Australians buried in Milton Cemetery, Portsmouth

[James Daly]

A few months ago, the Portsmouth News carried a request for information about the 12 Australian Great War soldiers buried in Milton Cemetery in Portsmouth. Each year a small service is held on ANZAC day, but the Cemeteries Office were wondering if any of the men have descendants who might be able to attend. It strikes us that they died so far from home, and some of them may have never had a visitor. I have been helping them by looking through each of the men's service records on the Australian National Archives. Aside from possibly finding a few leads, it has also taught me a lot about the Australian Imperial Force. Some of the Service records run to over 100 pages with lots of detailed personal information which gives a great impression not only of their service, but also of what kind of young men they were. In a couple of cases complete medical records exists. Most of them were buried in Portsmouth as they had been evacuated to the Military Hospital in Milton. Roughly half of them were suffering from wounds, and the same again died of illness. One died of natural causes exacerbated by war service, whilst another was drowned when his hospital ship was sunk in the channel.

I am slowly working through their service records, but if anybody would like to add anything please feel free to post away. I will also try and keep this updated with anything that I find out.

BOYD, Andrew

Private, 46, 18th Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,

Died of wounds 30 August 1916. Age 24.

Son of Andrew and Mary Boyd, of Hill St., Scone, New South Wales.

Grave Ref. H. 19. 14.

CRAIG, John Henry D.

Corporal, 1912,

17th Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,

Died of wounds 17 November 1918. Age 22.

Son of Andrew Craig and Margaret Clelland Craig, of Killingworth, New South Wales. Born in Scotland.

Grave Ref. H. 19. 11.

FULTON, Thomas

Private, 1996,

47th Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,

Died of wounds 24 August 1916. Age 33.

Son of John and Catherine Fulton,

of 640, Bourke St., Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales.

Grave Ref. H. 19. 13.

GEARING, Harry Alan Cheshire

Lieutenant,

Australian Army Service Corps.

Died of diabetes 16 March 1917. Age 31.

Son of Henry George and Mary Gearing;

husband of Bertha Gearing.

Grave Ref. I. 1. 40.

GRAY, Hubert

Gunner, 19773,

3rd Div. Ammunition Col.,

Australian Field Artillery.

Died of sickness 11 November 1916. Age 35.

Son of John and Jane Gray;

husband of C. I. Gray, of Beech St., Whittlesea, Victoria, Australia.

Born at Prahran. Victoria.

Grave Ref H. 19. 9.

JONES, Clarence Morgan

Private, 4527,

57th Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,

Died of sickness 10 December 1916.

Son of Charles James and Mary Ann Jones,

of Oatlands, Tasmania.

Born at Bothwell, Tasmania.

Grave Ref. H. 19. 15.

LYNCH, Thomas Francis

Private, 130,

32nd Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,

Died of wounds: 18 December 1916.

Son of Henry Francis and Mary Lynch,

of 42, Tfould St., Adelaide, South Australia.

Grave Ref. H. 19. 5.

MELVILLE, Andrew

Driver, 227,

24th Bn, Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,

Died of sickness 28 August 1918. Age 21.

Son of Andrew and Sophie Melville,

of 117, Peel St. North, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

Grave Ref. H. 19. 12.

PEARSON, Thomas Owen

Private, 69/A,

25th Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,

Died of wounds 26 July 1916. Age 20.

Son of Thomas and Ellen Mabel Pearson,

of Wilmington St., Newmarket, Queensland.

Born at Maitland, New South Wales.

Grave Ref. H. 19. 4.

ROBERTS, John Thomas

Private, 2882,

44th Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,

Died of sickness 11 November 1917. Age 28.

Son of William John and Esther Roberts,

of 56, Stirling St., Footscray, Victoria, Australia.

Born at Mount Egerton, Victoria.

Grave Ref H. 19. 7.

WAKE E.

Private, 4482,

3rd Aust. Gen. Hosp., Australian Army Medical Corps.

Died of sickness 18 January 1916. Age 31.

Son of Edward George and Emilie Wake;

husband of V. E. Wake,

of 45, High St., North Sydney, New South Wales.

Born at Scottsdale, Tasmania.

Grave Ref. H. 19. 8.

Wall, George Savoury Lipscombe

Lance Corporal, 6104,

37th Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F.,

Died: Drowned 3 August 1918. Age 25.

