Lest We Forget
In every Family Tree there are
heroes. Some are unsung heroes, some
have done amazing things throughout their life, but there would not be many
Australians who do not have included in their ancestors, someone who served in
a war.
For
some of our, our family come from a Military background, my own included, with
250 years in the Royal Engineers. Others
came to Australia to serve in the Military and to guard the many prisoners
under their control.
But
for most, they were simply young men and women, who one day were going about
their normal life, working on the family farm, finding new careers, and finding
themselves the next day, being issued with Army "clobber".
Willing
they were, to protect their fellow man,
skilled horsemen, who sailed across the Indian Ocean, to become one of
Queen Victoria's army.
Less
than 15 years later, thousands joined, and did selfishly what was expected of them. Unfamiliar faces in unfamiliar places, who
never saw the Australian sun again.
Then
but a generation later, their sons and daughters, and often they themselves,
once again put their hand up, signed on the dotted line, whether that meant a
slight exaggeration about their date of birth or not, and were shipped
overseas. This time though the war
arrived on their doorstep.
Some
were taken prisoner, and died in prisoner of war camps. Those who returned were never the same
person, ever. One only has to walk
through a Prisoner of War camp in Europe, to realise and to reflect on the
horrors they suffered.
Within
the Jillett/Bradshaw Family tree there are so many of these brave soldiers,
thankfully not so many lie buried in far off distant lands, but each year we do
remember them.
By honouring the pioneering
ancestors, it is important to remember those who served, and while it might be
one month early, the message is still clear.
At
the Going Down of the Sun and in the Morning
The
Boer War
Those who served in the Boer War
Percy Tasman Morrisby
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Rand Rifles
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SJ
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Raymond Clarke Morrisby
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2nd Tasman
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SJ
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Bernard William Morrisby
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French's Lookout
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SJ
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Joseph Frederick Jillett
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New Zealand
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RJ
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Tasman Jillett
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4th Bat 4th Battalion Victorian Horse
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TJ
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The stories of the grandsons of
Charles Dowdell and Susannah Jillett,
are possibly quite unique.
They had three sons serve in the
Boer War, and one lays forever buried in a small grave alongside other
Australians. His name is remembered on a Memorial at
Colesberg, in South Africa[1]. It is on the lower right of the base.
A rather large report of how Bernard was killed
appeared in the Tasmanian Mail June 23, 1900, page 19. The account is by a
Theodore Buxton of French's Scouts who relates that having been shot, Morrisby
was founded by a party of Australians the following day, alive, but
unconscious. He was brought into camp by ambulance having been shot through the
head, but with such a wound he could not survive. He died quietly at 3 o'clock
Tuesday afternoon February 27, 1900.
Buxton goes on to say... "About half-an-hour after Lieutenant H.E.
Spencer brought me a large bunch of roses he had gathered from the farm garden
and asked if I would like to make a wreath for him which I did by twisting some
vines from the willow tree into a wreath and twining the roses in them. We then
went and dug the grave just at the side of the farm and buried him at 6
o'clock.
All the scouts that were in camp attended the funeral, the service being
read by the Rev. Mr Wilson of Colesberg, who led the procession the coffin
being covered by the Union Jack with the wreath of roses on top. We followed
the firing party and also many others that knew him. He lies buried by the side
of Australians and his grave is marked by a large wooden cross painted white
and his name and corps when he died cut deep and legibly on it.".
Excerpts
from
"Tasmanians in the Transvaal War" JOHN BUFTON. Ph.D.. F.L.S.. F.G.S., F.R.G.S.. 1905
In answer to my enquiry as to Bernard Morrisby's name being absent from the official returns of killed and those who died, I have received the following very interesting communication from Mr. Tasman Morrisby, of Kettering, under date of April 13, 1903: —
"Dear Sir, — In answer to your enquiry of the 7th re Tasmanians in the Transvaal War,' my son, Bernard W. Clair Morrisby, joined the South African Light Horse as a scout at Capetown, and was shot while scouting at Plewinan's Farm. He was a refugee from the Transvaal on the outbreak of war.
My eldest son, Percy T. B. Morrisby, is a member of the Rand Rifles, and was not in active service. My son, A. Clayton Morrisby, was Q.M.S. of the Remount Camp at Worcester, and resigned to occupy a civil appointment in Rhodesia just before declaration of peace. R. C. Morrisby is my son —the G. is an error (in list of men). F. E. Morrisby was my nephew.
My dear boy Bernard was not found until two days and a night after he was shot, and was still alive, but unconscious. The report in the 'Mercury' of June, 1900. has been confirmed by other private letters.
Tasmanians have well borne their share. — Yours, etc.,
Tasman Morrisby."
