Local Heroes WW1

• Print
• Email

Details

Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 May 2015 10:44

Written by Major (retired) Paul A Rosenzweig MA JP With Robert W M Whaite

Hits: 3989

(WO2) George Bailey Fletcher

George Fletcher from Semaphore was one of the first from the Port Adelaide area to enlist during World War 1 – at Morphettville Camp on 16 September 1914. He was a stockman, and a Boer War veteran, married to Elsie and aged 44 when he applied to enlist, but he dropped his age by four years to increase his chance of being accepted. He embarked with Headquarters 9th Light Horse Regiment AIF on 11 February 1915, as their Farrier Quartermaster-Sergeant, and served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and later the ANZAC Mounted Division in the defence of the Suez Canal, in southern Palestine and in the Jordan Valley. George returned to Australia in December 1918 with the rank of Warrant Officer Class II. His son Barney served in the same regiment: he died in Palestine in July 1918, aged 22, and was buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery.

8 Warrant Officer Class 2 George Bailey FLETCHER (1870-1920)

George Fletcher from Semaphore Road, Semaphore, was the first in the circle of Fletcher and Whaite friends and family to enlist – at Morphettville Camp on 16 September 1914. This was very soon after recruitment was authorised by Proclamation for overseas service with what was at that time designated the ‘Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force’. It is not surprising that George would so readily volunteer, because he was a veteran of service in the Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the century.

Boer War

He had volunteered in 1901 to serve as a Trooper with the 6th South Australian Imperial Bushmen’s Contingent, which had been raised under General Order No.4 of January 1901. The officers and men of this contingent paraded through the main thoroughfares of Adelaide on 3 April 1901, and were then treated to ‘a bountiful luncheon’. They left Port Adelaide on the transport Warrigal on 6 April 1901: this departure was significant because it was the first time a contingent from the new Commonwealth of Australia had been sent overseas.

In South Africa, the 5th and 6th South Australian Contingents joined to form a single battalion: 539 Lance-Sergeant George Bailey Fletcher served in ‘F’ Squadron of the South Australian Imperial Bushmen – his promotion was announced in Adelaide newspapers on 19 October 1901. The battalion returned to Outer Harbour on the Manchester Merchant on 27 April 1902. On 22 August 1903, his Excellency the Governor attended at Montefiore Hill and presented war medals to nearly 150 officers, non-commissioned officers and men who had served in the South African campaign, including Lance-Sergeant George Fletcher (the presentation ceremony took over an hour).

George had been born in the Roseworthy district of South Australia, the son of James and Harriet Fletcher. In 1894, George married Miss Eliza Ann Elsie Dunstan (1873-1943), the daughter of Edwin Pearce Dunstan (1845-1905) from Port Adelaide; she may have been christened with those names but she was known as ‘Elsie’. By 1914 George and Elsie were living at 7 Nelson Street in the city, but while George was away Elsie’s address was care of the Central Refreshment Rooms, Semaphore. George was a member of the Albion Lodge of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows which had been established in Adelaide in 1844 – by May 1915, some 250 members of the society in SA were either already at the front or were in camp prior to embarking.

This extract from the nominal roll of the 6th South Australian Imperial Bushmen’s Contingent shows Trooper George Fletcher, promoted in South Africa to the rank of Lance-Sergeant.

Family connections

3012 Corporal George Edwin Pearce Fletcher (1895-1918). George’s son Barney Fletcher also served in the AIF, in the same regiment. Barney was born in 1895, probably in the family home on Semaphore Road: he was christened with the names ‘George Edwin Pearce’ – named after both his father and his mother’s father – but throughout his adult life was known either as ‘Ted’ or ‘Barney’. His fiancée was Miss Nell Whaite (1891-1968) from Alberton, the daughter of Robert William Whaite (1858-1903) and Emily Jane (née Josephs, 1858-1927). Before the war Barney and Nell were well known for doing little skits at family gatherings – he would play the piano and she used to sing. Barney served with his father in the 9th Australian Light Horse Regiment AIF, and was wounded-in-action near Wadi Auja near Jericho in Palestine on 19 July 1918. He died of his wounds the same day, aged 22, and was buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery. Nell never got over Barney’s death, and died in 1968, a spinster aged 74.

Through Nell’s family, there were three others who served overseas during World War 1.

