ANZAC Stories - The Kerswell family

War destroys so much. For the non-combatants in the area their lives and livelihoods are turned to rubble and dust, they suffer harshly for the hell visited upon them. The soldiers, ordered there by men and women who sit worlds away in secluded comfort, their lives are ended or forever altered. And then there are those back home - family, sweethearts, friends, colleagues, even the bus driver or the person at the corner shop who said hello every morning. War tears through them all.

These are never stories of one person only. As John Donne wrote, "no man is an island, entire of itself". Each life comes with many other lives entwined.

The Kerswell family lived in Burragorang Valley, that fertile farming haven now deep below the waters of the Warragamba Dam. Henry (or Harry, as he was known) was the eldest child of Elizabeth Kerswell, and stepson to her husband George Pearce. He was born in the Valley in November 1869 and grew up on the family farm on the Cox's River. He married Sabina Tollhurst and together they raised a family, first in the Megalong Valley and then back at Cox's River. They had six children:

Arthur Leicester Kerswell (b. 1896), John Lewis (Jack) Kerswell (b. 1897), Thomas Henry (Tom) Kerswell (b. 1900), Eleanor Ruth (Poppy) Kerswell (b. 1903), Owen George (Dick) Kerswell (b. 1906) and Olive Annie Kerswell (b. 1909).

The Kerswells, like most people, worked hard. They ran the farm and the post office and operated a mail run by pack horse. Harry also transported his goods and those of his neighbours to Camden and brought back supplies with his horse and waggon. They had good neighbours around, many of whom were family - the Pearces, Shoobridges, Maxwells and Clarkes, to name but a few.

Then one day, on the other side of the world a bullet struck a man, an Arch-duke, and the world shifted. It took a while for that shockwave to hit the Valley, but hit it did. The young men of the Valley began to sign up. Arthur, the eldest of Harry and Sabina's children, went to Camden to join up, but was turned down as unfit. He gave it up for a bit, but then his brother, John Lewis Kerswell, got in, and Arthur tried again. On 12 October 1916, Arthur Leicester Kerswell joined the Anzac Mounted Division, signing up at the Sydney Show Ground. He was a Private, no. 1608 and answered no to "Have you ever been rejected as unfit for His Majesty's Service?"

Arthur was a farmer, 20 years and 9 months of age and 6 feet tall. He weighed 10st 4 lb and his chest measured 32 35 1/2 inches, his complexion unreadable, eyes brown, hair brown, denomination C of E. Arthur had a number of scars - an appendix scar, a supiapubic scar and a large scar on the rear of his left leg. The doctor declared him fit but noted that he had had an appendix operation 12 months before (perhaps why he failed the first medical?) and wrote something indecipherable about Arthur's wrist.

Along with his mates, Arthur was but aboard the Bakara on 4 November 1916 and disembarked at Suez exactly one month later. He was promptly put in the Isolation Camp at Moascar. If there was an outbreak of illness on board a ship, such as measles or flu, it was not unusual to put everyone in isolation on arrival to prevent further spread. Arthur was discharged on 14 December 1916.

It was straight into action then with the Battle of Magdhaba. This was an assault on an Ottoman garrison in the Sinai Desert. There was little water and supply lines were still under construction. On 20 December Allied forces reached El Arish, only to find that the Ottomans had retreated to Magdhaba, a village about 8kms away, with a network of trenches and well-camouflaged redoubts or forts. The ANZAC Mounted Division was noted for its tactic of riding up and then dismounting to fight hand to hand. Magdhaba was taken on 23 December 1916. It took six more days to get the wounded out and heading back to Suez.

There was a reorganisation making the ANZAC Mounted Division part of the Desert Column under the command of Lieutenant General Philip Chetwode. On 9 January 1917 they were out again, this time attacking Rafa. Once more the Turkish army was defeated, despite no reserve ammunition and Chetwode insisting that all wheeled vehicles remain behind.

