Post-war correspondence with Lord Birdwood : Part 3

As part of a wider project to digitise First World War collections, the Memorial is seeking contact with relatives of the persons listed below in connection with the large correspondence within the Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood collection 3DRL/3376.

If you have any further information about these people, or their descendants, the Memorial would love to talk to you. Please contact Stephanie Hume via PubandDig@awm.gov.au

Other blogs relating to Birdwood correspondence can be found here :

 

Sir Henry Newman Barwell KCMG

Sir Henry Newman Barwell KCMG (1877 – 1959) was a prominent Adelaide barrister and politician. Barwell was Attorney-General of South Australia from 1918 to 1924, Premier of South Australia from 1920 to 1924, and Senator for South Australia from 1925 to 1928.  He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1922. He was married to Anne Gilbert Webb; they had four children, three daughters and one son. He died in his Unley Park home on 30 September 1959.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Miles Fitzroy Beevor

Lieutenant Colonel Miles Fitzroy Beevor (1883 – 1961) was an accountant, living in South Australia. He joined the Australian Imperial Force in August 1914, and was commissioned as a major. Beevor was commanding officer of the 10th Battalion from November 1915, and in March 1916 was appointed commanding officer of the 52nd Battalion. He returned to Australia in November 1916, due to a gunshot wound, and his appointment was terminated upon return. Upon return to Australia he married Ethel Morrison in 1925, and returned to work as an accountant in Adelaide. In the 1947 edition of Who's Who, one of his addresses is listed as Mutual Life Chambers, Grenfell Street, Adelaide. Beevor wrote to Lord Birdwood on 7 August 1937, from his home Branthwayt, Kingswood, South Australia.

 

Joseph Felix Bouchor

Joseph Felix Bouchor (1853 – 1937) was a French painter, and brother of the poet and playwright Maurice Bouchor. He was known for his portraits of General John Pershing, French President Georges Clemenceau, and his illustrations of the American Expeditionary Force during the First World War. During the war years, Bouchor painted a number of portraits of military leaders, which were printed on a series of postcards. Included within this series, was a portrait of Sir Field Marshall William Riddell Birdwood, dated 1917. Bouchor sent a postcard, 21 October 1918, with this image to Birdwood. Bouchor’s artworks are held in the collections of a number of galleries, including Museum Noyonnais, Museum of Vannes, National Museum of Franco-American Cooperation at Blérancourt, in France.

 

Reginald Collins

Reginald Collins wrote to Lord Birdwood from the Splendide Hôtel, in Marseille.  He writes of the sadness felt by members of the Australian Imperial Force upon Birdwood’s departure from command. It is possible it was written in May 1918, when Birdwood took command of the British Fifth Army.

The Reginald Collins who wrote this letter, is possibly Captain Reginald Stanley Collins, 8363, 5th Divisional Train. Reginald Stanley Collins was married to Violet Westgarth in 1911.They had a daughter Rosilyn Collins, who was born in 1912. His address at embarkation was 72 Newcastle St, Rose Bay, Sydney. After the war’s end, Reginald Stanley Collins and his family moved to England.

Reginald Collins may also have been Driver Reginald James Collins 2227, 17th Battalion. Upon enlistment, Reginald James Collins listed his occupation as miner, and his next-of-kin as his father Joseph Collins, of Collins Colliery, Exeter, New South Wales. Reginald James Collins returned to Australian in April 1919.

 

F. J. or T. J. Connolly

F. J. or T. J. Connolly wrote to Lord Birdwood on 5 September 1930, regarding the three occasions he had met Birdwood, his respect for Birdwood, and his belief that Birdwood should be Governor-General of Australia. He states that he is an engineer, he was at the landing at Gallipoli, and signs his letter with the address 61 Benares Street Lohare Cautt.

 

George Fielding Eliot

George Fielding Eliot (1894 – 1971) was born in Brooklyn, New York, and moved to Australia aged eight. Sources state that he studied at the University of Melbourne, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Australian Imperial Force in 1914. Neither of these are able to be confirmed as there is no record of him attending the University of Melbourne or serving with the AIF. It may be that he served under an assumed name. After the war’s end, he returned to the United States of America, and resided in New York. Eliot wrote naval historical fiction, crime novels, and books and articles on military strategy, including the book If War Comes with R. Ernest Dupuy in 1937. During the Second World War, Eliot was a radio commentator, and military correspondent for a number of publications in the United States. Eliot married Sara Elaine Hodges in 1933, and they divorced in 1942. He married June Cawley Hynd in 1943. George Fielding Eliot died 1971, his wife June Cawley Hynd Eliot died 1973. They do not appear to have had any children.

