Bronze Albert Medal: Lieutenant W H G Geake

Bronze and red enamel Albert Medal for gallantry in saving life on land. The reverse is engraved with the recipient's details and a shortened version of the original citation for the award.

This Albert Medal, one of only three won by members of the Australian Imperial Force, was awarded to Lieutenant William Henry Gregory Geake, who was born in Berkshire England on 23 February 1880 to John Venning Sandercock and Sarah Ann (nee Gregory) Geake. He was educated at All Souls College at Reading before migrating to Australia as a young man. His keen interest in inventing was soon apparent and he applied for his first patent in 1906. On 18 March 1909 he married Sybilla Isabella Charlotte Marsh at Christ Church in Springwood. Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, Geake worked as an agent for a Sydney wholesaler, opened his own importing business in Pitt Street, and acted as a consulting engineer.

It was as a consulting engineer that Geake enlisted in the AIF at Kiama, NSW on 18 January 1916 and was posted to 13 Battalion reinforcements. On 17 April he was promoted to acting sergeant. While in training he developed, together with a civilian, Alfred Salenger, a bomb throwing device that was demonstrated at the Liverpool Camp in December 1916. The apparatus came to the attention of the Ministry for Munitions in London who invited Geake to accompany a model of the invention to England for appraisal. He embarked from Sydney on the SS Kaiser-I-Hind in December, arriving in England on 1 February 1917. In March he was posted to the British Munitions Inventions Department (MID) of the Ministry for Munitions.

The MID had been created in August 1915 to compliment the Naval Board of Invention and Research, formed the previous month, and the mooted Air Inventions Committee. The task of these inventions departments was to weigh the relative merits of the many thousands of suggestions sent to the government from military and civilian sources. One of the most prolific sources of ideas came from the AIF troops. Geake noted that suggestions from the Australians ‘averaged two to one as against the suggestions from all other sources.’ He also noted the functional qualities of the ideas that were forwarded, at times scribbled on the back of cigarette packets or presented as ‘models made of pieces of wire, belt clips, etc.’

By November 1916, at the recommendation of the AIF Administration Commander, Brigadier General Griffiths, the British Government considered the AIF’s contribution potentially significant enough to warrant its own division within the MID: The AIF Research Section. Any initial doubts the MID may have had soon dissolved and three months later the section was allotted its own experimental grounds in Esher, Surrey, under the command of the then Engineer Sergeant Geake. Salengar, previously a wholesale jeweller, also worked there in an unofficial capacity over the next two years. The Esher grounds quickly took on a distinctly Australian flavour with the men promoting themselves as ‘The Brain-Wave Surf Club’ and ‘The Brain-Wave ‘Diggers’’.

Geake’s section provided solutions to many problems posed both by General Headquarters in France and the British Inventions Board in London. These included devices such as the ‘Geake’ message carrying gun, the floating flare shell for use at sea, the ‘Imber’ non-inflammable petrol tank for use in aircraft, the ‘Muirhead’ improved machine gun belt and the ‘Adams’ Stream Lined Stoke Shell. The section also collaborated with other departments on technology related issues. Geake was commissioned a lieutenant on 1 August 1917.

On the evening of 26 September, Geake was at the experimental grounds when a blast occurred in a pressing shed where explosives were being compressed into rocket heads. At great risk, he immediately entered the building and helped out an injured man. Without pausing he re-entered the building and rescued a fitter, Henry Bernard Timmins, who later succumbed to his injuries. In the belief that there was another man inside again he re-entered the building but was beaten back by the flames. The following day, although suffering burns, Geake attended a demonstration where a premature explosion blew off three of his fingers and severely injured his leg.

Special mention was made of Geake in the findings of the inquest into the death of Timmins. The District Coroner was asked by the jury to convey to the Military Authorities Geake’s conduct during the incident. Subsequently, for his actions in rescuing the injured men from the building, Geake was awarded the Albert Medal. The citation for the award reads:

'On the 26th September, 1917, at about 8 p.m., an explosion occurred in the pressing-room of a munitions inventions experimental station. The room contained 25 lbs. of thermit and 300 lbs. of gunpowder, pressed into rocket heads. Lieut. Geake, whose services had been placed at the disposal of the Ministry of Munitions, and who was standing outside at the time, at once ran into the building, where explosions were still taking place, and helped one man out. He then ran back into the building, passed through the place where the thermit and powder were exploding, and carried out an injured man whom he found under a burning bench. Notwithstanding the fact that he was himself badly burned, Lieut. Geake entered the building a third time, under the mistaken impression that another man was still inside, but was eventually driven out by the fire and explosions.

Lieut. Geake then worked for two hours to alleviate the injuries of the rescued men, one of whom was dying.

Unfortunately, at a demonstration on the following morning, which he attended, although unfit for duty, Lieut. Geake suffered further injuries owing to a premature explosion, three fingers being blown off his right hand, and his right leg being broken and almost severed.'

In the 1918 New Year’s Honours list, Geake was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his contributions to the war effort. During the year he travelled between Britain and France on numerous occasions to assess the inventions of his section. Work at the experimental station was hazardous and few who worked there escaped unscathed. Geake was wounded on three occasions during his tenure, including the loss of his fingers; Salengar had his left hand amputated; while four others were either wounded or burnt through premature explosions. Ironically, following the cessation of hostilities, the section diverted its energies to ‘the designing of artificial limbs and apparatus for the care of wounded.’

On 1 January 1919 Geake was promoted to captain. In late May he returned to Australia via America at his own expense, arriving in Sydney in August. By the time of his return he had already begun work on his post war inventions. A proposal by Geake to significantly reduce the bulk of wheat for transportation by a system of compression had already been reported in Australia before he disembarked. His appointment with the AIF was terminated on 5 December.

Following the war he was offered a position on the Commonwealth Research Board and in 1928 was a consulting specialist for the proposed Australian National Airways. During the intervening war years he continued to be a prolific inventor and lodged patents as diverse as collapsible containers, draft excluders, grease guns, playing cards, shirts, cuff links and brooches. After 1934 he also worked in collaboration with his son Gregory.

One invention which sparked interest was his flame thrower weed killer. Based on the same principle as the German ‘Flammenwerfer’ or flame thrower used to devastating effect during the First World War, the unit was converted to kill weeds, spray fruit trees, white-wash fowl sheds and could even be used as an emergency fire extinguisher.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Geake enlisted in the RAAF in 1940. To enable him to enlist, he concealed his true age by noting his year of birth as 1891. He gained his flying officer’s commission in July 1940, rising to squadron leader in 1942. Stationed at RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne, Geake was again involved in evaluating inventions.

William Henry Gregory Geake died of complications following cancer surgery on 14 March 1944 and was buried at Rookwood Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and three children. His son, Gregory, also served in the Second World War in the AIF.