Map of the Battle of Rafa, Powles, C. Guy (1922). The New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine Volume III Official History New Zealand's Effort in the Great War. Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington: Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd, pp. 80–81

Arthur was readmitted to Moascar Hospital on 20 January 1917. His records merely say "sick", but on 2 February he was sent to Abbassia with bronchitis, where he stayed until 13 March. He joined the 1st Light Horse Training Regiment on 17 March. This regiment used recuperating men to train new recruits. It was a good strategy, enabling men to get better while still being of use to the army, but it didn't initailly work for Arthur. He was back in hospital on 26 April with measles, this time at the 26 Stat Hospital in Ismailia. He was not discharged until 8 May 1917, when he went back in to the Training Regiment at Moascar.

On 27 May, 1917 Arthur was transferred to the 1st Field Squadron Engineers to be trained as a sapper. Wikipedia explains this well:

A combat engineer, also called pioneer or sapper in many armies, is a soldier who performs a variety of construction and demolition tasks under combat conditions. Such tasks typically include constructing and breaching trenches, tank traps and other fortifications, bunker construction, bridge and road construction or destruction, laying or clearing land mines, and other physical work in the battlefield. More generally, the combat engineer's goals involve facilitating movement and support of friendly forces while impeding that of the enemy.

That's Arthur, but then there was John. John had joined up first, on 11 January 1916. he was a farm labourer and listed his dad as his next of kin. Harry and Sabina had both written letters giving John permission to join. John was 18 years and 3 months, 5 feet 11 3/4 inches and 9 stone exactly. His chest was 32 34 1/2 inches, complexion fair, eyes hazel and hair brown. He gave his religious denomination as C of E. There were no distinguishing marks and he was declared fit for service, although the doctor noted "Conditional teeth". He was no. 5058 and assigned to the 13th Reinforcements 18th Battalion at the Victoria Barracks in Sydney.

John sailed out of Sydney aboard the Kyarra on 3 June 1916 and arrived in Plymouth on 5 August, 1916. The men of the 13th Reinforcements 18th Battalion put out a magazine while on board, "The Pink Un", three issues of which are in the War Memorial Library. It contains "Humour, verse and stories for the soldiers aboard the troopship Kyarra".

Upon disembarkation John was assigned to the 5th Training Battalion and then on 29 September 1916 to the 33rd Battalion. He sailed out of Southampton on 21 November 1916, bound for France. The Battalion sat through an appalling winter and John was admitted to hospital at the end of January with severe muscle pain. He was discharged to duty on 11 February and rejoined his unit on 14 February 1917. The Battalion continued to wait, serving in the trenches along the Western Front, but not seeing a lot of action. And then the order came. The Battalion was to join the attack on Messines as part of the 3rd Division.

The attack was set for 7 June 1917, beginning at 3.10 am. The 3rd Division had already come under gas attack at Ploegsteert Wood and were having to regroup. Some time between 3 and 5 am the 3rd dug in near the Douve River. German counterattacks were driven back. John Lewis Kerswell fell during this time. According to his file he was buried about 1 mile south of Messines, between an old front line and a tramway track (tramways were rails put down for hauling ammunition on hand carts).

There is a commemorative cross in the Strand Military Cemetery in Ploegsteert Wood - Plot 7, Row A, Grave 43, but the note in John's file says "Actual grave[s] unknown". Two letters sent to the family do not make the situation clearer. One, from Lieutenant Colonly Leslie J. Morshead, John's CO, says "His body was buried in this Battalion's Cemetery in Ploegsturt Wood and his grave has been registered by the Graves Registration Unit". The other letter, from the 33rd Battalion Chaplain, George S. Richmond says "Your boy fell bravely fighting the great battle of Messines Ridge on 7th June near to where he lies buried".

Memorial stone for John Lewis Kerswell, Strand Military Cemetery

I don't know when Arthur was informed of his brother's death. He remained in the Middle East with the 1st Field Squadron for the duration of the war. Once the Sinai had been captured, Allied forces moved on to Palestine. I haven't yet ascertained what battles Arthur took part in, but his health took a turn for the better. He was not admitted to hospital again, and the next entry on his record, following his transfer to the Engineers is "To embark HT Malta at KANTARA for Australia 8.7.19" He arrived home in the Burragorang Valley on 13 August and was discharged on 18 September 1919.

