RSM Selwyn-40th Bn AIF

[mctaz]

Tom Selwyn, was a colourful character (that's an understatement!)

Born in the USA of British parents he took to the stage at age 9 as an amateur magician. Becoming professional at age 16, he travelled with several American companies such as Dr Bigelow's Medicine Show, Robinson's Circus and Buffalo Bill Cody's Western Show. Somewhere in this time he claimed to have served with the "53rd King's Shopshire Light Infantry" for a period of 12 years being wounded twice in South Africa. In the early 1900's he ended up in Australia where he still performed as a conjuror "Selwyn the Mysterious".

When WW1 broke out he joined the 12th Bn and was wounded at Gallipoli where he was CSM and then RQMS.

He was shipped back to Australia where in 1916 he was appointed RSM of the Tasmanian 40th Bn.

He didn't hold this position for long before he was commissioned in the field.

Then he was either the subject of a misjustice or his sleight-of-hand failed him.

He was not a well man by all accounts and was first charged with being AWL then subsequently he was called to account for stores to the value of 70'odd quid, and threated with charges of neglecting his duties.

I'm trying to make sense of this episode as I'm giving a short presentation on him next week but quite frankly his service records are somewhat confusing for this period and out of sequence.

I'd be obliged if anybody interested could help straighten me out with dates and events!

(http://naa12.naa.gov.au/NAAMedia/ShowImage.asp?B=8079778&S=40&T=R) & also (http://naa12.naa.gov.au/NAAMedia/ShowImage.asp?B=8079778&S=40&T=R)

On his record it states he marched in to 1st Command Depot Perham Downs on the 14th of July? but it also states he marched out TO DMS London on the same date? then it also states he marched in on the 17th??? I'm confused!!

It appears he may not have been charged with the subsequent allegations but he did have to repay monies to the value of the mis-appropriated stores!

I'd really have liked to have met this man & had a beer with him

[headgardener]

On his record it states he marched in to 1st Command Depot Perham Downs on the 14th of July? but it also states he marched out TO DMS London on the same date? then it also states he marched in on the 17th??? I'm confused!!

It appears he may not have been charged with the subsequent allegations but he did have to repay monies to the value of the mis-appropriated stores!

The hyper-link in your message doesn't work, you want to try to sort it as it'll help people avoid trawling through the NAA web-site.

I had a quick look, as it sounded quite interesting. These look like administrative moves, he doesn't appear to have left Perham Down during the time-frame that we're talking about. The notes on these forms can often be confusing, as you can see from this example. The dates that you're interested in are the ones in the right-hand column (under 'date of casualty'), the column 'place of casualty' tells you that he is consistently at Perham Down throughout this period. And I guess you saw that someone has helpfully numbered the entries into a chronological order (see numbers on the far left of the form).

As for the rest of the story, I only had a quick scan but it looks like he went AWOL for 3 days, was court-martialled, had a fair amount of pay deducted, was subsequently deemed to be the wrong man for the job and was shipped back to Australia. It seems that after he left there was some deficiency in clothing and equipment. It's not exactly clear whether the deficiency was from the stores that he had been quartermaster of, or from some of his own kit that he had to hand back. I'm assuming that it was from his QM stores. Is this point actually clarified anywhere? There is a reference to him having appealed, apparently unsuccessfully, against the decision. It doesn't seem clear to me whether the matter was actually resolved.

Maybe he begrudged the fact that he had to forfeit some pay and felt he wanted to 'make it up' in some way, maybe he just wasn't very good at his job and there were some deficiencies that he was ultimately responsible for. £70 would have been either 1 or 2 bits of very big/expensive kit, or quite a lot of relatively small, cheap kit. Maybe he had a bit of a scam going, selling bits and pieces on the quiet, and the fact that he was rather suddenly removed from his post meant that he didn't have times to cover his tracks and write the stuff off in some way.

I'd suggest checking his courts martial docs (A471, barcode 7923157) in case there's any other evidence in there that might help, perhaps some statements from other people about his general conduct, or what he did when he was AWOL. You may find that a bit of back-story helps you to work it out.

And is it the same Tom Selwyn who enlisted in WW2? There's a set of papers (series B884, barcode 5689353) which show the same next of kin, but a birthplace of 'Lowell, USA', which sort of ties in with the fact that he spent time in the US. The date of birth seems wrong relative to his WW1 service papers (and it couldn't be his son, either).

As an aside, have you tried looking for any UK pre-WW! service papers?

[mctaz]

Thanks for the response, the hyperlinks do work, just remove the brackets & copy/paste them.

70 quid must have been a lot of kit, about two months salary on his pay?

Wasn't aware of his WW2 service, I'll check that out. he was born in Lowell Mass. USA, he'd have been in his 60's so I didn't think about checking that!

He obviously reduced his age.

I did try the UK NA website but didn't have any luck finding him there.

Cheers

Jim

[headgardener]

I did try the UK NA website but didn't have any luck finding him there.

You can't get the pre-WW1 papers on-line (or maybe I'm wrong, in which case will someone please correct me). I understand it's going to be some time this year. You'll need to have a researcher look them up for you. Or one of the pals here, if you're lucky.

[Blackblue]

Marched out from Overseas Training Depot for transfer to DMS on 14/07/1917

Marched in on 14/07/1917

Marched out from Overseas Training Depot on way to No 1 Command Depot on 14/07/1917

Marched in No 1 Command Depot 17/07/1917

My guess is initial transfer was cancelled as he seems to have been Med Boarded and medically downgraded as Unfit General Service and uncertain if fit for Home Service at around same time. Seems to have been transferred to No 1 Command Depot as a result...perhaps whilst medical condition continued to be investigated.

Rgds

Tim

[mctaz]

The contradictory information in his papers have him being not well enough to hold the position of QM, yet they think him well enough to be charged with neglect of duty.

Seems he should have had representation at his GCM and the later Court of Enquiry.

I've requested the Court Martial papers, so hopefully they'll clarify things.

Thanks

Jim

[headgardener]

The contradictory information in his papers have him being not well enough to hold the position of QM, yet they think him well enough to be charged with neglect of duty.

Seems he should have had representation at his GCM and the later Court of Enquiry.

I've requested the Court Martial papers, so hopefully they'll clarify things.

Don't be surprised. The military judicial authorities at that time were not best known for their sense of 'fairness'......