June 2017 – Edition 147

Location of houses at 201 and 303 Lennox Street

 

Arthur and his second wife lived in Lennox Street for over 30 years.

In terms of location, Lennox Street was a wide well-drained “respectable” street connecting 2 major roads (Swan Street and Bridge Road) and originally had cottages of similar or larger size. Arthur grew up in an adjacent street (Richmond Terrace) which crossed Lennox Street.

The second house was conveniently placed, being only a short walk (less than 100 yards/metres) from shops and city trams and trains. For the sports-minded Arthur it was also within walking distance (500 yards/metres) from the home ground of the Richmond Football Club at Punt Road Park, and if he was thirsty he could call in at the nearby famous Cricketers Arms Hotel in Punt Road, shown in the above photo.

SP Bookies 

 

If Arthur was a horse racing enthusiast he could have placed a bet on the horses with one of the local SP bookmakers. These bookmakers (their acronym standing for “Starting Price” for some historic reason) were illegal but operated in the back rooms of local hotels like those hotels close to where Arthur lived.

And therein lies a story. In Richmond (as in many Melbourne and Sydney areas) the local police had a “protection” racket whereby they turned a blind eye to the SP bookies provided they made a regular cash donation to the Richmond Police Retirement Fund (if you know what I mean).

Perhaps Arthur, being of a sporting background, laid bets with the forbear of one of our readers (Anita Veale nee Jerrems) during his residence in Richmond. This redoubtable lady was herself an SP bookie, but she objected to making donations to the Police Retirement Fund, possibly for financial rather than moral reasons. One day the local Police Sergeant, who collected for the Fund, removed the slats from the lady’s toilet window and managed to squeeze his robust body through the window. Caught red-handed, she was prosecuted and was put out of business.

This was of course very light fare when one considers that between 1900 and the First World War the notorious Squizzy Taylor and his gang roamed the streets of Richmond and adjacent suburbs at night. As a long term resident of Richmond, Arthur (now in his fifties) would have known the health benefits of staying home at night.

I will tell you more about Squizzy Tailor, who lived only a few streets from Arthur, in a later article, and I will also tell you about the famous soprano Dame Nellie Melba, who was born in Richmond also.

Arthur’s children

 

Here is a photo of the Sydney Mortuary Station referred to previously.

As mentioned in my previous article, Arthur and Henrietta had 4 children, the first being Arthur Reginald (b1879, d1880), the second also being named Arthur Reginald (b1880, d1957), the third was Elsie May (b&d 1883) and the fourth was Frank William (b1885, d1963).

Arthur Reginald (Jnr)

Arthur was the first child to survive infancy. By coincidence, I referred to him in a previous article in the context of Lunatic Asylums. Arthur was an inmate of Mount Ararat Lunatic Asylum from 1916 and could possibly have been in an institution prior to that date.

Frank William

 

Born in 1885, Frank’s life got off to a shaky start with the death of his mother Henrietta in 1890. This would have been very traumatic for a youngster. We then have a hiatus of five years until his father married Emily Wilkins in 1895.

During this five year period the range of assistance available to Arthur Snr from the Jerrems side would have been quite restricted. Three of his brothers and a sister had long since moved out of Melbourne, and the only brother living in Melbourne (Robert) had died in 1888, leaving only Arthur’s mother (Elizabeth) aged 74 and his sister Catherine to assist Arthur when Henrietta died. It would have been impossible for Arthur to bring up Frank and his older brother Arthur Jnr by himself, so we can safely assume that Elizabeth and/or Catherine (who was employed as a housekeeper) helped, or somebody from Henrietta’s extensive family stepped in.

Possibly hanging over the family, like a little black cloud, was the fact that Frank’s older brother, Arthur Jnr, was mentally ill. Perhaps this did not evince itself until later, but there is still the possibility that it was apparent when he was young.

After Arthur remarried it would be safe to assume that his new wife (Emily) had looked after Frank and Arthur Jnr.

It is very likely that Frank went to the Primary School in Lennox Street, Richmond. By law he would also have had to go to High School until he was fourteen.

