Many descendants of Thomas and Ann Stone have served their country in time of war. This page is an attempt to gather together some information about those who served in the First World War. It will be a work in progress for quite some time and I would welcome any contributions that you would like to send me.
Private William Thomas Alford
The third son of Thomas and Margaret Alford he was born in Woodstock West, Victoria on 26 December 1891. His mother was a granddaughter of Thomas and Ann Stone.
A 24 year old farmer, he enlisted on the 17 January 1916 at Bendigo, Victoria. On the 4 April 1916 he embarked at Melbourne on HMAT Euripides and after arriving In England proceeded to France and joined the 59th Battalion on the 8 October 1916.
The HMAT A14 Euripides weighed 15,050 tons with an average cruise speed of 15 knots or 27.78 kph. It was owned by the G Thompson & Co Ltd, London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 2 June 1917.
Like any young man he experienced various ups and downs. On the 28 December 1916 he was awarded 4 hours of pack drill for being unshaven on parade. In April 1917 he was wounded slightly but was able to return to duty. And on the 9 November 1917 there is the following note in his Service Record:
“The Army Corps Commander wishes to express his appreciation of the gallant services rendered during the recent operations.”
William returned to England in March 1919 in anticipation of returning home but was sick in hospital in Weymouth for a few days. He then embarked on the “Durham” to return to Australia on the 22 May 1919 and disembarked on the 21 July 1919. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Lance Corporal James Curnow
James Curnow was born at Fentons Creek between Wedderburn and St Arnaud in Central Victoria on 26 December 1893. His parents were John Albert and Mary May Curnow, his mother being a granddaughter of Thomas and Ann Stone.
He was a farmer and enlisted in Melbourne on 8 November 1916 not long before his 24th birthday. He embarked on the HMAT Medic in Melbourne on 16 December 1916 and arrived in Plymouth on 18 February 1917.
He joined the 37th Battalion A.I.F. in France on 1 September 1917. On 10 August 1918 he was appointed Lance Corporal before being transferred to the 38th Battalion.
In a medical report prepared on 15 February 1919 prior to demobilization he is described as suffering from Bronchial catarrh which dated back to December 1917 when he was serving in Messines: “Began to catch colds which were hard to shake off in the cold weather. Had Influenza June 1918. This winter colds have recurred but not in hospital.” He embarked on the “Wiltshire” the 4 July 1919 and disembarked on 19 August 1919. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
The HMAT A18 Wiltshire weighed 10,390 tons with an average cruise speed of 13.5 knots or 25.00 kmph. It was owned by the Commonwealth & Dominion Line Ltd, London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 2 October 1917.
Private Edmund David Field
Edmund David Field was born on 1 March 1897 at Williamstown, Victoria. He was the son of William Thomas Brainard Field and his wife Maud Mary (nee Chandler). His father was a grandson of Thomas and Ann Stone.
At the time he enlisted on 27 January 1917 he was employed as a clerk and was living with his parents at 22 Grattan Street, Carlton. As he was under age his parents gave their consent to his enlistment. He had been a member of the Senior Cadets for four years.
He embarked on HMAT Arcanius in Melbourne on 11 May 1917 and arrived at Devonport, England on 20 July 1917 before joining the 6th Training Battalion at Rollestone.
He proceeded to France on 14 November 1917 and joined the 21st Battalion in the field.
After helping to blunt the German spring offensive of April 1918, the 21st battalion participated in the battles that would mark the beginning of Germany’s defeat ‘ Hamel, Amiens and Mont St. Quentin. The fighting for Mont St Quentin resulted in the battalion’s only Victoria Cross, awarded to Sergeant Albert Lowerson.
Australian War Memorial Website: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51461
Like many Australian battalions, the 21st could barely muster a company after the 1918 offensive. It was ordered to disband and reinforce its sister battalions. In response, the men of the 21st mutinied on 25 September 1918. By the end of that day, the order was withdrawn, and the battalion fought its last battle at Montbrehain on 5 October. The following day it became the last Australian battalion to withdraw from active operations on the Western Front. The 21st Battalion was disbanded on 13 October 1918.
He was transferred to the 24th Battalion on 13 October 1918 and had leave in the U.K. in November.
In April 1919 he was hospitalized in France on several occasions with Influenza before being admitted to the Military Hospital at Lewisham. He requested discharge which was granted on 28 April 1919 and he then returned to Australia on HMAT Mahia, leaving Devonport on 5 June 1919. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Private Herbert William Field
Herbert William Field was born at Williamstown, Victoria the 30 September 1896, the second son of Herbert Edwin and Arabella Field. His father was a grandson of Thomas and Ann Stone. A bootmaker by trade his parents consented to his enlisting on 16 June 1917 as he was still under age.
He embarked on HMAT Ulysses in Melbourne on 22 December 1917 and after spending a week in camp at Suez continued on HMT Leasowe Castle to Southampton, arriving 14 Feb 1918.
He joined the 37th Battalion in France on 9 May 1918. He spent some time in hospital in August 1918 after receiving a gunshot wound in the neck and in September was back in hospital with influenza.
He returned to Melbourne for demobilization on HMAT Persic, arriving on 29 August 1919. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Sergeant Alec McKenzie Hepburn
He embarked in Melbourne on HMAT Ulysses 22 December 1914 and saw action at the Dardanelles where he received a gunshot wound to the wrist and shoulder in May 1915.