But the war was not finished with the Kerswell family. When Arthur came home he brought something else with him, Spanish flu. His mother died exactly one week after his return, and then his little brother fell ill. Owen George Kerswell, known as Dick, was almost thirteen. Owen Pearce writes in "Rabbit Hot Rabbit Cold"

"After his mother's death he must have known that he was going to follow her, for he said "I only hope that I can last until Tuesday and I will be thirteen years old." He did, and died on his thirteenth birthday." Dick and Sabina were buried at Lagoon Flats.

Harry and Poppy raised little Olive and when the girls were married Harry sold the farm and spent his life moving from one relative to the next, working hard all the while. He died in Liverpool on 30 August 1964, at almost 90 years of age.

Arthur went to Queensland to work after the war, and married Myrtle Stevens. He and Myrtle eventually returned to NSW. Arthur died in 1969 in Port Kembla Hospital and is buried at Shell Harbour.

The heartache caused to this family by World War I was cruel, but unfortunately not unusual. First there were the notifications of Arthur's illnesses. Measles doesn't sound so bad now we have immunisation, but back then it could be a killer. How worried must Harry and Sabina have been for their boy so far away? And then came the death of John, the son to whom they had both consented to join the army, followed by two years of tense waiting for Arthur's return. How joyful must his homecoming have been, here he was safe, unhurt, seemingly healthy. And that last, cruellest of strokes in the deaths of Sabina and Dick.

That gunshot that killed the Arch Duke killed so many other people because leaders and politicians decided to rattle their sabres rather than sort their differences, because pride and conquest were more important than human lives, because generals thought that throwing young men into the paths of guns and shells was a valid tactic. If any of these "decision makers" were required to be the first in the fight, would the outcome have been different? Would the Kerswells and so many others like them have been spared these horrors?

ANZAC Stories - The Lincoln Brothers

Frederick Francis Cameron Lincoln and David Spence Lincoln were brothers from Balmain in New South Wales. Their parents were Frederick Andrew Lincoln and Annie Craig Spence. Annie's great grandfather, James Slater, had been one of the early residents of Balmain.

Frederick and David had five older sisters, Mary Isabel, Violet Grace, Angela, Dorothy Irene and Edith Leila, and one younger brother, George Oscar - a big family by today's standards and all close together in age, a common pattern for the time.

Frederick was born in August of 1896 and David the following year, with little George coming along two years later. It is easy to imagine, with so many older sisters, that the boys were close companions.

On leaving school Frederick and David both got apprenticeships, Frederick at the Railway Carriage Workshops and David as a boilermaker at Mort's Docks. The family were living at 93 Mort Street, Balmain, next to the Star Hotel and practically on the doorstep of the Docks, so David didn't have far to go to work each morning. Both boys were still in their apprenticeships when they each signed up.

Frederick was first. He enlisted on 9 February 1915 and gave his father as his next-of-kin. He was 18 years and six months old and had transferred from the Militia. He was unmarried. Frederick took his oath on 12 February at Liverpool.

He was not a big lad, 5 foot and some inches (it is not clear on his papers, but may be 4) and 118 pounds, which is about 8 stone 4 lb. Chest measurements, 33 35 1/2 inches. Frederick's complexion was fair, his eyes blue and his hair brown. He gave his denomination as C of E. Under Distinctive Marks has been written "see Dentist". The Medical Officer declared him fit for active service.

Frederick started in the 19th Battalion, rank of Private, No. 597. The Battalion trained at Liverpool and then embarked on HMAT Ceramic on 25 June 1915, sailing down to Melbourne and thence to Egypt. I don't know how long they were there, can't have been long as on 21 August, 1915, the boys of the 19th arrived in ANZAC Cove and joined the attack on Hill 60. This was another in a long list of strange orders from British command - take this particular place, at all costs, because we know you can do it. Casualties were high. Hill 60 remained in Turkish hands. On 18 September 1915, the 19th was assigned to defend Popes Hill, which they defended until evacuation to Egypt on 19 December, 1915. Frederick had had his baptism of fire.

