Private Herbert Lawrence Smallbone

Herbert Lawrence Smallbone was born in Perth, Western Australia, around 1896, to parents Ivy and Mary nee Hutton. Prior to the war, he had two years of service with the cadets. His father died in 1904 at Toowoomba. His mother, Mary, married Thomas Mead Smith on 6 June 1906.

Smallbone was working as a blacksmith when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 11 January 1915. He embarked with the 25th Battalion at Brisbane on 29 June 1915, aboard HMAT Aeneas. Smallbone served on Gallipoli as a stretcher bearer. In his own words, he describes the only wound he received as ‘a mere scratch from a splinter under the eye – nothing worth mentioning.’ He was evacuated from the peninsula with enteric fever on 3 November 1915 and hospitalised in Alexandria.

Smallbone returned to Australia, after convalescing at Port Said, and was one of a contingent of wounded soldiers who marched through Toowoomba on 9 February 1916. At the time, he was reported to be ‘very jolly’ and ‘obviously pleased to be home again for a thorough rest’.

The reporter at the time observed that Smallbone was ‘anxious to return at the first opportunity,’ and so he did, re-enlisting. He embarked with the 18th reinforcements of the 15th Battalion at Brisbane on 4 May 1916, aboard HMAT Seang Choon. On 19 January 1917, he joined the 15th Battalion at Bazentin-le-Grand, France, where as many men as possible were learning about wiring. He also became a member of the 15th Battalion Band, playing the cornet. In April, he was sent to hospital with scabies, and did not rejoin the battalion until 17 days later, on 26 April 1917.

Smallbone remained in France after the armistice and was granted leave to the UK for 4 days in January 1919. He rejoined the battalion at Philippeville, France, on 18 January 1919, the same day that the Brigade Sports were scheduled and later abandoned due to unfavourable weather. In early March 1919, he was again sent to hospital because of sickness, and during this period he was demobilised from France back to the UK for return to Australia, where he arrived aboard HMAT Beltana on 2 June 1919.

After the war, he lived at Toowoomba and married Viva Hilda Harper in Queensland on 4 September 1920. Following their marriage, the couple had 6 sons and 1 daughter. In 1937, his occupation was recorded as a labourer and was residing in the Brisbane suburb of Griffith. Herbert Smallbone died in Brisbane on 8 December 1959.