Documents relating to Throssell
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The collected papers of Australian writer Katherine Susannah Prichard, famous for her novels Coonardoo, Working Bullocks and The Goldfields Trilogy, are held in the Manuscript Collection of the National Library of Australia at MS6201. Sprinkled among them are various items relating to her husband Hugo Throssell VC whom she met in London and subsequently married in 1919. Most of the material relating to Throssell’s war experiences is in different folders in ‘Series 1 Family Papers and Photographs, 1851-1970’. Visit the National Library website for a full description of the K S Prichard collection. The items featured here are:
Pages 1-4, Folder 7: Some pages from Hugo Throssell’s personal war diary. They relate to his arrival on Gallipoli; his participation in the infamous charge on 7 August 1915 at the Nek of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade; his brief account of the events at Hill 60 on 29 August 1915 for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross; and his illness and convalescence in England and Ireland from mid-September 1915 to January 1916. The ‘Miss KSP’ referred to on 13 September was Katherine Susannah Prichard whom he married in 1919. She was working as a journalist at the time in England. Notice the brevity of the entry for 17 October 1915 – ‘Given the VC’.
Pages 5-9, Folder 9: Typed recommendations for bravery awards from Hugo Throssell regarding those who had served with him through the night of 29 August 1915 at Hill 60, Gallipoli. Throssell was most conscious of the courage shown by these other men of the 10th Light Horse on that occasion. Trooper Thomas Renton and Lance Corporal Harry MacNee were both awarded the DCM (Distinguished Conduct Medal). Throssel later described all of them as the bravest men he had ever known.
Page 10, Folder 9: Hugo Throssell’s official certificate for being ‘Mentioned in Despatches’, an award he was recommended for before he received the Victoria Cross. The MID is defined as: a military award for gallantry or commendable service. Officers would submit reports on operations to their superiors which would include mention of soldiers who performed noteworthy actions or showed gallantry. These reports would be published in the London Gazette, meaning that any named soldier would be mentioned in despatches. Soldiers receive a certificate and are entitled to wear a bronze oak leaf.
[See the archive section of the University of Glasgow's website]
Page 11, Folder 9: First page of an unsigned letter to Lieutenant Hugo Throssell from Harefield, Middlesex, England, congratulating him on the award of the Victoria Cross. It seems to have been written by soldiers of Throssell’s unit, the 10th Light Horse Regiment, at the No 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Harefield Park.
Page 12, Folder 9: Letter from the Australian High Commissioner to Great Britain and Ireland, Sir George Reid, to Lieutenant Hugo Throssell conveying a resolution of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia regarding the award to Throssell of the Victoria Cross.
Page 13, Folder 9: Telegram from Brigadier General Frederic Hughes, then in Egypt, congratulating Lieutenant Hugo Throssell on the award of the Victoria Cross. Throssell’s unit, the 10th Light Horse Regiment, had been part of Huhges’ 3rd Light horse Brigade on Gallipoli.
Page 14, Folder 8: A handbill advertising a post war ‘lecturette’ to be given by Captain Hugo Throssell at West’s Picture House, Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia. After recovering from his illnesses in England and Western Australia in 1915 and 1916, Throssell had rejoined the 10th Light Horse Regiment in the Middle East and fought there against the Ottoman Empire at the places mentioned on the handbill.
Page 15, Folder 9: Undated and unsigned poem on cardboard titled ‘Fighting Jim’ and extolling the fighting prowess of Hugo Throssell VC (Throssell was nicknamed ‘Jim’). Throssell was born in Northam, Western Australia, an electorate which his father, George Throssell, represented in the WA Legislative Assembly and the Throssell’s we a very well known family in the district.