On this day in 1915: bench and bar pay tribute to Colonel MacLaurin

05/05/2015

On 5 May 1915 there was a special gathering of judges and the legal profession in the Banco Court, where eloquent tributes were paid to the memory of Colonel MacLaurin, the commander of the New South Wales First Brigade, who was killed in action on Gallipoli, 27 April. He was a well-known member of the Now South Wales Bar. The bench consisted of Chief Justice Sir William Cullen and justices Pring, Street, Sly, Gordon, Ferguson, and Harvey. Among the barristers and solicitors in attendance were many who would enlist for war and some who would lose relatives. Justices Street and Ferguson would both later lose a son each as would Justice Simpson who gave his tribute to MacLaurin in Equity Court on the same day.

Chief Justice Sir William Cullen said:

Before proceeding with the business of the day I wish to make, some reference to the news just received of the death of Colonel Henry Normand MacLaurin, who for the last eleven years has been a member of the Bar of this State. He won a high place in the esteem of this community, and he worthily upheld the honorable name bequeathed to him by his distinguished father, Sir Normand McLaurin. No success or prosperity he might have won in this country had his life been spared could have gained for him a higher place in the affection and esteem of his countrymen than, his devotion to duty, and the last best gift a bravo man can give to his country - his life - at this most critical juncture in her affairs. The country itself sustains a loss when the life of an upright, brave, determined man is cut short at the beginning of a promising career. The nation, too, suffers a loss of the brilliant military services that might have been expected of him had he been spared after his promising beginning. To his friends, as to the friends of all those who have fallen in this conflict, I can only say in the words of the Illustrious Athenian over two thousand years ago: 'We offer not condolence, but consolation." We can take joy with them in the thought that his renown and the renown of all those who have served in this splendid service to the country and the nation is something which no subsequent event in this world can ever tarnish or blot out."

Both the chief justice’s sons served on Gallipoli and on the Western Front. Further tributes to McLaurin were made in the Bar Council, the Law Institute as well as courts and chambers across the city. There was a special service in his memory on 7 May in St Stephen’s Church in Phillip Street. His death was keenly felt.

There were many other members of the legal community on Gallipoli, including Edward Parnell ("Ted") Kinsella, later a judge of both the District Court and the Supreme Court, went ashore on 25 April 1915 and served there until the final day of the evacuation. It is intended that all these men and others in the legal community who contributed to the war effort will be commemorated. Anyone interested in the topic or with information to impart is invited to contact the researcher, Tony Cunneen: acunneen@bigpond.net.au