the Battalion moved into the Pozières sector, and on 7 August repulsed a heavy German counter-attack having earlier relieved the 27th Battalion in place around the Windmill feature, which the 27th had captured on the 4th August.  The 48th served at Mouquet Farm and Gueudecourt in 1916, and at Bullecourt, Messines, Wytschaete and Passchendaele in 1917.  At Bullecourt Ray’s younger brother and Battalion Second-in-Command, Major Benjamin Bennett Leane was killed on 10 April.

Severely wounded at Passchendaele on 12 October, Ray did not resume duty until late January 1918.  He commanded the 48th Battalion at Albert in March-April.   Under his command, the 48th Battalion was prominent in halting the German advance on Amiens at Dernancourt on 27 March and on 5 April at Villers Bretonneux.  He was appointed temporary Colonel commanding the 12th Brigade on 19 April, and was confirmed in rank and promoted temporary Brigadier General on 1 June.  He commanded the 12th Brigade at Villers-Bretonneux in April-May, in the attack on Proyart on 8 August, and in the battles of the Hindenburg outpost line in September.

Ray had been mentioned in dispatches eight times, and his decorations included the Distinguished Service Order and Bar, the Military Cross, and the French Croix de Guerre.  He was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1918, Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1919, and Knight Bachelor in 1944.  His brother Ben, three nephews, and several other relatives had served under him in the 48th Battalion, which led to its being known throughout the AIF as the ‘Joan of Arc Battalion’ (Made of All Leanes, a play on words of Saint Joan of Arc Maid of Orleans).

As a commander, Ray won the affection of his men by his constant concern for their well-being.  He gained their respect by his strength of character, firm discipline and high sense of duty.  In action he was cool and alert, directing and encouraging, heedless of danger.

He returned to South Australia as a distinguished war hero.  He was appointed Commisioner of Police, a role he held until his retirement in 1944, at which point he was knighted.  He led the SA Police force with distinction introducing sweeping reforms to police education, promotion on merit and conditions of service.  He set a pattern which was repeated after WW 2 when another Army Brigadier, John McKinna, was appointed Police Commissioner.

During World War II Ray commanded a group in the Volunteer Defence Corps.  After his retirement he lived quietly at Plympton SA until his death on 25 June 1962. The Leane family generated a remarkable collective record of service.  See the attached image and caption.  

For more reading please click on the Australian War Memorial links to left of the page...

Australian Dictionary of Biography link here - Sir Raymond Leane ADB (adb.anu.edu.au)

Wikipedia Link - Sir Raymond Leane (en.wikipedia.org)