 

George Elliot

627 Private George Elliot (1886 – 1957) was born in Ghent, Belgium, and spent his youth living in Middlesex, England. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Queensland, on 25 February 1915. After the war, he returned to Australia, and on 10 January 1938, wrote to Lord Birdwood from his home “Hamlyn”, in Wentworth Falls, New South Wales. He wrote of the occasions he had met Birdwood, at Gallipoli, and the Western Front. He also wrote to congratulate Lord Birdwood on his elevation to the peerage, as Baron Birdwood of Anzac and Totnes.

Elliot married Florence Duffell on 6 June 1917 at Brentford, England. In 1927, he married Myrtle Hope Beaver at Surrey Hills, Sydney. They had five children. George Elliot is buried Wentworth Falls Cemetery, New South Wales.

 

Streater Ellis

288 Streater Ellis was born in Ayr, Scotland. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, in Adelaide, on 24 August 1914, and was assigned to the 3rd Light Horse. He was discharged from the A.I.F. in 1917, due to disability caused by malaria and diphtheria. On 20 February 1918, he married Dorothy Eunice Donnell, at Fitzroy, South Australia. He returned to the United Kingdom during the early 1930s, and appears to have married a woman named Margaret Helena. He died in Yorkshire, England in 1964.

Streater Ellis wrote to Lord Birdwood on 20 June 1932, from 36 St Nicholas Clift, Scarborough, Yorkshire. He wrote wishing Birdwood well on his trip to Australia, and of serving under him at Gallipoli, and the success of the evacuation.

 

Herbert Thomas Evans

Herbert Thomas Evans was a carpenter, living in Melbourne, Victoria. Evans was married to Hazel Louise Williams in 1909, and had a daughter Alice Louise Evans, born 1911. Alice Louise Evans married Charles Roland Wood in 1934. Evans wrote to Lord Birdwood on 1 February 1923, from his home at 9 Pental Road, Caulfield, Melbourne. He wrote in regards to the message that Birdwood had sent the community on the occasion of their Anzac service the previous year.

 

R. Gardiner

R. Gardiner wrote to Lord Birdwood on 21 March [1925] to congratulate Birdwood, presumably on his appointment as Commander in Chief of the Indian Army. The address on the letter is Glen Thorne, Crawley, Sussex.

 

Lieutenant General Edmund Frances Herring

Lieutenant General Edmund Frances (Ned) Herring (1892- 1982) was born in Maryborough, Victoria, and served as an officer in the British Army during the First World War. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery, and was later posted to the 99th Brigade. Herring was awarded the Military Cross, for action during the battle of Doiran in 1917, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1919.

After the war’s end, he completed his law degree at Oxford University, and returned to Melbourne in 1920. He worked in Melbourne as a barrister, and in 1936, he was appointed as a King’s Counsel.

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Herring, having continued to be involved with the militia, joined the AIF as commander of the 6th Division’s artillery. He saw action in North Africa and Greece, and was appointed CBE (1941).

He married medical practitioner Dame Mary Ranken on 6 April 1922, at Toorak Presbyterian Church, Melbourne. They had three daughters.

 

Percy Hollaway

Percy Hollaway lived in Colac, Victoria. He sent Lord Birdwood three photographic postcards, following Birdwood’s official visit to Colac in 1920.

 

G. J. Howard

G.J. Howard was honourable secretary of the 1st Battalion A.I.F. Association. He may possibly be 2213 Guildford John Granger Howard.

 

R. Tharle Hughes

R. Tharle Hughes wrote to Lord Birdwood whilst travelling on the S.S. Otranto around the coast of Australia in 1934 and 1935. Tharle Hughes’ address on the on outward passenger list of the S.S. Otranto is 21 Roehampton Lane, S.W.15. [London]. R. Tharle Hughes may be Reginald Tharle Hughes, of the Indian Army, whose sister was artist Elfrida Tharle-Hughes (1874 – 1950), and whose grandfather was (Cornelius) Jabez Hughes (1819 - 1884), photographer to Queen Victoria.

 

John Saunders Huxham

John Saunders Huxham (1861 - 1949) was born Samuel John Chapman Huxham in Ivybridge, Devon. He was an accountant and a member of Queensland State Parliament.

Born in Devonshire, England, he settled in Sydney in 1879, and in 1889 moved to Townsville, moving to Brisbane in 1893. Huxham held the seat for South Brisbane in the Legislative Assembly from February 1908 to October 1909. He held the seat for Buranda from April 1912 to July 1924. He was Agent-General for Queensland, in London, from 1924 until 1929. He was also a member of the Queensland Blind, Deaf and Dumb Institute.

On 25 December 1884 he married Eliza Jane Bubb (1862 – 1896). They had five children; Mabel Lotta (1886 - 1946), Alice Irene (1888-1926), Alfred Manning (1891 - 1948), Harold Robert (1893 - 1972), and Arthur John (1896 - 1978). After his wife Eliza died in 1896 he married a widow Helen Julia Meiklejohn (née Dougherty) (1869 - 1924) on 13 October 1897. They had one daughter; Dorothea Helen Roberts (1900 - 1971).