While in Egypt, the 19th took part in the defence of the Suez Canal, but Frederick clearly was getting up to other things as well. On 17 March, 1916, Frederick was admitted to and then transferred from the Isolation Hospital at Moascar to the Dentention Hospital in Abbassia, suffering from Gonorrhoea. After treatment he was discharged on 29 May 1916 to Tel El Kebir, at the time a training camp for the AIF.

Courtyard of the Abbassia Hospital, George Lambert, Australian War Memorial Collection. Patients are dressed in blue trousers and white shirts.

On 1 June 1916, Frederick Francis Cameron Lincoln was transferred to the 14th Battalion as part of a reorganisation of the 19th. This didn't seem to work well as at the end of the month he was up on charges for 1) refusing to obey an order from an NCO and 2) Insolence, the incidence occurring a week earlier. He was docked 7 days' pay. Fred was back in Hospital again on 13 July, 1916 with an acute ear infection but was discharged two days later. His records claim that the ear infection invalided him to England, but also that he was treated in and discharged to Tel el Kebir. I need to do more work to see what really happened. At any rate, Frederick embarked for Marseilles on 10 August 1916 but was in England by September 1916, as evidenced by his charge sheet:

24 September 1916 Offence 1) Absent from Church parade 24-9-16 Awards Forfeits 2 days pay, Rollestone.

Rollestone is an army camp in Wiltshire, and Fred was there for some weeks:

AIF hdqrts CRIME Rollestone. Absent without leave from 0600.22/10/16 till 0800.24/10/16. AWARD. 14 days C C by Capt WRC Robertson. 25.10.16 7 days pay
Total Forfeiture 10 days pay.

The Princess Henrietta bore him to France leaving England on 2 November 1916 and arriving in Etaple the following day. He marched to his unit on 16 November 1916 and rejoined the 19th on the 19 November. Fred had missed Pozieres and just missed Flers, a battle that saw 318 men killed and injured out of the 451 who went in to fight.

Frederick saw fierce fighting in France, notably 2nd Bullecourt in May 1917, a failed attempt to break the Hindenburg Line, and Passchendale, which ran from June to November 1917. He had two weeks leave in the middle of the Passchendale conflict, catching his breath in England from 1 to 15 September 1917, then straight back into it for the Battle for Menin Road Ridge.

March 1918 saw Frederick back in Hospital, again for Gonorrhea, this time for fourteen days. He rejoined his Battalion on 11 May. The German Spring Offensive was being repelled and it looked like the Allies really could win the war, but things were not going so well for Private Lincoln. He copped a gas attack on 28 May, was admitted to the Hospital at Etaple on 31 May and declared Wounded in Action on 1 June. He was bad enough to be sent to Norfolk War Hospital on 3 June.

Fred was transferred to the Harefield House Army Hospital on 17 July 1918. Harefield was a stately home that was used as a Hospital throughout the war. Two days later he was sent to Hurdcott, a convalescent hospital in Wiltshire, and there he added to his charge sheet:

Offence Hurdcott 22.8.18 AWL from 6.30am 22.8.18 till 9.30pm 23.8.18 Award 7 dys FP. not by Mjr H. Clayton 28.8.18 Total Ffture 9 days pay.

Next stop was the Sutton Veny Camp Hospital. Many of the patients here died of Spanish flu in 1918 and 1919, to the extent that there is an Australian War Cemetery in the village. Fred still couldn't stay put:

Offence Sutton Very 4.10.18 AWL from 2359 4.10.18 till 2120 9.10.18
Award 12 days FP not by Mjr Clayton 11.10.18
Total Ffture 17 days pay.

He was finally sent home to Australia aboard the Burma on 30 November 1918.

