The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Captain William Ross Hoggart, 14th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Jennifer Surtees, the story for this day was on Captain William Ross Hoggart, 14th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Captain William Ross Hoggart, 14th Battalion, AIF
KIA: 27 April 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain William Ross Hoggart.

William Hoggart was born on 22 August 1876, the second eldest of five children born to Elizabeth and Alexander Hoggart, of Buangor, north-west of Ballarat in Victoria. Known to family and friends as “Bill”, Hoggart attended the Flinders School in Geelong, where he was captain of the school cadets. After school, he was granted a scholarship to study at the University of Melbourne. He completed a Bachelor’s degree and attended teacher’s college, and then began a successful career as a teacher at various schools across Victoria, including the Beremboke State School, Melbourne High School, Flinders School, Warrnambool Agricultural High School and finally Melbourne Grammar School, which he joined in 1908.

In 1907 he married Rebecca Aedy. The couple went on to have two daughters: Margery and Jean.

Before his service, Hoggart gained military experience as a non-commissioned officer in a Geelong artillery militia unit, and as drill master of the Melbourne Grammar Cadets and Rifle Club.

Hoggart enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 9 October 1914, and soon took a commission as a captain in the newly formed 14th Infantry Battalion. Hoggart and the 14th Battalion trained at the Broadmeadows Camp near Melbourne, and in December sailed for Egypt, where they set up camp near Cairo. In a letter written to one of his former schoolmasters, Hoggart described the hot desert days and freezing nights in Egypt as like living “between a grill and a refrigerator”.

In early April, he sailed with his unit from Egypt to the Greek island of Lemnos in preparation for the landings on Gallipoli. Upon hearing of the planned attack, he wrote that, “If the expedition is successful the result should be historic and I for one will feel proud of having played a very small part.” Days later, Hoggart and the 14th Battalion landed near the rocky cliffs of what is now known as Anzac Cove.

Hoggart and the 14th Battalion did not take part in the initial dawn landings of 25 April, but were fully ashore by the following day.

On the morning of 27 April, Hoggart and his company were ordered to form part of an advance along a steep valley and occupy a position in the high ground that would become known as Quinn’s Post. As they advanced up the valley, they came under near constant Turkish shrapnel artillery fire.

Once at Quinn’s Post, Hoggart’s unit came under a sudden burst of heavy machine-gun fire that cut down several men. The survivors dropped to the ground and set about digging some defences, but were pinned down and unable to locate where the machine-gun fire was coming from.

Stuck in a hopeless situation, and despite the clear danger, Hoggart stood up to try and locate the Turkish gun in an attempt to save his men, but was shot and instantly killed.

He was buried near where he fell, one report stating that as he was laid to rest, he still had “his usual smile on his lips”.

He was 38 years old, survived by his wife and two young daughters.

His wife later wrote: “His last act was characteristic of him – an act of bravery, devotion, and thoughtfulness for others.”

In the chaos of the fighting that raged on Gallipoli in the coming months, the exact place of his burial at Quinn’s Post was lost. Instead, his gravestone at Quinn’s Post Cemetery reads that he is “Believed to be buried in the cemetery”. It also carries the inscription: “Their glory shall not be blacked out.”

Captain William Ross Hoggart’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Captain William Ross Hoggart, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section