Burton, Dunstan and Tubb's Biographies

BURTON, ALEXANDER STEWART (1893-1915), soldier, was born on 20 January 1893 at Kyneton, Victoria, son of Alfred Edward Burton, grocer, and his wife Isabella, nee Briggs, both Victorian-born. The family moved to Euroa and, after attending the state school, Burton followed his father into the firm of A. Miller & Co', working in the ironmongery department. He was a chorister in the Euroa Presbyterian Church, a member of the town band, and was active in sport. In 1911 he began his period of compulsory military service. On 18 August 1914 Burton enlisted in the 7th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, and embarked for Egypt in October. On 4 April 1915 his battalion embarked for Lemnos and on the 25th took part in the landing at Anzac. Burton, who was ill with a throat infection, watched the landing from a hospital ship but a week later he was in the trenches. The 7th Battalion was then fighting near 400 Plateau; on 5 May it left Anzac beach to participate in the attack on Krithia, then returned to serve at Monash Valley and Steele's Post. Burton was slightly wounded in action and in July was promoted lance corporal for having volunteered for and taken part in a dangerous operation; he was later promoted corporal.

Burton was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery in the trenches at Lone Pine on 9 August. Early that morning the Turks launched a strong counter-attack on a newly captured trench held by Burton, a personal friend Lieutenant F. H. Tubb, Corporal W. Dunstan [qq.v.] and a few others. The Turks advanced up a sap and blew in the sandbag barricade but Burton, Tubb and Dunstan repulsed them and rebuilt it. Supported by strong bombing parties, the enemy twice more destroyed the barricade but were driven off and the barricade was rebuilt. Burton was killed by a bomb while building up the parapet. Tubb and Dunstan were also awarded the Victoria Cross. Burton's award was gazetted on 15 October and on 28 January 1916 he was mentioned in dispatches.

His kind and manly nature had won him many friends; even before Lone Pine he was frequently mentioned in soldiers' letters for various daring acts. He has no known grave, but his name is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, and by an oak tree and bridge at Euroa. In 1967 his family presented his V.C. to the Australian War Memorial. He was unmarried.

C. E. W. Bean, The story of Anzac, 2 (Syd, 1924); A. Dean and E. W. Gutteridge, The Seventh Battalion, AIF (MeIb, 1933); L. Wigmore (ed), They Dared Mightily (Canb, 1963); London Gazette, 15 Oct1915, 28 Jan 1916; Age, 15 Oct 1915; Western Mail (Perth), 19 Nov 1936.

Source:Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Burton, Alexander Stewart

DUNSTAN, WILLIAM (1895-1957), soldier and newspaper manager, was born on 8 March 1895 at Ballarat East, Victoria, fourth child and third son of William John Dunstan bootmaker, and his wife Henrietta, nee Mitchell. At Golden Point State School he was a very bright pupil. He left school at 15 to join the clerical staff of Snows [q.v.], drapers at Ballarat. He served under the compulsory training scheme as a cadet gaining the cadet rank of captain, Australian Military Forces, and in July 1914 was commissioned lieutenant in the militia with the 70th Infantry (Ballarat Regiment).

On 2 June 1915 Dunstan enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force as a private and a fortnight later embarked for Egypt as an acting sergeant of the 6th Reinforcements of the 7th Battalion. From 5 August he was an acting corporal with the 7th on Gallipoli where four days later he won the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine. Early on 9 August the Turks made a determined counter-attack on a newly captured trench held by Lieutenant F. H. Tubb [q.v.] and ten men. Two men were told to remain on the floor of the trench to catch and throw back enemy bombs or to smother their explosions with overcoats; both were soon mutilated. Tubb, with Corporal Dunstan, Corporal A. S. Burton [q.v.7] and six others, kept firing over the parapet. Several bombs burst simultaneously in the trench killing or wounding five men. Tubb continued to fight, supported only by Dunstan and Burton until a violent explosion blew down the barricade. Tubb drove the Turks off and Dunstan and Burton were rebuilding it when a bomb burst between them, killing Burton and temporarily blinding Dunstan. He was invalided to Australia and discharged on 1 February 1916 having been twice mentioned in dispatches. He then rejoined the Citizen Forces, serving in the rank of lieutenant as area officer, Ballarat, and acting was brigade major, 18th Infantry Brigade. army career concluded when he transferred to the 6th Infantry Battalion in Melbourne in 1921, the unattached list in 1923 and the reserve officers in 1928, retiring as lieutenant.

On 10 June 1916 he was presented with the V.C. by governor-general on the steps of Parliament House, Melbourne. This was the occasion for an outburst of exceptional public fervor. ‘A reserved man disliking fuss’, Dunstan found it a great ordeal. 

On 9 November 1918 he married a Ballarat girl, Marjorie Lillian Steward Carnell, at St Paul's Church of England, Ballarat East. Two sons and a daughter, all of whom served in World War II, were born of this marriage. Dunstan moved to Melbourne to take a position in the Repatriation Department and in 1921 joined the staff of the Herald and Weekly Times Ltd as an accountant under (Sir) Keith Murdoch. He gradually took over the administration of the Herald group as chief accountant, company secretary, and general manager from 1934.

