Post-war correspondence with Lord Birdwood : Part 1
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.
This blog relates to Australian civilians who wrote to Birdwood regarding his visits to Australia in the 1920s. 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 :
Hector Charles James Horatio Axup
Hector Axup (1844-1927) was a master mariner from Launceston, Tasmania who wrote poetry and sent two of his poems to Birdwood. Axup was married to Mary Sophia Day who passed away in 1941 leaving behind two sons and two daughters long with many grandchildren and great grandchildren. One of their great grandchildren is Suzy Baldwin who may have edited Unsung heroes and heroines of Australia.
George William Barker
George Barker (10/1407) wrote to Birdwood in 1920 from his PO Box in Kakahi. On his service records he is listed as a sailor cook on the H.V. Hammond in Wanganui. He enlisted in December 1914 and left for Egypt with the 3rd reinforcement and served in Gallipoli. A few weeks before the end of the Gallipoli campaign, he was sent to hospital due to ill health. He was medically discharged in early 1916. His letter mentions a meeting with Birdwood in the trenches at Quinn’s Post. After the war, he named his daughter, Jessie Birdwood Barker (1920-2006) in honour of Birdwood. She married Allen Bernard O’Loughlin in 1943 and lived in Auckland. She may have had one daughter, Frances Mary.
Arthur Brooks
Arthur Brooks (682) served as a sergeant in the Kaffir War 1877-1878. After the war he returned to his home in Woolwich, UK. At some stage he moved to Australia and resided at 10 Doncaster Avenue, Kensington, NSW with his wife Myra. He was proprietor of the Kensington Riding School, which is now the site of the University of New South Wales. Arthur and Myra Brooks appear to have had a number of children. On a photographic postcard to Birdwood, he lists “eight-ninths” of his children who were in the photograph. They were James Herbert, Walter Wellesley, Thelma Marian, Charles Churchill, Florence Myra, Alfred George, Emily Gertrude, and Arthur Farrington. In his letter to Birdwood, he mentions his son Arthur who before the age of 20, had “taught and ridden with over 1500” volunteers prior to enlisting. Arthur junior (Arthur Farrington Brooks NX148837) later served with the Australian Veterinary Hospital and Remount Depot. Two other sons also served in the Second World War. Walter Wesley Brooks (NX178572) who served with Land Headquarters, while Charles Churchill Brooks (N226466) was with the General Details Depot and Public Relations. Oswald Haig Brooks (NX164233) and his wife Olive also are recorded living with Arthur for a while. Arthur’s wife Myra passed away in 1969, but it is unclear when he died.
Rose Edith Byrne
Rose and her husband Charles had two sons who served in the First World War. Charles Robert Byrne (83) returned home late 1915 being unfit to continue serving. He was later provided with the Soldier Settlement property at Gunnedah that he had many difficulties with. He passed away 1969. His son, Leslie Sim Byrne (310) received a Military Cross and returned home wounded in 1917. He died in 1966. There was another son Gordon, and two daughters, Dorothy (McLean) and Mignon Joy (Putman – d. 1989 and married to Arthur Ernest Bailey Putman). Rose passed away at her home in Anzac Avenue, Colloroy in 1934, twelve months after her husband.
Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David KBE CMG CSO FRS
Sir Tannatt Edgeworth David 1858-1934) was a well-known geologist and Antarctic explorer. Born in Cardiff, Wales, he developed an interest in geology in 1878 and after study and research in that field, was sent to Australia in 1882 to take up the position of Assistant Geological Surveyor to the government of NSW. He was instrumental in discovering the coalfields in the Hunter Valley and was invited to join Shackleton’s 1907-08 expedition to the Antarctic. He led the first ascent of Mount Erebus and along with Douglas Mawson and Alistair Mackay, was the first to reach the South Magnetic Pole. During the First World War, his skills were invaluable, and he was appointed a major of the Australian Mining Corps at the age of 57, culminating in the mining of German position as Messines. After the war, he returned to Australia and purchased Coringah, a cottage in the suburb of Hornsby, which was acquired by the Hornsby Council and part of the now Edgeworth David Gardens. He had three children with his wife Caroline Martha (née Mallett). Margaret (m. McIntyre) (1886-1948) was known as Madge and was the first woman elected to the Parliament of Tasmania. During the First World War, his son William (Billy b. 1890) , served as a regimental medical officer with the 6th Cameron Highlanders, and his daughter Mary (Molly 1888-1987), served as a motor driver with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and Women’s Legion.
Lady Florence Darnley
Florence Rose Bligh (née Morphy), Countess of Darnley DBE (1860-1944) grew up in Beechworth, Victoria. She is most well known for being the person who, on behalf of a group of Melbourne ladies, first presented a small urn containing ‘the ashes of Australian cricket’ to the captain of the English cricket team, Ivo Bligh (Ivo Francis Walter Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley). At the time, she was teaching music at a country estate named Rupertswood, where the English team were staying during their 1882-83 tour. This urn with the ashes continued to represent the rivalry between England and Australia. Loved blossomed during that visit, and Florence married Ivo in 1884. They had three children: Esme Ivo Bligh, 9th Earl of Darnley (1886-1955); Lt Col Honourable Noel Gervase Bligh (1888-1984) and Lady Dorothy Violet Blight (1893-1976).
