General News
31 October, 2026
Veterans Voices: James Lawson
James Lawson, stock and station agent and soldier, son of James Lawson, a police officer, and his wife Elizabeth, née Dickinson, was born on February 16, 1884, in Halifax, England.
James Lawson, stock and station agent and soldier, son of James Lawson, a police officer, and his wife Elizabeth, née Dickinson, was born on February 16, 1884, in Halifax, England.
Educated at Heath Grammar School, Halifax, he became a clerk at the Todmorden branch of the Manchester and Liverpool Bank.
He came to Australia in 1905.
Fair-haired, of powerful build and commanding presence, he had the traditional Yorkshireman's directness of manner and character and a dry sense of humour—qualities liked by his neighbours in the Wimmera.
By 1912 he was a hotelkeeper at Rupanyup, and he married Effie Maude Franklin at St Peter's Church, Melbourne, the same year on March 6.
In England, Lawson had served in the Duke of Lancaster's Own Imperial Yeomanry and in 1912 he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 19th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Victorian Mounted Rifles.
On August 20, 1914, he joined the Australian Imperial Force in the same rank and embarked for Egypt with the 4th Light Horse Regiment.
The Light Horse regiments served in a dismounted role at Gallipoli from May 20, 1915, until the evacuation; Lawson had been promoted lieutenant in February, and in January 1916 in Egypt he became commander of 'C' Squadron.
In 1916-18 his regiment served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under General Sir Edmund Allenby in Sinai and Palestine.
Lawson was promoted to major in May 1917 and from then commanded 'A' Squadron.
On October 31, 1917, Allenby, planning his main advance through the heavily fortified Gaza area, made a diversionary thrust at Beersheba.
British infantry on the south-west formed the guard, while Australian cavalry charged the Turks from the south-east.
Lawson's squadron and a squadron of the 12th Australian Light Horse led the attack, storming the enemy trenches with wild and spectacular success; the official historian, (Sir) Henry Gullett, noted that the 'enemy had been beaten rather by the sheer recklessness of the charge than by the very limited fighting powers of this handful of Australians'.
Lawson's leadership and personal valour in this key operation won him the Distinguished Service Order.
After the fall of Gaza, his regiment joined Allenby's advance into Syria, linked up with a force under Lawrence of Arabia and took part in the capture of Damascus in September 1918. Lawson was mentioned in dispatches twice in 1917-18.
He returned home in January 1919, and his AIF appointment ended in April.
He became a stock and station agent at Rupanyup, reverting to part-time soldiering with the Australian Military Forces as a major in the 19th Light Horse; he was promoted lieutenant-colonel and commander of the regiment in 1927.
In 1931-33 he commanded the 5th Cavalry Brigade as a temporary colonel and in 1929 received the Volunteer Officers' Decoration.
During World War II, with the acting rank of brigadier, he held administrative command of a training brigade based at Geelong.
He was placed on the retired list, A.M.F., as an honorary colonel in November 1943.
Never a man to pull his rank, Lawson was active in civic affairs, was master of his Masonic Lodge in 1922-23, sat for many years on the Wimmera League Football Tribunal and supported the local Anglican Church and volunteer fire brigade.
In 1952 he retired to Melbourne where he was a member of the Naval and Military Club. Survived by his wife, son and daughter, Lawson died on September 29, 1965, at his daughter's home at Brighton and was cremated.
The Horsham Army Drill Hall on Baillie Street was named 'The James Lawson Depot' in 2012 in honour of Colonel James Lawson DSO VD.
He is depicted in George Lambert's painting of the Battle of Beersheba at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.