He was a considerate staff manager, conscientious and upright, with a gift for readily making friends in all walks of life. He was allowed a great deal of freedom in the administration of the Herald and was highly regarded in business, judicial and parliamentary circles. He had a particular interest in Australian Newsprint Mills Ltd, the consortium which established Australia's first plant to make newsprint from hardwood at New Norfolk, Tasmania, and was well known to businessmen in England, the United States of America and Canada for his work in the industry.

In 1953 the effect of his war wounds forced his resignation as general manager and he then became a director of the Herald and several other companies. He was a member of the Naval and Military, Australian, Athenaeum, the Royal Melbourne and Metropolitan golf, and the main racing clubs.

Survived by his wife and children, Dunstan died suddenly of coronary vascular disease on 2 March 1957 and was cremated after a funeral service at Christ Church, a South Yarra, attended by over 800 people including seven V.C. winners.

C. E. W. Bean, The story of Anzac, 2 (Syd, 1924); A. Dean and E. W. Gutteridge, The Seventh Battalion, AIF ((Melb, 1933); L. Wigmore (ed), They Dared Mightily (Canb, 1963);  London Gazette, 15 Oct 1915, 28 Jan, 24 Mar 1916; ISMH, 23 Oct 1915; Mufti, Oct 1935; Herald (Melb), 3 Jan 1948, 18 Jan 1951, 9 Dec 1953, 13 Aug 1956, 4, 5 Mar 1957; ReveilleI (Syd), Apr 1957.

Source:Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online edition, Dunstan, William

TUBB, FREDERICK HAROLD (1881-1917), soldier and grazier, was born on 28 November 1881 at Longwood, Victoria, fifth child of Harry Tubb, teacher, and his wife Emma Eliza, nee Abbott, both English born. His father, head teacher at the local school, subsequently took up a selection in the area. Fred obtained his merit certificate and left school to manage the farm; he later worked his own land. He was 5 ft. 5 3/4 ins. (167 cm) tall, an extrovert and a born leader. After volunteer service with the Victorian Mounted Rifles (1900-02) and the Australian Light Horse (1902-11), he joined the 6Oth Battalion, Australian Military Forces, and was commissioned second lieutenant in 1912. He transferred to the 58th Battalion in 1913.

Appointed to the Australian Imperial Force on 24 August 1914 as a second lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, Tubb was promoted lieutenant on 1 February 1915. He reached Gallipoli on 6 July and was gazetted captain on 8 August. On the same day he took over a vital sector of captured trench at Lone Pine, with orders to 'hold it at any cost'. Early on the 9th the Turks launched a furious attack, advancing along a sap which had been barricaded with sandbags. From the parapet, with eight men, Tubb fired at the enemy; two corporals in the trench caught enemy bombs and threw them back or smothered them with greatcoats. Although Tubb was blown from the parapet and the barricade repeatedly wrecked, each time it was rebuilt. He inspired his men, joking and shouting encouragement. A huge explosion blew in the barricade and killed or wounded most of the defenders. Wounded in the arm and scalp, Tubb was left with Corporals A. S. Burton and W. Dunstan [qq.v.7,8]; he led them into action, shooting three Turks with his revolver and providing covering fire while the barricade was rebuilt A bomb burst, killing Burton and temporarily blinding Dunstan. Tubb then obtained additional help, but the Turks did not renew the attack.

Evacuated that evening, Tubb was taken to England to convalesce. For his gallantry at Lone Pine he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

An emergency appendicectomy left him with an incision hernia and he was invalided to Australia; he arrived home in April 1916 to a hero's welcome. Having persuaded an AIF medical board that he was fit, he rejoined his battalion in France in December and was promoted major on 17 February 1917. His company had an important role in the Menin Road attack, 3rd battle of Ypres, on 20 September. Before the battle he was troubled by his hernia, yet refused to he evacuated. With dash and courage he led his company to its objective, but was hit by a sniper; while being taken out on a stretcher, he was mortally wounded by shell-fire. Tubb was buried in the Lijessenthoek military cemetery, Belgium, and is commemorated by Tubb Hill, Longwood, and a memorial tree in the Avenue of Honour, Euroa, Victoria. His V.C. is on display in the Hall of Valour, Australian War Memorial, Canberra. Three of his brothers, Arthur Oswald (lieutenant, 60th Battalion), Frank Reid, M.C. (captain, 7th Battalion) and Alfred Charles, a signaller, also served in the AIF

C. E. W. Bean, The story of Anzac, 2 (Syd, 1924) and The AIF in France, 1917 (Syd, 1933); A. Dean and E. W. Gutteridge, The Seventh Battalion, AIF (MeIb, 1933); L. Wigmore (ed), They Dared Migitily, second ed revised and condensed by J. Williams and A. Staunton (Canb, 1986); London Gazette, 15 Oct 1915; Euroa Advertiser, 4 Sept 1914; Euroa Gazette, 1 Sept 1915; Tubb personal diaries (held by author, Brighton, Melb); personal information.

Source:Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online edition, Tubb, Frederick Harold

John Hamilton's Biography

HAMILTON, JOHN (1896-1961), soldier and wharf laborer, was born on 24 January 1896 at Orange, New South Wales, son of William Hamilton, butcher, and his wife Catherine, nee Fox. Nothing is known of his schooling but he described himself as a butcher when he enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force on 15 September 1914; he had had prior service in the militia. He was posted to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, and embarked from Sydney in October. After training in Egypt his battalion sailed for Gallipoli and took part in the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915. A month later he was evacuated with influenza and did not resume duty until 2 June.

At 4 a.m. on 9 August, during the battle of Lone Pine, the Turks launched a bomb attack followed by a violent general assault with intense rifle and machine-gun fire. Near Sasse's Sap the 3rd Battalion counter attacked and drove them back but soon afterwards Turkish soldiers again streamed down the sap. Lieutenant Owen Howell-Price [q.v.], adjutant of the 3rd Battalion, ordered several men, including Hamilton, to scramble onto the parapet and fire on the enemy in the trenches while he confronted those advancing along the sap. Exposed to intense fire and protected only by a few sandbags, Hamilton lay out in the open for six hours telling those in the trenches where to throw their bombs while he kept up constant sniper fire. A dangerous assault was thus halted. For his 'coolness and daring example' he received the Victoria Cross, the only one awarded to his unit during the war. The 3rd Battalion was decimated at Lone Pine but, after reorganization in Egypt, left for France in March 1916 and went into the line at Armentieres. Hamilton was promoted corporal on 3 May and fought at Pozieres in July, Mouquet Farm in August and Flers in November. He was promoted sergeant in May 1917 and that year his battalion served at Bullecourt, Menin Road and Broodseinde.

On 5 July 1918 Hamilton was posted to No.5 Officer Cadet Battalion at Cambridge, England; he was commissioned second lieutenant in January 1919 and promoted lieutenant next April. He rejoined a much-depleted 3rd Battalion in France late that month and returned to Australia in August. His AIF appointment ended on 12 September. After demobilization he lived at Tempe, Sydney, and was a wharf labourer for over thirty years; he also worked as a shipping clerk, storeman and packer. He was an active member of the Waterside Federation and was Labor nominee for the position of Sydney branch secretary in 1952. During World War II he served as a lieutenant with the 16th Garrison Battalion and several training battalions. In 1942 he went to New Guinea with the 3rd Pioneer Battalion, then served with Australian Labour Employment Companies until 1944 when he transferred to the Australian Army Labour Service. He was promoted captain in the Australian Military Forces in October 1944. He returned to Sydney in April 1946.

Hamilton died of cerebro-vascular disease in the Repatriation General Concord, Sydney, on 27 February 1961 and was buried in Woronora cemetery. He was survived by his wife and one son.

C. E. W. Bean, The story of Anzacs (Syd, 1924), and The A.I.F, in France, 1916-17(Syd, 1929, 1933); E. Wren, Randwick to Hargicourt …, 3rd Battalion, AIF (Syd, 1953); L. Wigmore (ed), They dared mightily (Canb, 1963); London Gazette, 15 Oct 1915; Reveille, Dec 1930; SMH, 1, 6, 7 July 1952, 19 May 1956, 28 Feb 1961; recpreds (AWM)

Source:Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online edition, Hamilton, John

Leonard Keysor's Biography

KEYSOR, LEONARD MAURICE (1885-1951), soldier and businessman, was born on 3 November 1885 at Maida Vale, London, son of Benjamin Keysor, a Jewish clock importer. The name was sometimes spelt Keyzor. After education at Tonnleigh Castle, Ramsgate, Keysor spent ten years in Canada. He migrated to Sydney, where he found employment as a clerk, about three months before the outbreak of World War I. On 18 August 1914 he enlisted in the 1st Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, and embarked for Egypt on 18 October.

Keysor landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and was promoted lance corporal on 20 June. His deeds during the second (and last) great effort to take the peninsula are among the most spectacular individual feats of the war.

At 5.30 p.m. on 6 August the 1st Australian Infantry Bridge launched a diversionary attack at Lone Pine and by nightfall had seized the Turkish; but bitter fighting with bayonets and bombs continued for three days and nights as the Turks retaliated. Keysor, a master of bomb throwing, scorned danger. As Turkish bombs lobbed into his trench he would leap forward and smother the explosions with sandbags or coat. If time allowed he would throw the bomb back; he caught several in flight and smartly returned them as though playing cricket. Twice wounded, he nevertheless maintained his efforts for fifty hours. His bravery saved his trench and removed the enemy from a temporarily commanding position. C. E. W, Bean [q.v.7] recorded that 'the battalions of 1st Brigade lost so heavily that few witnesses of its efforts remained. Consequently of the seven Victorian Crosses awarded after this fight, four went to a reinforcing battalion’. Of the other three, one was awarded to Keysor.