Ford Susan Ethleen Priscilla
Mrs Ford (née Sampson) used her preferred name of Ethleen and was previously Mrs Tucker. She re-married in August 1915 to Richard R Ford. She had two sons who served in the First World War. John Phillip Hill Tucker (1748) served with the 4th Field Artillery Brigade and was a prisoner of war. Another son, Charles Herbert Tucker (17685) enlisted in Liverpool and served with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and the Labour Corps. Before she re-married, she lived in Stanley Road, Adelaide (North). Her letter was written from her new home in Frederick Street, Maylands, South Australia
Ethel Hardie
Ethel Hardie sent two separate poems to General Birdwood in 1920, titled A New Zealand welcome to General Sir William Birdwood and Farewell General Sir William Birdwood. She addressed the letter from 1 Webb Street, Wellington, New Zealand, but the only Ethel Hardie on any 1919 census lists, lived at Wanganui with a husband named Robert. The 1920 Wellington phone book has a widow, Mrs Rose Anne Toner living at that address. It may have been that Ethel was visiting or staying with Rose.
Burdette and Henry Hill-Beckett
Burdette Hill-Beckett wrote a letter to Birdwood that included a poem written by her husband, Henry. She wrote to Birdwood from 86 Hill St, Wellington NZ. According to records, Harry her husband was either a draughtsman (electoral roll) or geologist (post office directory). The only child they appear to have had, was a foster daughter by the name of Dolly.
Lieutenant Maurice Barber Keatinge MC
Lieutenant Keatinge (1887-1952) had a career as a civil engineer while pursuing a military interest with the Australian Garrison Artillery prior to the First World War. He enlisted in the AIF in 1915 and at the end of the war, resumed his career with the AMF. In 1919, he published a History of the 3rd Australian Pioneer Battalion (1922). In 1942 he was invited back to the AIF to take charge of lines of communication depots in NSW. He passed away in London in 1952 while working at Australia House as an executive officer. With his wife Myra Christina (née Cameron), he had one son (name unknown) and a daughter, Honor Mary who married Alan Joseph Butler Tickle in 1950.
Arthur Sugden Keighley MC
Arthur Keighley was born in Keighley, Yorkshire in 1882 and died in the Sydney Repatriation Hospital in 1969. He sailed to New Zealand from England sometime between 1905 and 1908, possibly to escape a business marriage. He arrived in Sydney in 1908 and left his position as a theatrical producer to enlist in Perth as a 2nd Lieutenant with 12th Battalion. He rose to Captain with the 11th Battalion and was awarded a Mentioned in Despatches and Military Cross. After the war, he married Lorna Catherine Hamilton and they lived at Rose Bay, Sydney. Their only child, a son John Earl (NX109043), was killed in an accident in 1954. Lorna had passed away a few years earlier in 1949. Arthur wrote some books related from his military experience. One was Map reading and field sketching: the use of the protractor and field compass and reconnaissance for battalion intelligence, and the other The essentials of training for the home guard: weapons, their potentialities and limitations, attack, defence and guerrilla tactics.
Eric Gawthorne Kidgell
Eric Kidgell (2497) was born in Queensland to James Kidgell and Annie Quinton. He enlisted as a private in the 16th Battalion, 7th Reinforcements in 1915 and served along with two of his brothers William (KIA) and Percival. Eric was discharged from the army in 1916 due to his health. He served again in the Second World War (V366824) as part of the Volunteer Defence Corps. He passed away in 1955, leaving behind his wife Dulcie and his four children, Phyllis, Margaret, Elaine and Jim.
Edith Beaufils Lamb
Born Edith Emily Lamb (1858-1947), Edith sent Birdwood a signed copy of one of her poems. The daughter of Queensland MLA, Edward William Lamb and his wife Julia, she was one of the first typists employed in New South Wales and the first woman to be employed by the Bank of New South Wales. A published poet (often under the name E Beaufils Lamb), she wrote a second verse for the national anthem, God save the King, in honour of the 1927 visit of the Duke and Duchess of York. Edith passed away unmarried in Turramurra in February 1947. She may have had up to six siblings.