Son of Francis Gordon Wall and Blanche Wall,

of Wells Rd., Mordialloc, Victoria, Australia.

Born at Thorpdale, Victoria.

Grave Ref. H. 19.6.

[WhiteStarLine]

James, thanks for going to this trouble, it's appreciated.

Bill, Canberra, Australia.

[James Daly]

It's no trouble at all Bill. I've done a fair bit of research into 7,000+ WW1 and WW2 casualties from Portsmouth, who are buried in more than 50 countries around the world. Many of them will have probably never had a family member visit their grave, and it struck me that it might well be the same situation for foreign servicemen buried in Portsmouth.

As well as the 12 Australians, we have one Great War American, some Belgian soldiers, a Dutch Merchant Seaman and some Canadians from WW1 and WW2 buried in Portsmouth.

[frev]

James - great to see the work you're doing for our boys, buried so far from home.

Andrew Boyd from Scone has his story told in the book "Scone's Fallen Anzacs" by Harry Willey - unfortunately Harry doesn't appear to have been in touch with any of Andrew's relatives, (and there's no photo of him). However, I'll let him know what you're doing incase he can be of any further help.

Amanda Taylor's book "Dinkum Oil" has excerpts of a couple of letters that were published in the Ballarat Courier in regard to Andrew "Snowy" Melville's death - and there is a small photo of him. I'll check with her if it's okay to scan & post them here.

Cheers, Frev

[Bart150]

James

You may well know already that many Australian casualties were brought to the all-Australian hospital at Harefield, and about 100 are buried in the churchyard there. So, the question arises, why, apart from the chap who drowned, were these men brought to a hospital in Portsmouth? Because they were too ill to travel the extra 100km to Harefield? Unlikely, because if a man was that ill, he'd surely be better left in a hospital in France until he got better or died.

If the records are detailed maybe they give some clue.

BTW Was the Military Hospital you mentioned St Mary's or St James's? Both are close to the cemetery.

Bart

[James Daly]

James - great to see the work you're doing for our boys, buried so far from home.

Andrew Boyd from Scone has his story told in the book "Scone's Fallen Anzacs" by Harry Willey - unfortunately Harry doesn't appear to have been in touch with any of Andrew's relatives, (and there's no photo of him). However, I'll let him know what you're doing incase he can be of any further help.

Amanda Taylor's book "Dinkum Oil" has excerpts of a couple of letters that were published in the Ballarat Courier in regard to Andrew "Snowy" Melville's death - and there is a small photo of him. I'll check with her if it's okay to scan & post them here.

Cheers, Frev

Hi frev, thank you very much for this information. It would be very useful to be able to add some more detail to their stories.

Their service records also contain a few photographs of their graves. During the war they were each interred separately around Milton Cemetery, but post war in about 1920 or 1921 they were all exhumed and re-interred together in a row. A local resident, Mr Sanderson, voluntarily tended the graves, and there is a photograph of him standing next to them.

[James Daly]

Hi Bart, I've actually been wondering the same. I don't think they would have been disembarked at Portsmouth from their hospital ships, as they would either have gone via Calais/Boulogne and Dover/Folkestone, or via Le Havre and Southampton. Portsmouth was a major naval port, and the naval authorities fiercely resisted any other kind of shipping movements even during the war. I know the names of all of the Hospital ships that they were brought to Britain on, so I guess if records exist for them I could tell where they docked.

Their service records actually refer to several hospitals. St Mary's Hospital next door to the Cemetery opened in 1898. There was also the Portsmouth General Hospital nearer the city centre, and another hospital in Fawcett Road. I believe that St James's was taken over by the Americans in 1917, but before that I'm not sure - none of the service records so far have referred to St James.

[Bart150]

Here is a theory. The Harefield hospital was set up because of the principle that all Australian casualties should be treated together. But one hospital could not have an infinite capacity. Inevitably some Australians would be unlucky when there was no room at Harefield for a new patient. So why not maintain the same principle by at least keeping all the unlucky surplus Australian patients together in a section of one particular hospital - at Portsmouth? If that is what happened and if the proportion of deaths to patients in Portsmouth was the same as at Harefield then there would have been quite a few hundred Australian patients there during the war.