After Lone Pine Keysor went to England suffering from enteric fever. Rejoining his battalion in France in March 1916, he took part in the fighting at Pozieres. On 17 November he was transferred to the 42nd Battalion and promoted sergeant on 1 December. Commissioned second lieutenant on 13 January 1917, he was promoted lieutenant in July. He was wounded on 28 March 1918 while fighting on the defensive Mericourt ­Sailly-Le-Sec line and evacuated. Back with his unit, he was again wounded on 26 May in a gas bombardment near Villers­ Bretonneux.

In October 1918 Keysor, an uncompromising advocate of conscription, returned to Australia with other veterans and assisted in the recruiting campaign. Discharged from the army as medically unfit on 12 December, he resumed clerical work but in 1920 he entered business in London. There, on 8 July at the Hill Street Synagogue, he married Gladys Benjamin.

Keysor was persuaded to re-enact his bomb-throwing exploits in a film, For Valour, in 1927, but he was essentially a shy man who shunned publicity. White-haired and deaf when interviewed in the 1940s, he described himself as 'a common-or-garden clock importer' and remarked that 'the war was the only adventure I ever had'. Keysor was rejected for military service in 1939 on medical grounds. He died in London of cancer on 12 October 1951, survived by his wife and daughter, and was cremated after a memorial service at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, St John's Wood. His Victoria Cross is held at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.

L. Wigmore, They dared mightily (Canb, 1963); C. E. W. Bean, The story of Anzac, 2 (Syd, 1924); Sydney Mail, 16 Oct 1918; The Times, 13 Oct 1951; Sun (Syd), 29 July 1977; War diary, 42nd Battalion, AIF 1916-18 (AWM).

Source:Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Keysor, Leonard Maurice

Alfred Shout's Biography

SHOUT, ALFRED JOHN (1881-1915), soldier and carpenter, was born on 7 August 1881 in Wellington, New Zealand, son of London-born John Shout, cook, and his Irish wife Agnes, nee McGovern. In 1900 he joined the New Zealand contingent to the South African War, serving as a sergeant in the Border Horse; he was wounded at least once. In 1903 Shout became a sergeant in the Cape Field Artillery.

With his wife and daughter Shout moved to Australia in 1905, settled at Darlington, Sydney, and worked as a carpenter and joiner. He joined the 29th Infantry Regiment (militia) in 1907 and obtained his commission on 16 June1914. He was well-known in rifle-shooting circles.

On 27 August 1914 Shout joined the Australian Imperial Force and was appointed to the 1st Battalion as a second lieutenant. In Egypt on 1 February 1915 he was promoted lieutenant. The 1st Battalion landed at Gallipoli early on 25 April and suffered terribly by 30 April it had lost 366 officers and men. Shout was in the thick of the fighting. On 27 April he showed conspicuous courage and ability in leading his men in the close, bushy country under very heavy Turkish fire, frequently exposing himself to locate the enemy. Further, he led a bayonet charge. For his actions he was awarded the Military Cross, and was mentioned in dispatches for his work between 25 April and 5 May. He was wounded on 27 April and again on 11 May. On 29 July he was promoted captain.

The AIF attacked at Lone Pine on 6 August; three days of bitter, savage fighting ensued, during which Shout became one of seven Australians to be awarded the Victoria Cross there. During the morning of 9 August he charged down enemy-held trenches and, using bombs, killed eight Turks and routed others. That afternoon, he and Captain Sasse joined forces to clear a part of 'Sasse's sap' of enemy, Shout again using bombs and Sasse his rifle. Both officers were accompanied by men carrying sandbags which were used to make a barricade at each stage of the advance along the sap. Under heavy fire Shout and Sasse pushed the Turks back and then found a position for the last barricade; the enthusiastic Shout, who was laughing and cheering the men on, lit three bombs at once as a prelude to the final dash. The third burst in his hand, blowing it away and shattering one side of his face and body. Despite shocking injuries, he remained cheerful during his evacuation to the rear. He died on a hospital ship two days later and was buried at sea. His V.C. was gazzetted on 15 October.

For his wife Rose Alice, Shout’s death was made the more traumatic by army clerical errors. She was first informed he had died, then that he was wounded and returning to Australia, then, finally, that he had died of wounds. In August 1916 the Returned Soldiers’ Association launched a fund-raising appeal to purchase a home for her and her 11 year-old daughter; housing assistance was also offered by the New South Wales government. In November 1915 a memorial plaque commemorating Shout was unveiled at Darlington Town Hall by the governor-general, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson [q.v.10]. It is now displayed at Victoria Barracks Museum, Paddington.

C. E. W. Bean, The story of Anzacs (Syd, 1921, 1924); B. V. Stacey et al, The history of the 1st Battalion AIF (1914-1919) (Syd, 1931); L. Wigmore (ed), They dared mightily (Canb, 1963), and revised and condensed ed by J. Williams and A. Stauton (Canb, 1986); R. D. williams, World War I: British and foreign orders and decorations to Australia 1915-1922 (Canb, 1983); SMH, 18 Oct, 17, 22 Nov 1915, 5, 9, 14 Sept 1916.

