LESSLIE, Thomas Arthur
| Service Number: | 3055 |
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| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Trooper |
| Last Unit: | 3rd New South Wales Mounted Rifles |
| Born: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 6 November 1877 |
| Home Town: | Eumungerie, Dubbo Municipality, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia, 17 March 1963, aged 85 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Eumungerie - Coboco RSL Memorial, Eumungerie Boer War Plaque |
Boer War Service
| 1 Oct 1899: | Involvement Trooper, 3055, 3rd New South Wales Mounted Rifles |
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Lifestory
Thomas was the son of English born parents Arthur Gowan Lesslie (1854-1929) and Susan Maria Cook (1846-1934). Arthur and Susan emigrated independently in the early 1870s and married in Sydney 1877.
Thomas was the eldest of their four sons; Thomas Arthur, James Edwin, William Reuben and Robert Foster. Thomas was a labourer hired by Charles Salter in Dubbo NSW, he was recommended to his brother Wallace Salter to lead an entire stallion called Farmer's Glory around the farms. Thomas stayed with the Salter family in Brocklehurst NSW and eventually married their eldest daughter, Margaret in 1906. Wallace gave Thomas and Margaret a wedding at his new property 'Mountain View' Eumungerie that lasted for three days. Thomas won a Terramungamine ballot block in 1908 and Thomas and Margaret, with the help of Margaret's father, built a little home on the Newell Highway near the Coalbaggie Creek. Margaret would leave her babies under the shade of a tree and help Thomas clear land that was gradually put under wheat. In 1912 they purchased the property Dellaville at Eumungerie and settled there to have ten children.
Submitted 13 September 2019 by Suzanne Nagel
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