So what of David Spence Lincoln?

David lied about his age in order to follow his older brother. NSW BDM gives his birth year as 1897, yet on his enlistment papers he stated that he was 18 years and 10 months old on 30 August 1915. This would put his birth date as Otober 1896, two months after Fred was born. This is, to say the least, unlikely.

David Spence Lincoln, no. 3710, was assigned to the 8th Reinforcement, 18th Battalion. He listed his previous military experience as 30th area (1 month) and Senior Cadets (4 years). David was bigger than his brother, 5 feet 8 1/4 inches and 9 stone 2lbs, chest 33 35 inches, complexion grey, eyes grey, hair light brown, denomination C of E. He had two vaccination marks on his left arm and a healing wound on his left heel. He was fit for duty. He gave his address as 89 Mort Street, Balmain. Since Frederick's leaving, the family had moved to the other side of the Star Hotel.

The HAMT Aeneas left Sydney on 20 December 1915, with David and other members of the 18th aboard. The Aeneas was a cruise ship leased to the Commonwealth as a troop transport. Like his brother, David was sent to Egypt for additional training. Unlike Fred, David didn't get up to mischief, or wasn't caught if he did. The two brothers were in Egypt at the same time. I hope they met up and spent time together, between Frederick's bouts in hospital.

On 18 March 1916, David and his Battalion sailed out of Alexandria, landing in Marseilles on 25 March.  They were sent straight to the front and were engaging the Germans by the night of the 26th. Then came Pozieres. Beginning in mid July, Pozieres ran for about four weeks. David made a will on 22 July, leaving everything to his father. It was witnessed by George Sutherland of the 18th and William Sutherland of the 7th. The fighting continued apace. Under heavy fire and gas attack, the Allies managed to take the German trenches, but with great loss of life and at the cost of many men wounded. The landscape had been reduced to a series of craters, making it difficult to work out where trench lines ran. By 23 July a sizable part of the village had been taken and a number of German soldiers captured.

Having lost ground, the Germans were determined to win it back and began to bombard the occupying troops, among them the 18th Battalion. Mad orders from panicked generals saw ill-timed attacks in poor visibility, men ordered into machine-gun fire or into wire which, though thought to be cut, was still very much intact. Haig laid the blame for failure squarely at the feet of the Australians.

So it was planned to attack the main ridge at dusk, and the work began digging trenches for assembly. Each time a trench was completed, it was bombed out of recognition. The attack, due for 2 August, was postponed to the 3rd and then to the 4th, when the Australians managed to take the ridge. But they paid dearly for this victory. Sometime during this assault, David Spence Lincoln was killed.
 His Battalion was then withdrawn over the space of the next three days, under constant heavy fire, including from the rear.

A telegram was sent to Rev. Stanley Best in Balmain, who informed David's family. David's life insurance company was sent a certificate of report of death on 11 December 1916, but by the end of the month his mother still had not received a copy nor word of his belongings. She was particularly anxious for his watch, which she had given him, and a silver cigarette case.

On 11 April 1917 Annie wrote again "The effects are just a few trifling little things, amongst them being a wrist watch & a presentation silver cigarette case. I am sorry to trouble you but they are of value to me". And in May a package did arrive at 89 Mort Street, bu with no watch, no cigarette case.

A letter left Mort Street the following day "I cannot sign the receipt as not one article ever belonged to my deceased son... the name you sent with the outfits F. H. CALDWELL perhaps that will help a little as I daresay the poor lad's mother or relatives would like to have his effects". She also gave a full description of what she thought David should have:

"a wrist watch inscribed Dave Lincoln from Mother, a silver Cigarette case inscribed presented to Dave Lincoln from his fellow Apprentices at Woolwich, a wallet & a carved pearl handled pen knife with silver blade (for peeling fruit)"

Annie was asked to return the items (she had asked for Mrs. Caldwell's address to deliver the package herself) and the hunt for David's belongings continued.