Source:Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Shout, Alfred John

William Symons' Biography

SYMONS, WILLIAM JOHN (1889-1948), soldier and businessman, was horn on 12 July 1889 at Eaglehawk, Victoria, son of William Samson Symons (d. 1904), miner, and his wife Mary Emma, nee Manning. Educated at Eaglehawk State School, in 1906 he moved with his family to Brunswick, Melbourne, and worked as a commercial traveller. He served for eight years in the militia (5th and 6Oth battalions) before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 17 August 1914. Posted to the 7th Battalion as colour sergeant, he embarked for Egypt on 18 October, was promoted acting regimental quartermaster sergeant on 9 April 1915 and landed with his battalion at Gallipoli on 25 April. He was commissioned second lieutenant next day and promoted lieutenant on 2 July.

About 5a.m. on 9 August the Turks made a series of determined attacks on Jacob's Trench at Lone Pine where six Australian officers were killed or severely wounded. Learning that the position had been overrun, Lieut-Colonel H. E. Elliott ordered Symons to retake the trench. 'I don't expect to see you again', he said, 'but we must not lose that post'. Symons led the charge that drove off the Turks, but the enemy continued attacking from the front and both flanks. Symons received Elliott's permission to abandon fifteen yards (13.1 m) of open trench and to establish a new barricade. Although the Turks set fire to the overhead woodwork, Symons extinguished the flames, kept the barricade in place and finally forced the enemy to discontinue their attacks. One of seven Australians to win the Victoria Cross at Lone Pine, Symons was cited for his conspicuous gallantry and received his V.C. from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 4 December.

Retunning to Australia in March 1916, 'Curly' Symons was feted at civic receptions at Bendigo and Brunswick. He re-embarked for the Western Front as a captain commanding a company in the 37th Battalion. Wounded in the 10th Brigade's raid on 27 February 1917, he was subsequently gassed during the battle of Messines, Belgium, on 7 June. He rejoined his unit in January1918 and fought at Dernancourt, France, in March. On 15 August he married Isabel Annie Hockley at St Mary's Church, Hayling Island, Hampshire, England; they left next day for Australia, arriving a month before the Amnistice. His AIF appointment terminated on 7 December.

In 1918 he adopted the surname of Pen Symons. With his family he later settled at Kenton, Hampshire, where he became a director of several engineering and construction companies. He served as a lieut-colonel in the home guard in 1941-44. Survived by his wife and three daughters, he died of a brain tumour on 24 June 1948 in London. His V.C. and medals are in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.

C. E. W. Bean, 1, 2 (Syd 1921, 1924) and the A.I.F in France, 1917-18 (Syd, 1937, 1942);

L. Wigmore (ed), They dared mightily, second ed revised and condensed by. Williams and A. Staunton (Canb, 1986); Sabretache, 23, no 4, Oct/Dec 1982, p 28; Bendigo Advertiser, 18, 21 Oct 1915, 14, 17, 21 July 1982; The Times, 6 Dec 1915,26 June 1948; Argus 23 Mar1916; Canb Times, 4 Oct 1967; Lummis, V.C. and G.C. files (Military Hist Soc, Lond); 7th Battalion, item 2, 1st Aust Division, AWM28 collection 2 (AWM); information from Mr D. Pillinger, Maidenhead, Berkshire, Eng.