 

J. F. Inglefield

J.F. Inglefield wrote to Lord Birdwood on 29 November 1915. He wrote to congratulate Birdwood on being given command of the troops in the Peninsula.

 

Sir Alfred Newcombe Kemsley CBE CMG

Sir Alfred Newcombe Kemsley CBE CMG (1896 – 1987) was a Victorian businessman. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 5 March 1915, and was appointed to the Army Service Corps. In October 1916 Kemsley was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and was commissioned. After the war’s end, he was committed to the care of returned servicemen and their families. He was a foundation member of the Melbourne Legacy Club, and was an advocate for the establishment of the Shrine of Remembrance. Kemsley served on the Shrine’s board of trustees from much of his life.

Whilst involved with the military post-war, Kemsley returned to fulltime service in 1941, and was transferred to the Reserve of Officers in 1946. He was a member of the Victorian Town and Country Planning Board (1946 – 1968), a member of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) (1958 – 1974), and a member of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce.

Kemsley was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1960, and Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1973. Kemsley was appointed Knight Commander Order of the British Empire in the 1980 New Year’s Honours, for service to the Shrine of Remembrance and returned servicemen.

In 1921, Kemsley married Glydus Annie May Logg (1897 - 1922); they had one son, 417203 Ross Newcombe Kemsley (https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1720696/) who died on 19 May 1943 in a RAF training accident. In 1925, he married Janet Oldfield (1902 -1972); they had two children, one son and one daughter. In the 1980s, he married Annie Elizabeth Copsey.

 

Wilfred Walter King

581 Wilfred Walter King was born c1895 in Port Melbourne, Victoria. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 12 July 1915, and was assigned to the 29th Battalion, seeing service in France. King wrote to Lord Birdwood, to ask him if he recalls when he (Birdwood) took his boots off on a road on the Somme in 1917 and gave them to an Australian soldier. King was that soldier.

His next of kin was listed as his mother Emma King, which was later changed to his wife Nellie King. King’s address upon embarkation was 131 Esplanade Street, Port Melbourne. The address on King’s letter to Lord Birdwood was 391 Graham Street, Port Melbourne. He appears to have lived in Port Melbourne, and worked as a driver for much of his life.

 

Edward James Howes Knapp

Edward James Howes Knapp (1834 – 1931) was a surveyor, valuator, and civil engineer. He was the son of the surveyor Edward James Howes Knapp (1809 – 1875) and Rosina Aaron (1814 – 1916). Knapp senior and junior worked together for many decades. In 1858, Knapp junior was appointed licensed surveyor, and by the time of his death in 1931, was the longest serving licenced surveyor. Knapp junior lived at the property Havant, in Beecroft, New South Wales.

Knapp wrote to Lord Birdwood, to let him know the high regard in which he is held in Australia. He also mentions that he was field artillery officer during the Crimean war. Knapp does not appear to have married, but had one brother, Alfred Michael Novosielski Knapp, and two sisters, Fanny Mary Ann Knapp, and Katherine Laura Louisa Maddrell (née Knapp).

 

Sir George Hodges Knox KBE CMG

Sir George Hodges Knox KBE CMG (1885-1960) was an orchardist in Beaconsfield, Victoria, and was commissioned as lieutenant in the Australian Volunteer Automobile Corps in 1909, transferring to the 1st Battalion Victorian Scottish Regiment. On 29 March 1915 he was appointed to the 23rd Battalion Australian Imperial Force, and was commanding the battalion at Gallipoli in August 1915. He was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1917. Two of his brothers, William Johnstone Knox, and Macgregor Knox, were awarded the Miltary Cross. A third brother, Robert Wilson Knox, was a member of the council of the Australian Red Cross, and was serving as commissioner in Egypt and France.

George Hodges Knox continued his military career after the end of the First World War, commanding Victorian militia forces, and in 1942 was in charge of the Queenscliff-Nepean Covering Force. He retired during the 1940s, with the rank of honorary brigadier.

After the end of the First World War, Knox joined the Nationalist Party. He was elected to the Ferntree Gully Shire Council in 1923, and won the Legislative Assembly seat of Upper Yarra in 1927. He held the seat unopposed until 1940. In 1945 he won the seat of Scoresby, and held the seat until his death in 1960. He was Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1942 to 1947. Knox was knighted in 1945.

On 4 February 1909, Knox married heiress Katherine Purves MacPherson. They had two children, Katherine Mary Elizabeth Knox and William Macpherson Knox. The couple were divorced in June 1919. On 19 August 1921, Knox married Ada Victoria Harris, they had one son.

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