Family Members who Served
Katie Isabella Jillett husband Harold
Sedgwick/Claude Annesley
World
War One The Making of
An Anzac
Served
in World War I
Oscar Spelman Bradshaw
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WB
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Copeland Cobden Bradshaw
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WB
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George Cobden Bradshaw
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WB
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Royal (Roy) Reginald Bradshaw
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WB
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Sydney Thomas Patterson
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SB
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Eric Leyden Morrisby
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SB
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Rupert Evelyn Morrisby
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SB
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Reginald Angel Money
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SB
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Rev Kenneth Graham Henderson
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SB
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Alan
Dudley Henderson 7th Battalion
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SB
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Capt. Rupert Howard Henderson 7th Batt
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SB
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John
Eliot Hancock
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SB
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Crosby Hurburgh
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SB
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Gilbert
Harold Taylor SN
1406
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SB
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Claude Edward Shone
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TShone
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Alfred James Cooper
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TJ
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Harold Thomas Jillett
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RJ
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Herbert Harry Jillett
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JJ
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Harold Owen Whitehouse
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JJ
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David
John Whitchurch S/N
4275
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JJ
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Charles Leonard Tanner
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JJ
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John Tasman Tanner
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JJ
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Walter Race Jillett
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JJ
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Ellis Risby Taylor
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JJ
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Those who died
Alan
Dudley Henderson 7th Battalion Turkey 1915
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Capt. Rupert Howard Henderson 7th Batt Turkey 1915
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Gilbert Harold Taylor SN
1406
Turkey 1915
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David John Whitchurch
France 1917
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John Elliot Hancock
France 1918
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Private Bernard William Morrisby 1877
- 27 Feb 1900 Killed
at Plewinan's Farm, Colesberg Mafeking
South Africa, as a member of French's Lookout.
World War I
Sapper Hedley Roy Bowden 3rd F.C. Engineers Carpenter
23 Jul 1915
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Cemetery:
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Alexandria (Chatby) Military Cemetery
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Burial or Cremation Place:
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Alexandria, AL Iskandariyah, Egypt
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Roy enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at Claremont, Tasmania on October 6, 1914, aged 22 years. He was allocated initially to the Reinforcements (Tas) Unit however two weeks later he was transferred to the 3rd Field Company Engineers (3rd Fd Coy) as a Sapper, (Regimental number 176).
Aubrey
Cecil Bowden no 245
246
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Hubert
Leonard Bowden Field Engineers.
John
Eliot Hancock 31st May 1885. His mother Clara had died in 1887, and he was living
with his grandmother, as his father was in England. He was sent back to England,
and enlisted there.
He was
employed by Sime Darby and Co as a Merchant in the Mellaca Straits. He has no
known grave. He was a Captain in the 7th
Battalion Norfolk Regiment, and was killed at the Battle of Chambrai 21st March
1918. He was awarded the DSO. He is named on the Arras Memorial in France.
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.
Owing to his company commander being seriously wounded, he took
command of the left company in an attack. ‘When they came under heavy
machine-gun fire he organised a frontal attack while he, with two
N.C.O.’s, rushed across the open from a flank, killed or wounded all the
gun team and put the guns out of action. He himself killed six
men. In the subsequent fighting he showed great initiative in clearing the
houses in a village and directing the advance.’
London Gazette 4th March 1918
London Gazette 4th March 1918
The Arras
Memorial is a World
War I memorial in France, located in the Faubourg d'Amiens British
Cemetery, in the
western part of the town of Arras. The memorial commemorates
34,785 soldiers of the forces of the United Kingdom, South Africa and New
Zealand, with no known grave, who died in the Arras sector between the spring
of 1916 and 7 August 1918
7.1 Alan
Dudley Henderson d WWI his brother
7.2 Rupert Howard Henderson d WWI, his
brother
Lieutenant Alan Henderson died of
wounds and was buried at sea. He is
remembered on Panel 27 at Lone Pine Memorial
"Acted as CO of the Battalion on the 25th when all senior officers had been killed or wounded. On the 25th and 26th he displayed conspicuous gallantry in rallying all the men of all battalions under particular heavy fire. (Reported by Lt Col R.Cartside Commanding Battalion).
1. Gilbert Harold Taylor born 1892
He embarked from Brisbane 13 February 1915, and was in the 15th Battalion. He died on 8th August 1915, in Gallipoli. Buried Embarkation Pier Cemetery
3.1.4 David John Whitchurch 31 July 1892 Oatlands d 3 May 1917
Embarked Melbourne 7 April 1916 aboard HMAT Wiltshire
Died 3 May 1917 from a bullet wound to the head, just after capturing the first line at Bullecourt and was buried later where he fell. Previously reported missing by AIF Headquarters on 6 December 1917 David is buried at Villiers-Bretonneux
Died 3 May 1917 from a bullet wound to the head, just after capturing the first line at Bullecourt and was buried later where he fell. Previously reported missing by AIF Headquarters on 6 December 1917 David is buried at Villiers-Bretonneux