Source:Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Symons, William John

Albert Jacka's Biography

JACKA, ALBERT (1893-1932), soldier and merchant, was born on 10 January 1893 at Layard near Winchelsea, Victoria, fourth child of Nathaniel Jacka, a Victorian-born labourer, later a farmer and contractor, and his English wife Elizabeth, nee Kettle. The family moved to Wedderburn when Albert was 5. After elementary schooling, Bert worked as a labourer with his father, then for the Victorian State Forests Department He was a shy youth, hut excelled at sports, especially cycling.  Jacka enlisted on 18 September 1914 as a private in the 14th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, and trained at Broadmeadows  camp. His unit embarked on 22 December and spent two months training in Egypt before landing at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli Peninsula, on 26 April 1915. Early on 19 May the Turks launched a massive counter-attack along practically the entire Anzac line. At about 4 a.m. they rushed Courtney's Post. Amid frenzied fighting some Turks captured a twelve-yard section of trench, one end of which was guarded by Jacka. For several minutes he fired warning shots into the trench wall until reinforce ments arrived and, after shouting his instructions, he and three others sprang out into the trench. All but Jacka were immediately hit so he leapt back into the conmunication trench. A new plan was devised. Two bombs were lobbed at the Turks while Jacka skirted around to attack from the flank. Amid the smoke and the noise he clambered over the parapet, shot five Turks and bayoneted two as the rest hastily retreated. 'I managed to get the beggars, Sir', he reputedly told the first officer to appear. For this action he received the Victoria Cross, the first to be awarded to the A.J.F. in World War I.  Instantly Jacka became a national hero. He received the £500 and gold watch that the prominent Melbourne business and sporting identity John Wren [q.v.J had promised to the first V.C. winner. His image was used on recruiting posters and magazine covers. On 28 August 1915 he was promoted corporal, then rose quickly, becoming a company sergeant major in mid-November, a few weeks before Anzac was evacuated. Back in Egypt he passed through officer training school with high marks and on 29. April 1916 was commissioned second lieutenant.  The 14th Battalion was shipped to France early in June. Jacka's platoon moved into the line near Pozieres on the night of 6-7 August and as dawn broke German troops overran a part of the line. Jacka had just completed reconnaissance and had cone to his dugout when two Germans appeared at its entrance and rolled a bomb down the doorway, killing two men. Jacka charged up the dugout steps, firing as he moved, and came upon a large number of enemy rounding up some forty Australians as prisoners. He rallied his platoon and charged at the enemy, some of whom immediately threw down their rifles. Furious hand-to-hand fighting erupted as the prisoners turned on the captors. Fifty Germans were captured and the line was retaken. Jacka was awarded a Military Cross for his gallantry. C. E. W Bean [q.v.7] described the counter-attack ‘as the most dramatic and effective act of individual audacity in the history of the A.I.F’ The entire platoon was wounded, Jacka was seriously in the neck and shoulder; he was sent to a London hospital. On 8 September London newspapers carried reports of his death but Burt Jacka was far from done for. He had been promoted lietenant on 18 August, rejoined his unit in November and was promoted captain on 15 March 1917 and appointed the 14th Battalion’s intelligence officer.

Earlier on 1917 Germans had retired to the Hindenburg line and on 8 April Jacka led a night reconnaissance party into no man’s land near Bullecourt to inspect enemy defences before an allied attack against the new German line. He penetrated the wire at two places, reported back, then went out again to supervise the laying of tapes to guide the infantry. The work was virtually finished whe two Germans loomed up. Realizing that they would see the tapes, Jacka knew that they must be captured. He pulled his pistol; it misfired, so he rushed on an captured them by hand. Jacka’s quick thinking had saved the Anzac units from discovery and probable disastrous bombardment; for this action he was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross.

Captain Jacka was wounded by a sniper’s bullet near Ploegsteert wood on 8 July and spent nearly two months away from the front. On 26 September he led the 14th Battalion against German pill-boxes at Polygon Wood ad displayed ‘a grasp of tactics, and a military intuition that many had not given him credit for.’ In May 1918 he was badly gassed at Villers-Bretounneux and saw no more action. In September 1919 he embarked for Australia aboard the Euripides. A large crowd, including the governor-general, greeted the ship when it berthed at Melbourne and a convoy of eighty-five cars with Jacka at its head drove to the town hall where men from the 14th Battalion welcomed their famous comrade. He was demobilized in January 1920. Shortly after his return Jacka, R. 0. Roxburgh and E. J. L Edmonds (both former members of the 14th Battalion) established the electrical goods importing and exporting business, Roxburgh, Jacka & Co. Pty lid. Jacka contributed £700 of the firm's paid up capital. The company's other directors were John Wren and his associate 'Dick' Lean, while Wren's brother Arthur held over three-quarters of the company's shares In 1923 the business name was altered to Jacka Edmonds & Co. when Roxburgh withdrew.

On 17 January 1921 at St Mary's Catholic Church, St Kilda, Jacka had married Frances Veronica Carey, a typist from his office. They settled at St Kilda and later adopted a daughter. In September 1929 Jacka was elected to the St Kilda Council and became mayor a year later. He devoted most of his energies on council to assisting the unemployed. His own business flourished until 1929 when the Scullin [q.v.] government increased import tariffs and the company went into voluntary liquidation in September 1930. It was rumoured that the company's difficulties stemmed in part from Wren removing his support after Jacka refused to follow his wishes. Jacka then became a commercial traveller with the Anglo-Dominion Soap Co.

He fell ill, entered Caulfield Military Hospital on 18 December 1931 and died on 17 January 1932 of chronic nephritis. Nearly 6000 people filed past his coffin when it lay in state in Anzac House. The funeral procession, led by over 1000 returned soldiers flanked by thousands of onlookers, made its way to St Kilda cemetery where he was buried with full military honours in the Presbyterian section. Eight Victoria Cross winners were his pallbearers.