Finally, on 2 June 1917, a package turned up containing David's effects - an identity disc, a wallet (damaged), photos, cards, letters. No watch, no cigarette case, no pen knife. These were personal items and most likely with David when he died, buried with him where he fell, or blown apart along with his body. Annie signed the receipt and wrote a letter to Major Lean and his staff at the Base Records Office, thanking them for the trouble they had taken. She had to accept that these small items "of value to me" were, like her boy, gone.

David's body was never found and his name is recorded on the Memorial at Villers-Brettoneux Military Cemetery and on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour.

Villers Brettoneux Military Cemetery and Memorial

In 1920 Frederick Francis Cameron Lincoln married Violet May Waller. They went on to have a sizable family: Frederick, Katherine, Patricia, Violet, Lena, David, Joyce, Francis and Mavis. The family lived in 89 Mort Street, Balmain, the house Fred's family had moved into after he signed up back in 1915.

He died on 2 March 1954, aged 57, at Sydney Hospital and was cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium on 4 March 1954. Frederick's funeral notice states "late of 19th batt., 1st AIF" He remained proud of his service, but 57 is not that old to shuffle off one's mortal coil. Was this a result of the gas attack back in 1918?

David and Frederick's service records can be found online at the National Archives. Follow the links and then click on "view digital copy" if you want to see the documents.

ANZAC Stories - Stanley Archer O'Toole

Stanley Archer O'Toole was born in Balmain, NSW in 1889, the eldest son of Archer O'Toole and Gertrude Margaret Robinson. Archer was a journalist who had begun on the Sydney Morning Herald and had been the editor of the Balmain Leader. Stanley was followed by Clarice, Hermoine and Keith. When Stanley was ten, the family moved to Teneriffe in Queensland, where his father opened a tobacconist's and stationer's shop. In 1906 the family moved again, this time to Rockhampton. Archer and Stanley went to work in a printer's. They were typesetters. They then both worked for the Daily Record newspaper, Archer as a journalist and Stanley as a mechanic. Archer later worked on the Evening News and the Morning Bulletin.

Rockhampton had a rifle club and Stanley was a keen member for three and a half years, taking part in competitions. His name frequently appeared in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin when the results were posted. In 1913 Stanley and his team from the Rockhampton Rifle Club won gold in the Robinson Challenge Shield.

Morning Bulletin 28 June 1913 p6

He must have felt well prepared when war came.

Stanley joined up on 26 August 1915, entering the 9th ReInforcements of the 25th Battalion of the AIF (Australia Imperial Force) as a private, no. 3884. His next of kin on his form was his mother, Gertrude O'Toole of 100 Kent Street, Rockhampton. He listed under previous military service his three and a half years with the Rifle Club.

Enlistment papers give a physical description of the applicant on page 3, along with the medical examination. Stanley was described as 26 years and 0 months, 5 feet 11 3/4 inches, 10st 6lbs, his chest was 36 7/9 inches, complexion dark, eyes brown, hair dark and religious denomination was given as C of E. He had a scar on his right forearm and he was declared fit for active service.

A few weeks after he joined up, Stanley's colleagues in the Typographical Society made a presentation to him as a means of congratulation on enlisting.

Morning Bulletin, 22 November 1915 p7

The telling part of this little article is for me the last paragraph. Amidst all the congratulations of gallant young men off to war is a report of a cablegram "Driver W. R. Lude suffering from gas poisoning".

On 31 January 1916, Stanley boarded the HMAT Wandilla at Brisbane. He sailed to Egypt and was transferred to the 49th Battalion on 2 April 1916 at Heliopolis. On 8 April he joined the Battalion at Serapeum. About half the Battalion were Gallipoli veterans and the rest raw recruits like Private O'Toole. There are poems and letters in the newspapers about Serapeum, complaints of heat and dust and the stink of the Suez Canal. A commanding officer of the 15th Brigade threatened to shoot any man he found drinking from the Canal.

