Geoffrey Lemprière, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetGeoffrey Lemprière
Australian prisoner of war
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia
About Geoffrey Lemprière
- Geoffrey Raoul Lemprière (3 May 1904 – 20 March 1977) was an Australian woolbuyer and soldier. He was born at Elsternwick, the eldest son of woolbroker Audley Raoul Lemprière and Adelaide Maude, née Greene.
- He attended Grange Hill Open Air School in Sandringham and Geelong Grammar School before studying in Switzerland at L'Ecole de Commerce in Neuchâtel.
- After a period in Europe he returned to Australia and was elected a director of his father's firm, A.
- R.
- Lemprière Pty Ltd, when the latter died in 1931.
- He was based in Belgium during this period, but returned to Australia when World War II broke out.
- After twelve months in the Australian Imperial Force he transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force in July 1941 and was posted to Rabaul.
- During the evacuation of New Britain he was captured by the Japanese and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Japan; he was mentioned in despatches for his conduct as a prisoner of war.He resumed his old position after the war, but retired in 1955.
- After a period on the Australian trade mission to India, he settled in Tasmania and became state president of the Liberal Party, serving on its federal executive from 1961 to 1965.
- Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1969, Lemprière died at Shearwater in 1977.
- He never married.
- His brothers William and Peter were also well-known woolbuyers.
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