At his funeral Bert Jacka was described as 'Australia's greatest frontline soldier'. Few would challenge this assessment Bean and the men of the 14th Battalion ('Jacka's Mob') shared the belief that he had earned three V.C.s. He might have risen higher in the AIF but his blunt, straightforward manner frequently annoyed his superiors. 'He said what he meant, and meant what he said', recalls one friend. As an officer he invariably won respect by his example. It was claimed that he preferred to punch an offender than to place him on a charge. 'His methods could not have been adopted generally in the AIF without disaster', Bean noted. Nevertheless Jacka seemed to epitomize the Anzac creed of mateship, bravery, fairness and an absence of pretentiousness. Many sought to exploit his fame. In 1916 and 1918 he spurned offers from Prime Minister Hughes [q.v.] to return to Australia and assist with recruiting campaigns. His name was also used by (Sir) Keith Murdoch [q.v.] in the 1916 conscription referendum. His father promptly stated publicly that Bert had never declared himself in favour of conscription. The anti-conscriptionists made much of this denial but on balance it seems probable that Jacka did support conscription. His standing remained so high that a memorial plaque and sculpture for his grave was paid for by the public subscription while £1195 was raised towards buying his widow a house. His portrait, by G.J. Coates [q.v.8] is in the Australian War Memorial. Two of his brothers had AIF service.

C.E.W. Bean, The story of Anzac, 2 (Syd, 1924), and The AIF in France, 1916-17 (Syd, 1929, 1933); N. Wanliss, The history of the Fourteenth Battalion AIF (Melb, 1929); E.J Rule, Jacka’s mob (Syd, 1933); L. Wigmore (ed), They dared mightily (Canb, 1963); London Gazette, 23 July 1915, 14 Nov 1916, 15 July 1917; Reveile (Syd), Mar, Apr 1931, Jan 1932, Jan, May 1933, Jan 1939, July 1950; Mufti (Melb), Aug, Spet 1964; City of St Kilda, council minute-books, 1929-32; file 932/6982 (PRO, Vic); R. Cooper and N. Buesst, Jacka, V.C. (documentary film), and film-makers’ notes (lent to author, Monash Univ, Melb); A. Jacka, Biographical files, and C. E. W. Bean diaries (AWM).

Source:Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Jacka, Albert

Hugo Throssell's Biography

THROSSELL, HUGO VIVIAN HOPE (1884-1933), soldier and farmer, was born on 26 October 1884 at Northam, Western Australia, youngest son of George Throssell [q.v.], storekeeper and later premier, and his wife Anne, nee Morrell. One of fourteen chil­dren, Hugo was educated at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, where he captained the football team and became a champion athlete and boxer. He then worked as a jackeroo on cattle stations in the north of the State. In 1912 he and his brother, Frank Erick (Ric) Cottrell (b. 1881), took upland at Cowcowing in the Western Australian wheat belt. Severe drought during the next two years strengthened the bond between them; they were later described as 'David and Jonathan' in their devotion to one another. Hugo was tall, with a long face and strong features.

With the outbreak of war Hugo and Ric joined the 10th Light Horse Regiment, formed in October 1914. Hugo was commissioned as second lieutenant and remained in Egypt when the 10th was sent to Gallipoli in May 1915. He landed on Gallipoli on 4 August, three days before the charge at the Nek-'that FOOL charge' as he described it -when 9 officers and 73 men of his regiment were killed within minutes. Throssell was one of the leaders of the fourth and last line of attacking troops which was recalled after having advanced only a few yards. This experience increased his eagerness to prove himself in battle. He wanted to avenge the 10th LH.R. which, like so many of the Anzac troops, was battle-worn, sick and depleted. His chance came later that month at Hill 60 during a postponed attempt by British and Anzac troops to widen the strip of foreshore between the two bridgeheads at Anzac and Suvla by capturing the hills near Anafarta. Hill 60, a low knoll, lay about half a mile (0.8 km) from the beach. Hampered by confusion and lack of communication between the various flanks, the battle had been raging for a week with heavy losses.

At 1 a.m. by moonlight on 29 August the 10th Light Horse was brought into action to take a long trench, 100 yards (91 m) of which was held by Turkish troops on the summit of Hill 60. As a guard, Throsseil killed five Turks while his men constructed a barricade across their part of the trench. When a fierce bomb fight began, 'a kind of tennis over the traverse and sandbags', Throssell and his soldiers held their bombs on short fuse until the last pos­sible moment before hurling them at the enemy on the other side of the barricade. Throughout the remainder of the night both sides threw more than 3000 bombs, the Western Australians picking up the bombs thrown at them by the Turks and hurling them back. Towards dawn the Turks made three rushes at the Australian trench, but were stopped by showers of bombs and heavy rifle-fire. Throssell, who at one stage was in sole command, was wounded twice. His face covered in blood from bomb splinters in his forehead, he repeatedly yelled encouragement to his men. For his part in the battle Hugo Throssell was awarded the Victoria Cross. It was the first V.C. to be won by a Western Australian in the war.

Evacuated to hospital in England, Throssell was promoted captain and joined his regiment in Egypt. He was wounded in April 1917 at the 2nd battle of Gaza where his brother Ric was killed. On the night that Ric disappeared, Hugo crawled across the battlefield under enemy fire, searching in vain for his brother among the dead and dying, and whistling for him with the same signal as they had used when boys. Hugo returned to his regiment for the final offensives in Palestine and led the 10th Light Horse guard of honour at the fall of Jerusalem.