By June the 49th was on the move again, and Stanley was put aboard the Arcadian at Alexandria, arriving in Marseilles on the 12th of June. A week at sea and a journey from the shores of hell into the very realm itself. On 21 June the Battalion moved to the Western Front. How many of the 49th wished a return to the heat and flies and a confrontation with the Turks?

The 49th's first major battle was at Mouquet Farm, known to the Australians as Moo-Cow farm. This was an area about 300 square metres just north of Pozieres. The Australian War Memorial gives the following description:

the site of nine separate attacks by three Australian divisions between 8 August and 3 September 1916. The farm stood in a dominating position on a ridge that extended north-west from the ruined, and much fought over, village of Pozieres. Although the farm buildings themselves were reduced to rubble, strong stone cellars remained below ground which were incorporated into the German defences. The attacks mounted against Mouquet Farm cost the 1st, 2nd and 4th Australian Divisions over 11,000 casualties, and not one succeeded in capturing and holding it. The British advance eventually bypassed Mouquet Farm leaving it an isolated outpost. It fell, inevitably, on 27 September 1916.

Charles Bean, in his official history of WWI, gave over three chapters to the Battles of Mouqet Farm, and there is a reasonably detailed account online at Australians on the Western Front. The whole area around the Farm was so badly shelled that there were no landmarks, just craters. It was easy to get lost and the area turned into a quagmire every time there was rain. Confusion reigned as commanders tried to work out where the lines were and British command refused to listen to Australian advice about the futility of the exercise. The Germans were well dug in, with underground bunkers and the Australians were always in view of the ridges. They were frequently shelled on three sides as they sought to advance. Percy Nuttall's first hand account can be found at Australians at War.

Nuttall wrote of the day Stanley was reported wounded in action, 14 August 1916:

"Rain and mud galore. No sleep, little drink and nothing to eat. Wounded craving for a drink, but not many casualties until 3pm when Fritz turned his artillery on and he did stir us up and wrecked our trenches. My platoon, who I was in charge of, lost heavily and about 5 o'clock 12 Platoon was handed over to me 16 strong. They having only 1 NCO, 1 L/Cpl left. W Riches and Musgrave were sent to hold a shell hole and are dead. [Someone] told me a shell burst either on or over them. After some persuasion the Major let me go over to see what happened and there I found Riches dead & Musgrave a pitiful sight under Riches, shell shocked and smothered with his mates blood.

About 7pm, orders came that we had to make another advance at 9.30 and dig in between a quarry and Mouquet Farm. Major Herbert wrote back to headquarters that we were not strong enough to undertake the job. They replied it had to be done at all costs. So at the given time we moved out with our 300 men. Headquarters got to know Fritz was going to attack us, and soon as we moved we got full force of their barrage which killed or wounded half our strength. I got one in the ribs, and one half of my body went numb, but I heard the Captain say 'follow on C Company, so I went and took up our position after trying to rally the lads together. When we had dug in about 3 feet, word came that we had to retire as the battalions on our left and right did not join up, which was heart breaking.

I was told to go over to the right flank to take charge. There I went only to find confusion as the lads did not know how far to go, so I called for the bombers and only one responded. So the two of us went down the trench, me with the bayonet and Tom Ryan with the bombs but only ran across a platoon of A Company who were challenged and luckily let in as they came in from 'no man's land'. It proved afterwards they had got lost. We stood to the rest of the night and only Fritz's patrols were seen, but we kept them off at daylight. I was told off to count the battalion, which comprised 156 men and 3 officers unwounded. I was then put on rationing them and the sights I saw is indiscribable. We tried all day to get the wounded back but Fritz's fire delayed operations."

Back in Rockhampton, Archer and Gertrude received a brief cablegram "Regret reported son Private Stanley A. O'Toole wounded Will promptly advise if anything further received. Base Records 16-9-16." The news of Stanley's wounding made the papers.

Morning Bulletin, 20 September, 1916, p6

And the long wait began.

Archer and Gertrude both wrote to the army for more information. What hospital was he in? Had he been evacuated to England? What were the nature and severity of his injuries? Why had they heard nothing?