I'm idly interested in all this because I was born in St Mary's and lived near St James's. My mother told me how after D-day, people from other parts of England came to visit their wounded relatives in St James's hospital, and were billetted in nearby houses, including ours (it was compulsory, I think). The Portsmouth hospitals only kept the really serious cases and sadly most of the people billetted with us eventually lost their loved ones.

[James Daly]

It's an interesting theory, and could well be correct. Perhaps there are some records somewhere - generated by the AAMC, or AIF HQ in London - that might refer to such a policy?

Funnily enough I was born in St Marys too. There are more than a few WW1 and WW2 casualties buried in Portsmouth who seem to have no connection with the area. It's a similar situation with Haslar and naval casualties.

[frev]

Hi frev, thank you very much for this information. It would be very useful to be able to add some more detail to their stories.

James - still waiting for Harry to get back to me, but unfortunately my contact details for Amanda seem to be out of date - so if you'd like to PM me an email address, I could at least send you a scan from her book.

Bart - Although Harefield was an Australian hospital, our soldiers were sent to Military hospitals all over the UK - and in consequence are also buried across many cemeteries. Although, I do actually have a great Uncle buried at Harefield, see signature below for Perc Lucas.

Cheers, Frev

[James Daly]

I've just finished researching the 12 australian servicemen. In the process I actually found a 13th - Corporal Herbert Townsing, buried in Kingston Cemetery a mile or so away. In the process I have also heard from a few descendants. It should mean that more is known about these lads in time for the next ANZAC day service.

I'm still amazed by just how detailed australian service records are - in many cases the run to 100+ pages. Some of them include detailed medical records that would be interesting to anyone looking at battlefield medicine and surgery. The lists of personal effects are detailed too - down to if the casualty was a cigarette or pipe smoker.

I am now working on an article about the project for Wartime, the Magazine of the Australian War Memorial.

[frev]

Have to agree the Australian Service Records truly are amazing - the clerical staff had a job and a half recording & compiling such incredible detail under such adverse conditions. Still amazes me how I coped with my research before they became available on-line!!

Will look forward to reading your article in 'Wartime' James - and thanks again for the work you've put in for our boys.

Cheers, Frev

[Peter and Ellen]

I am humbled by the thought that the locals have a small ANZAC Day Service for these boys.

I take my hat off to them.

These boys are so far from home, but are not forgotten.

Peter

[James Daly]

Have to agree the Australian Service Records truly are amazing - the clerical staff had a job and a half recording & compiling such incredible detail under such adverse conditions. Still amazes me how I coped with my research before they became available on-line!!

Will look forward to reading your article in 'Wartime' James - and thanks again for the work you've put in for our boys.

Cheers, Frev

I'm not sure when the article will materialise, I'm working on a couple of things at the moment but hopefully I will be able to write it up soon.

I really really wish that we had that level of detail when it came to researching British servicemen of WW1. And not only that, the fact that they are freely available online to anyone who wishes to see them is a breath of fresh air. Again, not something we're used to with British records!

[James Daly]

I have just been informed that the ANZAC day service at Milton Cemetery will be held on the closest Sunday, this year on Sunday 22 April. Not sure about times or any other details, but I will post them up as soon as I hear anything. I will be attending, and will try and take some pics and make a report.

[James Daly]

If anybody is interested the ANZAC service in Portsmouth is this Sunday (22nd), 10.30am at Milton Cemetery. I will be going and taking photographs if anybody would like a report.

[WhiteStarLine]

James, please post a photo or two. Cheers, Bill

[James Daly]

I've just got back from the service.

It was attended by the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Royal British Legion Standard Bearers, Royal Marines Cadets, British-Australian friends and members of the public. I also met a gentleman wearing a Great War VC on the right hand side of his jacket - that of his father, James Ockenden VC from Portsmouth.

I also have pictures of the individual graves - if anyone would like to see them please let me know.

[keithmroberts]

I attended the commemoration as well. In addition to those mentioned by James it was good to see that a former MP for the city, and the current leader of the council attended. I had never seen a Victoria Cross outside a museum before, so it was quite impressive to see an elderly gentleman, with his own substantial medal bar, and the one from his father I think, on his right breast.

Keith

I took a couple of photo's as well.

[WhiteStarLine]

Now that is a very touching tribute. Thanks so much to all who participated.

[Wimbers]

Respects paid. ANZAC Day 2020.