Gallipoli and the Family

As the 100th Anniversary of the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign is marked this month, you may wonder whether our family was personally affected.

One family member is memorialised at the Helles Memorial in Gallipoli.

Helles Memorial by Commonwealth War Graves
used under Creative Commons Licence 2.0

He was Lance Corporal Alfred Brook Higgins. Like Grandfather Harris, he is a grandson of Ebenezer and Mary Ann Harris.
Their youngest daughter Emmeline married William Higgins (a Baptist Minister) and Alfred was their 9th child and youngest son. He left a wife, Lillie V. Higgins nee Turvey. They'd been married only a few months.

Alfred, with others, had transferred from the Norfolk Regiment to the 1st battalion Essex Regiment. They were sailing on the Royal Edward for Turkey as reinforcements for the British 29th Infantry when the ship was torpedoed on 13 Aug 1915 near the Greek Island of Kandeloussa and many lost their lives as the ship sank in 6 minutes.

The Royal Edward is said to be the first troop ship to be torpedoed in WW1. It was attacked as it was travelling unescorted. Albany Bell mentions the escorts the ship he sailed on had—and the extra protection rough seas gave when they were at a vulnerable stage of the journey. See The West Australian, 22 Mar 1917, here.

Surviving 3 months in Gallipoli

Another close relative involved was one of my father’s first cousins, Harold Ernest Clark, the son of Samuel Clark – Grandfather Clark’s eldest brother – and his wife Ellen Fieldwick, the daughter of a Baptist Minister. He was at Gallipoli for 3 months. See his Service Record.

Ernest (another of the family not known by his first name) was born in Norwood, South Australia and went to school in Port Pirie. He was a bank manager. Before World War 1 his parents went to live in Melbourne. Ernest signed his enlistment papers on 29 March 1915 at Keswick, a suburb of Adelaide and was assigned to C company 27th Battalion. He attained the rank of Sergeant in June 1916.

His unit embarked from Adelaide on 31 May 1915 and after a period in Egypt, arrived in Gallipoli on or about 4 Sept 1915. He was in Gallipoli until 27 Nov 1915 when he became ill. The initial records say jaundice, later paratyphoid. He was transferred from Gallipoli to Malta where he was in hospital for 45 days, then in Egyptian hospitals before being sent back to Australia on 9 Feb 1916 for 3 months “change”. Having recovered he embarked again from Adelaide on 24 June 1916.

He arrived in France on 11 Sept 1916 and rejoined his Battalion in Belgium on 14 Sept. He was killed in action on 3 March 1917 near Walencourt in France. He is memorialised at the Port Pirie War Memorial and at Warlencourt British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. 

Not at Gallipoli

The little booklet "Uppill Family History" published in 1989 says that Robert William George Uppill (a 2nd cousin of Grandfather Harris) was wounded at Gallipoli. He was badly wounded, but not at Gallipoli as he enlisted on 26 Feb 1916  after the last Australians had been evacuated from Gallipoli on 20 Dec 1915.

Others?

There may be other family members who were at Gallipoli. I'm sure I haven't checked everyone's service records.