A wedding beneath the pyramids
On 17 January 1915 an Australian soldier at Mena Camp in Egypt, Private Arthur Adams, noted in his diary: “Wedding in camp. Private of 10th marries a S.A. girl, who comes via England.” The same event was also recorded by another soldier, Private Frederick Muir, in a letter home to his mother on 2 February: “There was a marriage in camp here a couple of Sundays back. Quite a romantic affair.”
Two men, on separate occasions, had regarded the event as newsworthy enough to record for posterity. Intriguingly, neither had thought to mention the names of the couple involved. It was known that the man was a soldier in the 10th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (AIF), and that the bride had come out from England. Also, that it was the chaplain of the 3rd Brigade who had presided over the proceedings. And, of course, that the event was romantic.
But who were the bride and groom?
Private Philip de Quetteville Robin and Miss Nellie Irene Honeywill had known each other in Australia. Phil was an accountant at the Murray Bridge branch of the Union Bank before he enlisted in the AIF and joined the 10th Battalion. He was well known for his Australian Rules football skills, having played with the Norwood Football Club and represented South Australia in interstate games in Sydney and Melbourne.
Nellie was living in London at the time of the First World War, although she had formerly resided in Adelaide. She was the eldest daughter of William Honeywill, also residing in London, and appears to have been working as a volunteer nurse.
Their plans of reuniting in England were disrupted when the AIF was diverted to Egypt while en route to Europe. A couple of weeks later, however, Nellie turned up in Cairo, and the two made what seems a spontaneous decision to get married. This had not been their intention,
but rumours regarding the movements of the contingent, and the fact that “Phil” might be engaged for many months, if not years, in assisting to fight his country’s enemies, decided the matter for them, and forthwith arrangements for the holding of the wedding were commenced.
“A soldier’s wedding: married in camp”, The Register, 16 February 1915
Special permission was granted for the wedding by the commanding officer of the 10th Battalion, Colonel Stanley Price Weir, and the necessary preparations were quickly made. The officers’ mess tent was handed over for the event, with the mess servants converting it so that it had the appearance of a church. The ceremony began at 11.30 am, with the Anglican chaplain E.H. Richards officiating.
Cake, wine, and the obligatory showering of rice were all provided by the officers of the 10th Battalion. The speeches began with Colonel Weir’s toast to the couple:
But for the outbreak of the war this wedding would, no doubt, have been celebrated in Adelaide. But our surroundings, although strange, are such as to compensate for all might have been lost. In Adelaide there could not have been the romance and the novelty which attach to this wedding.
“A soldier’s wedding: married in camp”, The Register, 16 February 1915
After a short honeymoon, Nellie returned to England. A few months later Phil was among the men who landed on Gallipoli on 25 April. He is one of two soldiers – the other being Private Arthur Blackburn, who would later win the Victoria Cross in France – believed to have penetrated further inland than any other Australians at Anzac.
Phil was killed in action three days after the landing. Arthur Adams also made a note of this in his diary: “(Note) The man gets killed in 3 days of landing at Anzac.” Seven months later, in London on 19 November 1915, Nellie and her infant son died soon after she had given birth.
The papers of Frederick Warren Muir and Arthur James Adams have been digitised and are available on the Australian War Memorial’s website: