The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1412) Private William Ethelbert Abbott, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, 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 Meleah Hampton, the story for this day was on (1412) Private William Ethelbert Abbott, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, First World War.

1412 Private William Ethelbert Abbott, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion
KIA: 3 October 1918


Today we remember and pay tribute to Private William Ethelbert Abbott.

William Abbott was born around 1882 in Enniskillen, Ireland, one of two children born to the Reverend John Thomas and Phoebe Abbott.

At some point in his early life, he was adopted by the Reverend John and Mary Knox, also of Eniskillen.

In 1910 Abbott, now 27 years old, was living in Blacklion, County Enniskillen, when he decided to emigrate to Australia.

After arriving in Sydney, he went to live with Mary Knox and her family, who he had known in Ireland.

By the time the First World War began Abbott had moved to Solomon Islands, where he was working as a planter and overseer. He returned to Sydney and enlisted for service in the Australian Imperial Force at Liverpool on 17 May 1915.

Joining the newly raised 20th Battalion, Abbott was allotted to D Company. After initial training, on 26 June Abbott and the 20th Battalion embarked from Sydney on board the transport ship Berrima, bound for Egypt. After a brief stop, the 20th Battalion was sent on to Gallipoli, arriving in the early hours of 22 August. The sounds of war would have been audible for quite a distance and the charnel smell of the peninsula which could be smelt up to a mile offshore would have quieted even the most ardent joker.

Abbott and his comrades did not have to wait long to see action. With the August offensive in its final stages, the 20th Battalion and the other battalions of the 5th Brigade were committed to the Battle of Hill 60.

From September until the end of the Gallipoli campaign in December, the 20th Battalion rotated from Russell’s Top to the support areas. On 13 December, a week before the evacuation on the Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman artillery pounded the Australian positions around Russell’s Top. During the bombardment, one officer was killed, and Abbott was wounded in the head by shrapnel.

He was evacuated to Egypt where he was admitted to the No. 1 Auxiliary Hospital at Heliopolis. His wound was not severe, and on 16 January 1916 he rejoined his battalion which had returned to Egypt.

Over the next two months the AIF in Egypt expanded from two to four divisions, all of which were brought up to strength with reinforcements from Australia.

In mid-March Abbott sailed for France with his battalion, landing at Marseilles a week later. The 20th Battalion was then sent to the Nursery Sector near Armentieres and went into the front line for the first time in the Bridoux Salient.

The 20th Battalion was the first Australian unit to come face to face with the Germans at the front. On the night of 5 May, German troops conducted a trench raid on the battalion’s positions. The Germans had shelled the Australian trenches for several hours before launching the raid. The 20th Battalion’s casualties were heavy, with 23 men killed, 72 wounded and 13 missing in action.

The battalion was sent south to the Somme in July and on 23 July Abbott was transferred to the 5th Machine Gun Company. Over the next 18 months he saw action at Pozieres, Bullecourt and during the Third Ypres campaign.

In February 1918 he was granted leave to England. It appears that he overstayed his leave by several days. After returning to his unit in early March, he was charged with being absent without leave. He was awarded 28 days of Field Punishment Number 2 and fined 32 days’ pay.

The same month the 5th Machine Gun Company was incorporated into the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion. At the end of March, Abbott took part in stemming the German Spring Offensive on the Somme, then in August, was part of the Allied offensive that would bring about Germany’s defeat on the Western Front.

On the morning of 3 October, Abbott’s 5th Machine Gun Company was involved in supporting the attack by the 5th and 7th Brigades on the Beaurevoir Line near the town of Estrees. During the attack Abbott’s company was hit by shell-fire. Casualties were light, with one officer wounded and one man killed. That man was Abbott. He had been struck by shrapnel and killed instantly. He was 35 years old.

In a further cruel twist, it was the last action fought by Abbott’s unit as they were withdrawn from the line immediately after and saw no further action in the war.

Abbott’s body was laid to rest in the Prospect Hill Cemetery at Gouy. After the war his name was added to the Enniskillen War Memorial in his old hometown.

Two of his stepbrothers also served during the First World War. Private Charles William Knox, serving with the 29th Battalion, was killed at Polygon Wood on 29 September 1917, he was 22 years old. Trooper Arthur Stewart Knox served with the 12th Light Horse in the Sinai-Palestine campaign. He was returned to Australia in late 1918 after being kicked in the face by a horse. He survived the war, but died in 1925.

His 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 Private William Ethelbert Abbott, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section