Frank’s occupations

Unlike his father and his uncle Robert’s children, who all lived in Richmond for all (or mostly all) of their lives, before the First World War Frank moved around and tried different occupations. It seems, curiously, that he did not follow his father’s occupation as an upholsterer.

In 1909 he was a newsagent at East Caulfield, in 1914 he was a labourer at Moorabbin, and in 1915 in his Enlistment Application showed his occupation as Market Gardener. But he did not move far away, the distances from Richmond being Caulfield 10km and Moorabbin 15km.

 

Frank’s First World War Record

Here is a photo of a rifle used during the evacuation of Gallipoli. To conceal the fact that the area was being evacuated, on the last night the rifles were set up to fire later. Water dripped from the top container to the lower billy can. When the billy can was full it pulled a cord connected to the trigger.

Frank served in the First World War, enlisting in January 1915. It is interesting to note that when he enlisted Frank was a towering (just joking) five feet four and a half inches, he weighed a quite robust ten stone six pounds, and his chest measurement was 34 to 36 inches. Adding to the picture, he had a medium complexion, grey eyes, dark hair and his religion was Church of England.

After training in Australia he embarked for Gallipoli in April 1915 and in May was posted to B Company of the 6th Battalion.

The record of the 6th Battalion

The 6th Battalion had actually taken part in the original 25th April landing on Anzac Beach, and some of its members had managed to fight their way through narrow gullies and along narrow tortuous ridges, infested by heavy scrub, to reach the legendary Lone Pine (shown on the rear right of the aerial photo) the next day.

However the military significance of such advanced positions was negated (as with all the other eleven battalions at Gallipoli) by the fact that there were insufficient numbers to consolidate the positions and all the advance troops were forced to fall back, allowing time for the Turks to bring in their own troops. The fate of the whole campaign (stretching for a further five months) was thereby effectively sealed in the first few days.

To add to their difficulties, ten days later the 6th Battalion were thrown into the ill-fated and misconceived attack at Cape Helles, further along the coast of the Gallipoli Peninsular, sustaining heavy casualties.

Frank enters the fray

It was against this backdrop that Frank was brought in as a reinforcement for the Battalion. Conditions were atrocious, with poor food, resulting in malnutrition, bowel complaints and constipation. To make things worse, until very limited water rations were brought in by ship, the drinking water was polluted by rotting corpses, causing dysentery. Casualties caused by illness exceeded those caused by the Turks.

The poor diet of bully beef and “hard tack” biscuit obviously took its toll on Frank because in mid August he was transferred from Gallipoli to hospital on Malta suffering from piles (haemorrhoids) and, probably due to further complications such as infection, in early September he was sent to hospital in London suffering from pyrexia [fever] and NYD [not known].

At this stage Frank was obviously medically unfit for return to Gallipoli or France because from January 1916 until December 1917 (two years) he worked in a Supply Depot at Weymouth, a major port in Devon on the east coast, reaching (as stated in his record) the rank of Lance Sergeant.

Future article about Gallipoli

My research over the years has shown that five relatives of readers of the journal served at Gallipoli. Two were killed, one was wounded at Lone Pine but stayed on, and the remaining two (including Frank) were evacuated due to illness. I feel that it is time for me to write an article about Gallipoli.

Frank returns to the fray

After further training Frank went to France in early May, 1918, rejoining the 6th Battalion, however his troubles were far from over because he was wounded by a bullet to the left hand on 11th August, while taking part in the major Allied Spring Offensive. After being treated in hospital until 30th September he returned to Weymouth and left for Australia in November. He was finally discharged from the Army in February 1919.

According to the Australian War Museum’s summary of the campaigns in which the Sixth Division served (as relevant to Frank), in March and April 1918 the battalion helped stop the German Spring Offensive and later participated in the Allies’ own offensive, launched near Amiens on 8 August 1918. The advance by British and empire troops was the greatest success in a single day on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as “the black day of the German Army in this war”.

It is possible that Frank’s change to clerical positions after the War was the result of his experience in clerical work during his service in the Weymouth Depot during the War.

After returning to Australia Frank lived at Kew, four km from Richmond.

Conclusion

 

In a future article I will tell you about Frank’s marriage to Gladys Gosman and the birth of their son Ronald.