6344 Private Harold George Whaite (1893-1988) Nell’s younger brother Harold was a 22 year old store assistant when he enlisted in the AIF on 16 June 1916. He embarked in Port Adelaide on 28 August 1916 with a reinforcement detail for South Australia’s 10th Battalion AIF. He completed his war service with the 27th Battalion AIF, and returned to Australia on 21 March 1919. Harold married in 1922, and died in Adelaide in 1988, aged 95.

5133 Private Sidney George Whaite (1890-1977) Nell and Harold’s cousin, Sidney was a 26 year old butcher from Semaphore when he enlisted in the AIF in Adelaide on 1 May 1916. Sidney served on the Western Front in France with the 32nd Battalion AIF, and was wounded-in-action following intense shelling of the frontline trenches by heavy and medium high explosive and shrapnel shells on 5 March 1917. Sidney returned to Australia on  8 January 1919, married in May 1919, and died in Adelaide in 1977, aged 87.

6195 Corporal Kenneth Whaite McKenzie (1892-1941) Another of Nell and Harold’s cousins was Kenneth McKenzie, who was a 23 year old Shipping Clerk with the Adelaide Steamship Company Ltd in Fremantle when he enlisted in the AIF on 29 September 1915. He first served with the 4th Field Ambulance in Egypt and at Gallipoli, and then with the 12th Field Ambulance and the 8th Field Ambulance in France. Finally, he was a Motorised Transport Driver with the 4th Australian Mechanical Transport Company, promoted to Corporal and one of just 406 Australians to be awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre [‘War Cross’]. Kenneth returned to Australia in 1919, married in Western Australia in 1921, and died in Fremantle in 1941, aged 48.
Enlistment

When George Fletcher applied for the AIF in Adelaide on 16 September 1914, on his original Attestation Paper he stated his occupation to be ‘chef’. This was later replaced with ‘stockman’, and this was used on the regiment’s Embarkation Roll which lists him as a 40 year old ‘stockman’. A duplicate copy of his Attestation Paper also shows his occupation as ‘stockman’. On his medical records in 1918 however, he is noted as a ‘storeman’.

In 1914 he gave his age as 40 years and 6 months (suggesting a date of birth in March 1874), yet in 1918 when he was being medically examined his age was given as 48! The Genealogy SA database of South Australian births confirms that George was born to James Fletcher and his wife Harriet (née Bailey) in 1870. He most likely lowered his age by four years because he was concerned that as a 44 year old he might not be accepted.

George Fletcher was allocated the Service number ‘8’ and the rank of Private in the 9th Light Horse Regiment AIF. On 10 November he was appointed Farrier Quartermaster-Sergeant (FQMS). FQMS Fletcher embarked with the regiment in Melbourne on 11 February 1915 on the transport A10 HMAT Karroo.

This image is from a Christmas card which was sent home from Egypt at the end of 1915 by a member of the 9th Australian Light Horse Regiment AIF.

Palestine

George disembarked at Alexandria on 14 March 1915, and served at Heliopolis and Serapeum in the Middle East with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. On 20 October, he joined the Australian Composite Light Horse Regiment at Alexandria.

At Heliopolis on 18 January 1916, Farrier Quartermaster-Sergeant Fletcher transferred back to the 9th Australian Light Horse Regiment AIF, which was assigned to the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade, a part of the ANZAC Mounted Division. From March 1916, the brigade defended the Suez Canal from Turkish attacks across the Sinai Desert. The 9th Light Horse Regiment (9LHR) was part of the force which advanced as the Turks retreated back across the desert. By December 1916, the advance reached the Palestine frontier and 9LHR was involved in securing the Turkish outposts of Maghdaba in December, and Rafa in January 1917.

Meanwhile, George’s son Barney had joined the 9th Light Horse Regiment AIF in Egypt on 12 March 1917. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade now came under the command of the Imperial Mounted Division (later re-named the ‘Australian Mounted Division’). George and Barney were present during the battles to capture Gaza, the assault on Beersheba, the collapse of the Turkish position in southern Palestine and the capture of Jerusalem in December. During 1917, Sergeant-Major G B Fletcher forwarded to friends in Adelaide a copy of an Egyptian newspaper describing the operations of the British and Australian troops in clearing the Turks from the neighbourhood of the Suez Canal and the historic reoccupation of El Arish.

