The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Second Lieutenant Bartholomew James Stubbs, 51st 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on Second Lieutenant Bartholomew James Stubbs, 51st Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Second Lieutenant Bartholomew James Stubbs, 51st Battalion, AIF
KIA 26 September 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Second Lieutenant Bartholomew James Stubbs.

Born in Bendigo, Victoria, on 31 May 1872, Bartholomew Stubbs was the second son of mining manager William Stubbs and his wife Catherine. Known to his family and friends as “Jim”, Stubbs attended Christian Brothers School in Bendigo, after which he became an apprentice tailor. Through this work he joined a trade union and was introduced to the Labor Party.

In 1894, the 22-year-old moved to Perth where he ran a tailoring business in Subiaco. It was here Stubbs met the widow Alice Rewell, whom he married in 1897. He became stepfather to Alice’s two children and in 1905 the couple also took in Alice’s five-year-old orphaned niece.

Stubbs became steadily more involved in workers’ rights and conditions; in 1896 he had been a founding member of the Perth Tailors’ Society, which eventually became a trade union. For some years, he worked at Kalgoorlie, and on his return to Perth in 1911 Stubbs was selected as the Labor Party candidate for the seat of Subiaco and won the 3 October election by a narrow margin. According to the Speaker of the House, the new member proved to be “an able, earnest and conscientious parliamentarian”, who among other things had fought to promote humanitarian social measures. His skills in oratory were considerable, as were his powers of persuasion; at one speaking event in 1913, he was praised for his moral courage in convincing his own supporters to let his opponents have their fair say.

Stubbs became well-known and admired in his Subiaco electorate and was seen as a generous benefactor to local charities and organisations. Having been a keen sportsman in his younger days, he now represented the Subiaco Football Club on the Committee of the West Australian Football League.

Stubbs was re-elected three years later, by which time the world had gone to war. A strong supporter of the allied cause, Stubbs initially served on a recruitment committee and spoke on numerous occasions, encouraging men to join up. Yet he also felt the responsibility to lead by example. He was well above the maximum age for enlistment in the early stages of the war; but by mid-1915 it had been raised to 45. At 43, he could now enlist. Having urged “middle-aged men without children or other ties … [to] volunteer before the young married men”, Stubbs now followed through.

Enlisting on 14 February 1916 , he was allotted to the 8th Reinforcements for the 51st Infantry Battalion, a largely Western Australian battalion. After basic training, Stubbs attended the Royal Military College at Duntroon, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in August 1916. Leading the reinforcements, Stubbs embarked in Fremantle aboard the troopship Berrima on 23 December 1916. Eight weeks later they disembarked at Plymouth Harbour in England.

For the remainder of February and March 1917 the troops were put through their paces at training battalions on Salisbury Plain while Stubbs attended an officer training school. Towards the end of June Stubbs was sent to the front in Belgium. On 3 July he finally joined the 51st Battalion, but there would be more training in store as the battalion prepared for a big offensive.

By the summer of 1917, three years of fighting in France and Belgium had resulted in a bloody stalemate. There seemed no end in sight as casualties continued to mount. Few places on the Western Front were as dreaded as the Ypres sector in Belgium. But it was here that the allies would make a big push against the Germans, who seemed invincible, lodged on the Passchendaele heights.

The offensive began at the end of July but despite good early progress, German resistance soon hardened. The 51st continued training well to the rear of the lines, and Stubbs took the opportunity to get to know the platoon he was now leading, and prepare them for battle.

In early August, he also sent a cable confirming he would run again in the upcoming state election. On 12 September Stubbs retained his seat unopposed. While serving in the army, he donated his parliamentary salary to charity.

Now came time for the 4th Australian Division – to which the 51st belonged – to play their part in the great offensive. As exhausted divisions were pulled out, fresh ones came in to keep the attack going. On 26 September the Battle of Polygon Wood commenced. Protected by a massive artillery barrage, the 51st Battalion advanced at 5:50 am and had easily captured their objective by 08 o’clock.

As the men consolidated the position, it appeared casualties had been remarkably light. Relatively speaking, yes; but that day the 51st suffered a total of 124 casualties – about a quarter of them killed. Among the dead was Second Lieutenant Bartholomew J. Stubbs. Having led his platoon of B Company forward, Stubbs and his men were digging in on the objective when an enemy sniper found his mark. Hit in the chest, Stubbs fell dead.

According to an account written years after the war, upon seeing him fall, one man stripped off his kit and went forward with rifle and bayonet to avenge Stubbs. The Australian stalked his prey and upon finding him, despatched the sharpshooter, ignoring the plea of surrender.

Stubbs was buried near where he fell, but like so many others in this devastated battlefield, his remains were never recovered. His name, therefore, appears on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, in the town of Ieper. He was 45 years old.

The battalion commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ridley, spoke highly of Stubbs: “He had endeared himself to everybody, officer and man alike, with whom he came in contact … [and] his one desire was to take part in some actual fighting at the head of his men.”

Word of Stubbs’s death reached home around 6 October, where the news “was received with widespread regret among all sections of the community, particularly in parliamentary and trades union circles”.

His name is also 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 Second Lieutenant Bartholomew James Stubbs, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Craig Tibbitts
Historian, Military History Section