Arthur Leslie Varley
| Arthur Varley | |
|---|---|
Arthur Varley, then a lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of 2/18th Battalion, waiting to embark for Malaya, 5 February 1941
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| Born |
13 October 1893 Rookwood, Australia |
| Died | 13 September 1944 (aged 50) South China Sea |
| Allegiance | Australia |
| Service/branch | Australian Army |
| Years of service | 1915–1919 1939–1944 |
| Rank | Brigadier |
| Service number | NX35005 |
| Commands held |
A Force (1942–44) 22nd Infantry Brigade (1942) 2/18th Battalion (1940–42) 35th Battalion (1939–40) |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards |
Military Cross & Bar Mentioned in Despatches (2) |
Brigadier Arthur Leslie Varley, MC & Bar (13 October 1893 – 13 September 1944) was an Australian soldier who served in the First and the Second World Wars. He was commander of the 22nd Infantry Brigade during the final stages of the Battle of Singapore in the Second World War. Having surrendered to the Japanese, he was responsible for over 9,000 prisoners of war engaged in the construction of the Burma-Thailand Railway. He is presumed to have been killed in September 1944, shortly after the transport ship taking him and several hundred fellow prisoners to Japan was sunk.
Arthur Varley was born on 13 October 1893 in Rookwood, Sydney. After completing his schooling, he gained employment as a clerk.
At the age of 21, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and was shipped in Egypt in October 1915. He was assigned to 45th Battalion, a unit formed largely from men from New South Wales as the AIF expanded following the Gallipoli Campaign. By August 1916, he had been promoted to lieutenant and was serving with the battalion on the Western Front.
In 1917, Varley was recommended for the Military Cross (MC) by his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Herring, for his actions in June 1917, during the Battle of Messines. On 7 June, he had taken command of two companies in forward positions that had lost all its officers. The following day, he organised and executed a successful counterattack on trenches that had been lost to the Germans. The award of his MC was duly gazetted in August 1917, by which time Varley had been promoted to captain.
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