Sir Ernest Augustus Lee Steere
Sir Ernest Lee Steere (1866-1957) was a well-known pastoralist and businessman from Western Australia. He started work as a stockman and moved from different trades to become co-owner with his uncle, Sir James George Lee Steere, of Belele Station. He later acquired other stations and properties including the stately home in Mount Street Perth from where he wrote his letter to Birdwood. He married Bridget Yelverton O’Connor in 1909 and together they had three daughters and three sons, two of whom were killed during the Second World War. Charles Augustus, the eldest son, was serving with the Royal Auxiliary Air Force when he failed to return from a mission in 1940. He had recently married Patience Hargeaves Pigott-Brown and his son Gordon was born the year he died. The youngest son Roderick Yelverton served with the Royal Australian Navy and was killed when his ship was sunk in 1944. Their surviving son, Sir Ernest Henry Lee Steere KBE (1912-2011) was a prominent businessman who was very involved in horse racing and was chairman of the Western Australian Turf Club for over twenty years. He served in the Second World War (WX30919) and was the Lord Mayor of Perth from 1972 to 1978. He was married to Jessica Margaret Venn in 1942.
Their three daughters were Muriel Lee (1914-2007) Elizabeth (1918-1984) and Margaret Anna (1920-1990). Muriel married Alec Letts Dawkins in 1942, Margaret married Cecil Evan Jackson in 1942, and Elizabeth was married in 1945 to Dr Richard Bruce Lefroy.
Sarah Myrtle Meggy
Mrs Meggy lived with her husband, Percy Robert Meggy, at Glen Echo, 30 Rangers Avenue, Cremorne. Two of their sons were killed during the First World War and one son came home. Albert Edward Meggy was killed at Lone Pine, while Douglas Ackland Meggy is remembered on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. Percy Arthur Meggy returned home after serving with the 36th Battalion, and their daughter Margaret Helen Meggy, served with the Australian Army Nursing Service. She later married and moved to Seattle, USA with the name Helen Schoenfeld. Mr and Mrs Meggy had two other daughters, Kathleen Ivy and Anne Myrtle. The Memorial has in the collection, correspondence from Birdwood to Mrs Meggy related to Albert and Douglas. Both Mrs Meggy and her husband were writers. As well as her actual name, she also wrote using the names Myrtle Boone and Mrs P R Meggy. One of her publications was The Barque and other poems, while her husband was a well-known journalist who wrote several articles on Australian politics and helped found the ‘Chicago Daily’. She passed away in February, 1942.
Lucy Gough Morgan
Lucy Morgan (née Haines) wrote to Birdwood in 1920. Lucy was born in Wight, England and relocated to Australia where she was married in Victoria in 1880. She had six children with her husband Samuel John Morgan. Of her six children, one died in childhood and her only son, Samuel John Morgan died in the First World War. Lucy passed away in 1934. Her four surviving daughters all married. Catherine Ellen (1881-) married John Halliwell Orrell in 1821, Lucy Ethel (1883-) married Stanley Davis, Amy Rebecca (1885-1962) married Walter Frost and Queenie Alice Lillian (1887-) married Sidney John Aspinall.
Bertha Pascoe
Bertha Pascoe was the founder of the Soldiers Mothers’ Band which had groups in most states. She wrote from her home in Park Street, Hyde Park. Her real name may have been Elizabeth and she was most likely married to Edward. There is a Bertha Pascoe who passed away in Adelaide in 1938 aged 73 who had lived at Hyde Park. She wrote to Birdwood on behalf to the Soldiers Mothers’ Band.
Mary Jane Patching
Mary Patching (née Howitt) wrote her letter of praise to Birdwood from her home ‘Lesleigh’ in Upper Kennedy Terrace, Paddington, Queensland. She signed it Mrs J Patching as she was married to James, a photographer, and mentioned in the Post Script that she was a grandmother to 4th generation Australians. Mary and James had five children; however their first child Isabella, died in 1885 aged only two. They had one son, Leslie George (d.1954) who married Jessie Shackleford in 1932. Of their surviving three daughters, Stella Muriel (d. 1983) married Walter Graham Watts, Thelma Evelyn Maude (d. 1961) married William Edward Waller, and Ariel Bertha Lillian (d. 1969) married Hendry Carl Bolin. Mary passed away in 1941.
Florence Scott
This may be Florence Isabel Scott who passed away at Manly, November 1946. She wrote to Birdwood from 126 Ocean Beach, Manly. The death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald comes only from her brother, R G Scott. She attached a copy of the poem, ‘Jealous of Birdie’ which was apparently picked up by Private Leonidas Winterbottom Grubb (unable to trace him), the son of Dr Archibald Grubb.
William James Sherbon
William Sherbon wrote to Birdwood in 1920 from the Military Forces of the Commonwealth, District Quarters. William was born in England and married Mary A E Bunker in 1891. He worked as the Chief Clerk in the Defence Department of NSW and in 1915 he was promoted to honorary major for his service. William and Mary had three children, a son Ivan and two daughters Evelyn and Narelle. Ivan served in the First World War and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917. At one point he was temporarily promoted to Major. Ivan was killed in Flers, France in 1916. He has a People Profile on our website. William’s daughters both married men who served in the AIF. Evelyn married Lieutenant Arthur Dent who was a prisoner of war and later wrote of his experiences in the publication 14 Months a prisoner of war. Narelle married Lieutenant General Reginald Norman DSO MC VD. William passed away in 1939. Evelyn appears to have had two children, John and Sybil.