Lieutenant Colonel Alexander WhitePrint Page

The plaque commemorates Lieutenant Colonel Alexander White who was killed in action at Gallipoli during World War One.

The plaque is laid near a bench in Cole Street which was his last residence. In November 2009 a plaque was also placed in Brighton cemetery to commemorate Lieutenant White who has no known grave.

Commissioned in March 1904, White gained steady promotion and by 1914 was brigade major in the 5th Light Horse Brigade. Transferring to the Australian Imperial Force on 21 September 1914, White was given command of the 8th Light Horse Regiment.

At 4.30 a.m. on 7 August 1915 the 3rd Light Horse Brigade mounted a bayonet assault on the Turkish trenches at The Nek. Seven minutes earlier, due to an error, the preliminary bombardment had ceased, allowing the enemy to prepare for the attack. White led the first of his regiment's two waves, but was shot down a short distance from his trench. Of the 300 officers and soldiers under his command, 153 died with him and 80 were wounded within minutes. The charge has endured as one of the best-known episodes of the Gallipoli Peninsula campaign: it was the subject of a painting by George Lambert and the setting for the finale in the 1981 Australian film, Gallipoli.

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