They sent telegrams. The Editor of the Daily Record wrote, friends wrote, the federal member wrote. Mr. J. W. Parsons of Bancroft Street stated in his own letter that the "suspense is seriously impairing [Gertrude's] health". Miss Dorothy Mirle of the Brisbane Tramways Company wrote that it had been seven weeks since the notice of Wounded in Action and nothing more had been heard. All that came back to each of these letters was an acknowledgement of receipt and "no further report".

Archer finally wrote to the Minister and on 21 November received a letter from a Major in Base Records saying that a cabled message had been sent asking for updates and when something comes back Archer would "be again communicated with". Meanwhile, Admin HQ were listing "No further report" in their memos.

This was the case again on 17 February, 1917 - no further report. But something moved. By the next week the listing was "Wounded and Missing".

On 23 April, 1917, the CO of the 49th Battalion held a Court of Enquiry, which decided that Stanley was more likely "Missing Believed Killed". There was another Court of Enquiry on 31 July, 1917 which changed the verdict to "Killed in Action".

My research has unfortunately revealed that this kind of mistake was not uncommon, and that the wheels ground slowly in finding the probable truth. In the defence of the Army, however, it pays to bear in mind that the four weeks of Mouquet Farm resulted in 23,000 casualties, amongst them 6,800 dead, an unfair number of whom were never found - buried or blown to bits, or just having to be left because of the ferocity of enemy fire. But my heart goes out over the decades to Archer and Gertrude waiting so long to hear of their son and sinking under the weight of the truth they fear and know will be confirmed.

All that was left was to get back Stanley's effects. The package arrived aboard the Barambah and was delivered to Gertrude. It contained a Safety Razor in a case, a periscope and the set of brushes given to Stanley by the Typographical Society.

It is not known where Stanley's remains lie, but his name is on the Australian National Memorial at Villiers-Bretonneux, and on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial.

Australian War Memorial, Roll of Honour

Stanley's full record can be found at the National Archives of Australia. Click on "view digital copy". The Archives have a good collection of service records, all digitised and you can search by name and service number.

ANZAC Stories

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, and I probably should have put up this post last week, but I didn't think of it at the time. Still, better late than never.

Did you know that if you plant Flanders Poppy seeds on ANZAC Day (25 April), they are in flower for Remembrance Day (11 November)? I try to remember to do this each year. I will be a bit late this year as I have only just put in my order for seeds today (doh!), but we should be able to plant them early next week. I order my seeds from the Diggers Club in Victoria. They sell heirloom, heritage and organic seeds and plants and run an excellent mail order service off their site or over the phone. The code for the Poppies is SWPO.

ANZAC Day is very important in Australia (no offence to New Zealanders, but I am not going to pretend to talk for you) - a time to remember the fallen and those who came home and to reflect on the brutality and futility of armed conflict, a time to urge our politicians to do better to avoid war. I often think if they were required to serve on the frontline of every conflict they engaged in or provoked or supported, we may well see a whole lot less of it. Would John Howard and George W. Bush have been so quick to thumb their noses at the UN if they knew they had to be in the first wave into Baghdad?

There is an excellent piece about ANZAC Day written by Mike Carlton in the Sydney Morning Herald last Saturday. It is a fair way in, but scroll down to just past the photo of Wilfred Owen. It is well worth a read for those who missed it.

I am going to put up a few posts about ANZACs in our family. These are ones from my Mum's side, as I am most familiar with them. There are ANZACs on Dad's side and on my husband's, but I need more information to confidently post about them. A goal for next year.

extra credit

Okay, this might seem a little strange, but it is a suggestion from Lisa Alzo's Fearless Females, and I like the idea of the information being in a more accessible format.

So I have put all my Fearless Females posts into a pdf. Some of the photos are probably a bit too low res, so I might end up redoing them. We'll see. In the meantime I have enlarged other things, such as Hannah Maria Rymes' timeline, and Jessie McMullen's Bounty papers and so on.

If you want a copy of the pdf, let me know and I will send it to you.