James Henry Scott, 19, of Cloncurry, QLD, enlisted in August 1914, in the first few weeks of the war, and was drafted to the 9th Battalion. The 3rd Brigade of the 9th was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915, and was the first ashore at around 4.30 am.
He did not live to see the sunrise.
When my grandmother died in 2005, I inherited this badge, 'To the Women of Australia'. My grandmother's writing is on the card. James was her uncle.
This badge possibly went first to his sister, my great-grandmother, as their mother is referred to as the 'late' Catherine Scott in military grave records. Or perhaps James' mother died, grief-stricken, between 1915 and the formal headstone finally being laid at Gallipoli. I don't know.
There's a lot of respect, a lot of ceremony, and a lot of remembrance of WW1 these days - but I'm not convinced any of that truly captures what must be been the real legacy in the decades that followed: the grief. This badge - and the 61,720 like it - is a small reminder of the unbearable personal sorrow that must have rent this country, town by town, street by street, room by childhood room.
8 comments:
Those old documents are incredibly moving, I reckon -- the typeface of the era, all the scuffs and stains of long handling and storage, and the really very spooky effect of the handwriting -- the recognisable bodily trace of someone whose actual body has been gone for decades.
Absolutely Pav. If you look closely, the red stamp under the blue "deceased" marker says "missing". Which suggest his body was found, or wasn't identified before burial.
I should add this was not a big part of "family legend" or anything. I only realised three years ago he died at Gallipoli - and only yesterday did I discover he was in the advance party.
...his body wasn't found, I mean.
I was also moved by the "Jas" signature - reminds us that this generation was late 19th century - and perhaps the way WW1 serves as a gruesome marker of the metal-storm birth of whatever 'modernity' is/was.
I assume you found out some new stuff online? It's a couple of years since I started doing online genealogical digging and so far I've found a full set of great-greats, untold convicts and two First Fleeters. Regarding James Henry, have you been to say hello here?
I did, Pav - at the National Archive Online, and at the AIF project site. Have just posted a link for you on your blog.
And yes, in general its getting easier to search for these things. Particularly for UK ancestors as the old censuses are uploaded. Both my grandfathers were born in England - but I should do the same here sometime on my grandmothers' sides. Ive found the both the respective boats they came out on - but Australia destroys its old census material, whereas the UK has kept it all.
PS Ta for that link!
Good call re: grief. ANZAC Day seems to be vaguely triumphant these days, and I find that repugnant.
Yeah Sam - I always think of my own Grandads. Both WW2 veterans - one left wing, the other conservative.
and neither wanted a bar of the RSL, ANZAC day - or anything else to do with that time of their lives. Ever.
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