BLEECHMORE
Clive Bleechmore was born 4th June 1892 at St Olive's Norwood London. He was the only child of Henry Stanley and Margaret Bleechmore (nee Tucker). The family lived in Adelaide SA where his father was a stock broker.
Clive was given a pony as soon as he was able to be astride one and he had a lifelong passion for horses. He later went to Adelaide University to study medicine, however he wanted to work with horses so he left University. He went to NSW to work as a Jackaroo. The outbreak of WW1 interrupted this.
Clive enlisted in the 9th Light Horse Regiment on 9 October 1914 with the rank of Lieutenant and embarked for overseas service in February 1915. He saw active service in both the Gallipoli and Syria/Palestine campaigns, rising to the rank of Major by war's end, and earned the Distinguished Service Order for his brilliance and bravery in the campaign leading to the fall of Damascus.
At the end of the war he found himself in Cairo, where he acted as Military Governor before being demobilized in 1919. He wanted to take up farming & had heard that there were farms for soldiers in East Africa. While sailing down the East Africa Coast they were struck by the worst monsoon in 8 years, which caused Clive to reconsider and return to Australia.
Also sailing to Fremantle on the same ship was Mary Johnston (later to become Clive's wife). She had been to Melbourne with her brother Harold to attend a race meeting. To cheer her up after severe sea sickness, Harold introduced her to a personable young man he'd met — Clive Bleechmore. Clive instantly fell for Mary and when Harold invited him to visit the family home in Bunbury he agreed.
Clive inspected a property called Balfour Downs, 360 miles east of Meekatharra, and entered into a partnership with two brothers called Dunnett. He and Mary had a long distance courtship before becoming engaged. As the story goes, Clive stopped at a station en-route south and forgot to post the letter advising Mary of his arrival. When he arrived at the railway station in Bunbury, no one was there to meet him. A special marriage licence was applied for — the magistrate was so amused he charged only two pounds. The wedding took place on 14th September 1920, with the reception at Leschenault Homestead. Their two sons Brian and Anthony (Tony) were born during their time at Balfour Downs. Three years of drought drove the family south to a farm near Boyup Brook called Camballan.
Clive was a progressive farmer and was the first in the district to use a super spreader on clover pastures. At the outbreak of WW2 he was enlisted in the 25th Cavalry Regiment and was discharged in 1943. Once their sons were married, Clive and Mary moved to a farm at King River near Albany and later retired to Middleton Beach, Albany. Around 1975 they moved to Busselton, where Clive passed away on 5 November 1981.
As with many Returned Service Men, Clive did not speak very much about his time in either war. Most of the knowledge the family has about his war service has been found researching the Australian War Memorial. In fact his family was unaware he had been awarded the DSO medal until after his passing. Clive donated to many RSL projects but always declined to be recognised.
Major Clive Bleechmore was recommended for the DSO on the 9th of October 1918. Source of this record can be found in the London Gazette and the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.
For bold, decisive action near Dumar on the 30th September 1918 whilst in charge of the vanguard. Having located a large column of enemy with transport moving NW along the Beirut road and not withstanding heavy enemy machinegun fire, he disposed his squadron so as to bring fire to bear so effectively that the road was soon blocked with the dead and the transports, thus enabling the complete surrender of the column, which ultimately took place. Again on the 2nd of October 1918 by bold leading after being ordered to seize Khan Ayash he succeeded in heading off the enemy just as they were mounting a machinegun in the Khan.
Sincere thanks to Brian Bleechmore (son of Clive) and Debbie Woods (Biographer and family member) for contributing this insight to the life of Major Clive Bleechmore.