On 28 January 1919 in the Collins Street registry office, Melbourne, Throssell married the Australian author Katharine Susannah Prichard [q.v.11] whom he had met in England They settled on a 40 acre (16 ha) mixed farm at Greenmount, near Perth. His wife wrote that those early years of marriage with Hugo, whom she called Jim, were happiest. When she became a foundation member of the Communist Party of Australia in 1920, Hugo joined her as a speaker supporting unemployed and striking workers. He claimed that the war had made him a socialist and a pacifist. The combination of her award-winning novels and Communism, and his Victoria Cross, brought them fame and notoriety. Hugo acted as soldiers' representative on the Returned Soldiers' Land Settlement Board, became a real estate agent and temporarily in the Department of Agriculture in Western Australia.

Hard times came in the Depression. Katharine believed that her political activities lost Hugo his job with the settlement board, and that his passion to own land led him to borrow recklessly from the banks. He joined the search for gold at Larkinville in the early 1930s. When that proved unsuccessful, he devised a scheme which he hoped would prove a money-spinner. While Katharine was on a six-month visit to Russia, he organized a rodeo on his Greenmount property on a Sunday, not knowing that it was illegal to charge entry fees on the sabbath. The only money Hugo raised from the 2000 people who attended was a meagre silver collection for charity. The episode plunged him further into debt and shattered his optimism.

Imagining that he could better provide for his wife and their 11-year-old son if he left them a war service pension, he shot himself on 19 November 1933 at Greenmount. Friends blamed his melancholy on an attack of meningitis at Gallipoli and saw it as the cause of his suicide. He was buried with full military honours in the Anglican section of Karrakatta cemetery, Perth.

In 1954 a memorial to him was unveiled at Greenmount, opposite his home. In 1983 his son Ric presented Hugo's Victoria Cross to the People for Nuclear Disarmament. The Returned Services League of Australia bought the medal and presented it to the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. A pencil portrait of Hugo Throssell by the Australian war artist, George Lambert [q.v.9], is also held there.

A. C. N. Olden, Westralian cavalry in the  war (Melb, 1921); H. S. Gullett, The AIF in Sinai and Palestine  (Syd, 1923); C. E. W. Bean, The story of Anzac, 2 (Syd, 1924); K. S. Prichard, Child of the hurricane (Syd, 1963); R. Throssell , My father's son (Melb, 1989); West Australian, 29 May 1916, 21 Nov 1933, 20 Feb 1954; information from Mr R Throssell, Canb, ACT.

Source:Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Throssell, Hugo Vivian Hope

Cyril Bassett's Biography

Cyril Royston Guyton Bassett (1892-1983)

Cyril Royston Guyton Bassett was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 3 January 1892.  Having completed his education at Auckland Technical College he got a job as a bank clerk with the National Bank of New Zealand in 1908.  His first military service came via the Auckland College Rifles, a local volunteer unit, which he joined in 1909.  In 1911 New Zealand abolished its volunteer system and replaced it with the Territorial Force and Bassett left the College Rifles to join a new Territorial unit, the Auckland Divisional Signals Company.

Within a week of the declaration of war in August 1914, Bassett volunteered for service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) and joined the New Zealand Divisional Signal Company.  He left New Zealand with the main body of the NZEF on 16 October 1914 arriving in Egypt some six weeks later. 

After training in Egypt, Bassett and the rest of the New Zealand Divisional Signal Company first saw action during the 25 April landing at Gallipoli.  Having survived numerous battles up to and including Chunuk Bair, exhaustion and illness finally caught up with Bassett and he was evacuated from the peninsula on 13 August 1915.

He recovered to rejoin his unit, which was now part of the newly-formed New Zealand Division, in France in June 1916.  Bassett saw extensive action on the Western Front and despite being twice wounded he was still serving in the New Zealand Division when the Armistice was declared in November 1918.  In the interim he had been commissioned as a second lieutenant in September 1917 and was promoted to full lieutenant just before he was discharged from the NZEF in January 1919.

Upon his return to civilian life Bassett resumed his career with the National Bank and, apart from a short period as a branch manager in Paeroa, he spent the rest of his life living and working in Auckland. In 1926 he married Ruth Louise Grant with whom he had two daughters.  Bassett also resumed his involvement with the Territorial Force for a while before being placed on the retired list of officers in December 1929.

The outbreak of the Second World War saw Bassett recalled for military service with the New Zealand Army.  He served in various posts with the home defence forces culminating in his promotion to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and his appointment as commander of Northern Military District Signals.  As the war drew to a close, Bassett reverted to the reserve before once again being placed on the retired list in 1948.

He ended his banking career in January 1952 and retired although he served as a justice of the peace in his local borough of Devonport, on Auckland’s North Shore, for many years thereafter.  Cyril Bassett died at his home on 9 January 1983 at the age of 91.  After his death, his widow donated a memorial trophy in his name to the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals.  The Basset VC Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the corps’ most outstanding corporal – the rank Bassett held when he won his Victoria Cross.

Source: Damien Fenton, Department of Veterans' Affairs