Tropical mess waistcoat : Lieutenant G A Hill, Royal Naval Reserve

Places
Accession Number REL30433
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Uniform
Physical description Cotton; Gilded brass
Maker Gieve, Matthews & Seagrove Ltd
Place made United Kingdom
Date made c 1909-1915
Conflict Period 1910-1919
First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Naval officer's tropical mess waistcoat. The single breasted low cut waistcoat with a roll collar, is fastened with four gilded brass Royal Navy officer's buttons. There are two small welt pockets set between the line of the second and third buttons. The front of the waistcoat is made from white marcella weave cotton, lined with a fine, plain weave white cotton. The back is made from a double layer of the same plain weave cotton. There are self fabric adjustment straps at the back waist, with a fabric covered button. There is a red woven manufacturer's label inside the back neck, marked in black ink 'G.A.HILL.'.

History / Summary

Gerald Ashby Hill was born at Birmingham, England in 1880. He had already qualified as a master mariner in the Merchant Navy when he was taken on strength in the Royal Naval Reserve as a sub-lieutenant in 1909.

Hill was promoted to lieutenant in 1913 and in May that year was lent for duty aboard HMAS Australia. He was a member of the Military (sea-going) Branch and had completed short courses in signalling, gunnery and torpedoes.

This was typical of experienced merchant seaman who were recruited and trained by the Royal Navy and then sent to Australia to assist with development and training in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), which had been established in 1911. Hill was posted to HMAS Yarra in July 1914 and took part in the seizure of German New Britain by the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF).

HILL commanded one of the columns sent to capture the Bitapaka Road on 11 September 1914 and was the first member of the Australian forces to capture an armed enemy force in the First World War. He transferred to the RAN in 1915 and served in HMAS Torrens in European waters for the rest of the war. Hill retired in 1920 and settled in Sydney, dying there in 1931.