During 1918, the Australian Mounted Division focussed on operations in the Jordan Valley. Official records and media reports state that Corporal Barney Fletcher died of wounds in Palestine on 20 July 1918, aged 22; his Service file shows clearly that he died of wounds “received in action at Wadi Auja”.

By July the 9th Light Horse Regiment had returned to Palestine and was in bivouac at Solomons Pools: this was an opportunity for rest, training, and local leave in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. On 10 July, the regiment rejoined the 3rd Light Horse Brigade and moved via Bethlehem and Jerusalem to Talaat ed Dumm where they established a new bivouac site and horse lines. On 14 July the regiment moved urgently into the Jordan Valley to reinforce the Australian & New Zealand Mounted Division which was under attack by a German force, with the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade engaged near Wadi Auja. On 16 July the regiment moved to Madhbeh to garrison No. 3 Sub-Sector in the Jericho district. At midnight ‘B’ Squadron moved up to occupy a counter attack position on Abu Tullul. When the squadron returned to the regimental bivouac position at Madhbeh in the pre-dawn morning of 19 July, two men were wounded by enemy artillery shell fire – Corporal Barney Fletcher and Trooper William Logue (2192 Trooper Herbert William Logue, a horticulturalist from Mitcham). The regimental diary confirms that this occurred on 19 July, and notes that Corporal Fletcher died two hours later. He was buried at 4 pm that afternoon, near Wadi Auja northwest of Jericho in the Kuruntal District Military Graves, by the regiment’s Chaplain.

On 29 July 1918, George reported that for the previous 18 months he had been suffering pain and vomiting after eating hard food and he had been losing weight because he couldn’t eat. He was admitted to the 14th Australian General Hospital where a lesion in his intestine was identified. It was recommended that he have a laparotomy but George said he preferred to return to Australia to have the operation.

After having been ill for some time, George Fletcher embarked at Suez on 22 December 1918 as an MU (‘Medically Unfit’) ‘invalid’ on the Hospital Transport Leicestershire for return to Australia. His name was included in List ‘U’ of ‘Soldiers Returning’ which was published in local papers in January 1919.  Sergeant-Major Fletcher disembarked in Melbourne on 22 January 1919, and then travelled overland to Adelaide. George was examined at No. 7 Australian General Hospital at Keswick Barracks on 23 January, and found to be ‘Medically Unfit’ (‘Debility & Age’). He was discharged in Adelaide (4th Military District) on 2 June 1919, with the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2.

ID number     PB0530
Collection     Photograph
Object type     Black & white - Glass original half plate negative
Photographer     Barnes, Josiah
Place made     Australia: Victoria, Melbourne, Port Melbourne
Date made     22 January 1919
Description "Leicestershire" D8602 returning troops

George died at Semaphore on 4 August 1920 from illness he contracted during the war, and on 6 August was buried in Cheltenham Cemetery: Section N, Drive C, Path 9(31), Site Number 304N. This is one of Adelaide’s oldest cemeteries, having commenced operation for the Port Adelaide community in 1876. Again, the Genealogy SA database of South Australian deaths and the Cheltenham Cemetery records show that George was aged 50 when he died in 1920, confirming a date of birth in 1870.

This is an extract from the Daily Herald (SA) of 20 February 1917: Sergeant-Major George Fletcher forwarded a copy of an Egyptian newspaper describing the operations to reoccupy El Arish.

Honours

George Fletcher wore the ‘Discharged Returned Soldier Badge’, which was instituted in 1916 for members of the AIF who had returned to Australia from active service overseas and been discharged. Some 267,300 badges were issued: it was only for wear with civilian dress, to allow veterans to show that they had served.

George Fletcher was eligible to receive the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal trio. He did not live to receive his war medals however: his file shows that Base Records Melbourne sent the 1914-15 Star to his widow in February 1921. The British War Medal and Victory Medal would have been posted out in 1923.

The 1914-15 Star rewarded operational service within a theatre of war between the commencement of hostilities on 5 August 1914 and 31 December 1915. Almost 2.3 million Stars were awarded throughout the Commonwealth, of which 82,000 were awarded to Australians serving in an Australian unit.

The British War Medal 1914-1920 was awarded to members of British and Imperial forces for service between the outbreak of hostilities on 5 August 1914 and the Armistice on 11 November 1918, although eligibility was extended to include service in various theatres up to 1920. Some 5.7 million medals in silver were issued throughout the British Commonwealth, of which 338,000 were awarded to Australians.

