PRICE, Columbus Leigh OBE 1886-1948)
Modified on Tue, 20 Sep 2016 11:31 by Con — Categorized as: Biography - All, Biography - Students, Geelong College, Biography of War - World War I
PRICE, Columbus Leigh OBE 1886-1948)
Columbus Leigh Price was born on 16 August 1886, the son of John Evan Price and Martha nee Phillips. He was enrolled by Mrs J E Price at Geelong College in 1900. His enrolment address was Fyansford Post Office, Fyansford.
He was commissioned in the 11th Light Horse on 27 March 1911, transferred to the 29th Light Horse (Militia) on 1 July 1912, before finally enlisting in the AIF in 1914. He left Australia on 19 October 1914 on
HMAT A18 Wiltshire
as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th Light Horse (A Squadron). He was later promoted Captain.
David Holloway wrote of his service in 'Hooves, Wheels and Tracks':
‘On the same day (8th March 1915) Lt Price went to Alexandria, there to act as Landing Officer. He was Mentioned in Despatches three times, gazetted on 21th June 1916 (General J G Maxwell), on 6th July 1917 (General Sir Archibald Murray), and on 12th January 1920 (Sir Douglas Haig), and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division), gazetted on 12th December 1919.'
The
Geelong Advertiser
noted in December 1915 that:
'Lieut C L Price of 4th Light Horse, has been seconded for embarkation staff duty at Egypt.'
The
Pegasus
of May 1918 reported, 'He was in full charge of Embarkation and Transport at Port Said'.
His brothers, Sidney Evan Price (1874-1945),
Alfred John Price (1876-1946)
, Herbert Philip Price (1875-1949), Henry Richard Price (1878-1951), David Walter Price (1880-1934), and
Frank Heath Price (1893-1979)
, were also educated at Geelong College.
Sources: Geelong Advertiser 4 December 1915 p2; Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. p 285 (citing David Holloway, Hooves, Wheels and Tracks: A History of the 4/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse Regiment and its predecessors; The Pegasus; National Archives).