The Victory Medal 1914-1919 was awarded to members of British and Imperial forces for operational service only, between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918, although eligibility was extended to include service in various theatres during 1919. Some 5.7 million medals were issued throughout the British Commonwealth – 336,000 were awarded to Australians.

Local commemoration

The Semaphore War Memorial on the Esplanade was dedicated in 1925 to honour all of those from the district who fought in the war. A temporary ‘Memorial Arch’ of wood and iron was first erected at the entrance to the Semaphore Jetty bearing the banner title, ‘For King & Empire’. On 27 April 1924, four foundation stones for the new memorial were laid at the approach to the jetty – one on behalf of the citizens of Port Adelaide district, one for the RSSILA, one on behalf of the parents of the fallen men, and one on behalf of the widows and orphans.

No doubt Mrs Elsie Fletcher would have attended the laying of these foundation stones in 1924 – with its immediate relevance to her. The stone for the parents of those who fell, such as Corporal Barney Fletcher, was laid by Mrs Magnus Wald. The late Magnus Wald had been owner of Glanville Hall, proprietor of the South Australian Stevedoring Company and member for Scarborough Ward 1898-00. The foundation stone laid by Miss Edith A Sanders on behalf of the widows would have had meaning for her too, her husband George having died at Semaphore so soon after the war, on 4 August 1920.
Elsie was also most likely among the several thousand people who attended the actual unveiling of the Semaphore War Memorial the following year. Joining Mrs Fletcher on these occasions would undoubtedly have been Barney’s fiancée Miss Nell Whaite, and her mother Mrs Emily Whaite (her father Robert had died in 1903); returned soldier Private Harold Whaite, ex-27th Battalion AIF (Nell’s brother) and his wife May; Harold and Nell’s cousin Private Sidney Whaite (ex-32nd Battalion AIF) with his wife Beatrice and his mother Mrs Jane Whaite, and John and Mary Ann McKenzie, the parents of Corporal Kenneth McKenzie, ex-4th Australian Mechanical Transport Company (Ken by this time was living in East Fremantle, WA).

The following year, a granite obelisk was erected on the foundation stones, with an electric ‘turret type’ clock and topped by a marble Angel of Peace with wings outspread. The local newspaper noted, “all the names of those who enlisted from the district or who made the supreme sacrifice cannot be placed on the monument” so it instead bears a simple commemorative plaque.

This foundation stone for the Semaphore War Memorial was laid at the approach to the jetty on 27 April 1924 by Mrs Magnus Wald on behalf the parents of those who fell. For Mrs Elsie Fletcher, this memorial honoured her son Barney who died of his wounds in Palestine on 20 July 1918.

Semaphore & Port Adelaide RSL

For the 2015 commemoration of the Anzac Centenary, the Semaphore & Port Adelaide RSL has created a virtual Honour Board listing the names of over 2,000 local men who volunteered to serve in World War 1. Among them are counted Warrant Officer Class 2 George Fletcher from Semaphore, a Boer War veteran who served in an AIF light horse regiment beside his son in Egypt and Palestine.

Notes:
Paul Rosenzweig is a retired Army officer and author of military history and biography. He was born in the Le Fevre Community Hospital in Semaphore.
Rob Whaite is the great-great-grandson of John Whaite (1822-1892) from Lancashire, born in Manchester, and Elizabeth (née Boyd, c1833-1907); the great-grandson of Robert William Whaite (1858-1903) and Emily Jane (née Josephs, 1858-1927); the grandson of Murray Hilton Whaite (1882-1960); and the son of Harold George Whaite (1917-1996) who was named after his uncle the soldier (Nell’s brother) in case he did not return from the war. Nell Whaite was Rob’s great-aunt.

This foundation stone for the Semaphore War Memorial was laid at the approach to the jetty on 27 April 1924 by Miss Edith A Sanders on behalf of the widows. Mrs Elsie Fletcher would have attached special significance to this memorial, her husband George died on 4 August 1920 from illness he contracted during the war.

Written by:

Paul Rosenzweig is a retired Army officer and author of military history and biography. He was born in the Le Fevre Community Hospital in Semaphore. Through his Facebook page “Thanks Digger” Paul is helping families research an ancestor who is a military veteran and to promoting remembrance in young Australians. More information and images on these veterans is available through ‘Thanks Digger’: https://www.facebook.com/Thanks.Digger
With Robert W M Whaite

• < Prev
• Next >