Alex McKenzie Hepburn was the second son of James and Margaret Jane Hepburn and was a 21 year old clerk when he enlisted on 1 October 1914. His mother was a granddaughter of Thomas and Ann Stone.
In June 1916 He arrived in Marseilles, France from Alexandria but in August he was sent to the Keighley Military Hospital in Yorkshire with gun shot wounds to the shoulder and buttocks.
He returned to France in April 1917 but by July he was back in hospital suffering from dysentery. He died at the 1st London General Hospital in Camberwell on 12 November 1917 and was buried in the Australian Military Burial Ground at Brookwood Cemetery. He was posthumously awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Lieutenant Edward Andrew Hepburn
Edward Andrew was the older brother of Alec McKenzie Hepburn, a 24 year old civil engineer who had been in the Junior Cadets at Scotch College, Melbourne and then the University Rifles. He enlisted on 28 June 1915 and embarked from Melbourne on HMAT Wandilla , 9 November 1915.
In the early part of 1916 he suffered from appendicitis and was treated in several military hospitals in Egypt but by June he was in France and wounded in action on 21 July 1916
From February 1918 he did duty as Gas Officer with various units. This position involved the oversight of all gas-defence training and supplies so that the men were well prepared in the event of German gas attack. He was Mentioned in Despatches on 16 March 1919.
He returned to England from France in April 1919 and before leaving Southampton on 18 July 1919 to return to Melbourne he married Minnie Evelyn Sparrow from Bingley, West Yorkshire on 1 May at Ebenezer Chapel, Keighley five miles away on the road into Bradford.
He disembarked in Melbourne from the “Orsova” on 4 September 1919. He received the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Sister Mary Eleanor Hobbs
Mary Eleanor Hobbs was the older daughter of the Rev. John Hobbs and Mary Finlay Hope and her mother was a granddaughter of Thomas and Ann Stone. She was born in Gore, Southland, New Zealand on 9 October 1884.
When she enlisted on 6 July 1915 she was a Night Sister at Wellington Hospital where she had gained her State Certificate in 1910.
When war broke out the New Zealand Army Nursing Service had not yet been formed although Hester Maclean had been appointed Matron-in Chief in 1911. Then in January 1915 the New Zealand government offered to provide fifty nurses for overseas service.
These were carefully chosen, all Pakeha (white) with at least six years nursing experience and unmarried. They sailed from Wellington in April and arrived in Plymouth in May but went back to Egypt where they were needed to nurse the sick and wounded from Galilipoli.
Mary Eleanor Hobbs was part of the second contingent of eleven New Zealand nurses who sailed from Wellington in July 1915 on the hospital ship Maheno together with Medical Corps doctors, orderlies and chaplains.
The Maheno and its sister ship Marama were passenger steamers operated by the Union Steam Ship Company which were pressed into service as hospital ships in 1915 after being fitted out as “state-of-the-art floating hospitals” with the help of public fund-raising encouraged by the Governor of New Zealand, Lord Liverpool. As you can see the ships conformed to the rules of the Hague Convention of 1907 and were clearly marked with white hulls, green stripes and red crosses.
Mary did not spend long in Egypt but after making a return trip to New Zealand on the troop transport ship Willochra between December 1915 and April 1916 (taking the wounded home and returning with reinforcements) she sailed for England, disembarking at Southampton on 19 June 1916. She was then taken on strength at the NZ General Hospital No. 1 at Brokenhurst where she was promoted from Staff Nurse to Sister on 3 September 1916.
Brockenhurst Hospital had previously been a hospital for Indian soldiers and was taken over by the New Zealand authorities in June 1916. It was one of three general hospitals in England established by the New Zealand Medical Corps. Mary would continue there as a member of staff until the end of 1918 except for a fortnight in April 1917 when she was a patient instead – with measles.
She resigned from the Nursing Service on 8 January 1918 in order to marry Charles Kennedy Dick a Sergeant in the New Zealand Field Ambulance on that day in Winchester. Charles had been on the staff at Brokenhurst since April 1917 but was moved to NZ General Hospital No 2 at Walton-on-Thames in September. They lived in Walton-on-Thames until they returned to New Zealand in March 1919 and their first child John Stuart Dick was born there on 22 December 1918.
She received the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Second-lieutenant Stephen Maundrell Hobbs
One of the patients at Brokenhurst Hospital while Mary Eleanor Hobbs was nursing there was her younger brother Stephen who was admitted there from France on 17 August 1917 suffering from gun-shot wounds to both legs. On the right leg the wounds were above and below the knee and the left leg had two wounds just above the knee.
Stephen Maundrell Hobbs was born on 6 February 1887 at Gore, New Zealand and was the middle child of the family of the Rev. John Hobbs and his wife Mary Finlay (nee Hope).
When he enlisted on 7 March 1916 he had been practising as a Public Accountant in Feilding since 1914 and it was only three months since he had married Lilianne Eva D’Oyley in Wellington on 12 December 1915.
Stephen embarked with the 21st Reinforcements for the 1st Battalion, Wellington Regiment 19 January 1917 on the S.S. Waitemata at Wellington for an eleven week voyage to Devonport, Plymouth which would take them around the Cape of Good Hope.
As you might expect it would be important to look after the welfare of the troops as they shared this long time together and quite a varied programme was arranged which included various sports events, Bridge and other card games, Debating, Chess and a concert involving visiting artists. Most importantly there was the ceremony of “Crossing the Line” when they reached the Equator when 2nd Lieutenant Hobbs was charged with “having enlisted under an assumed name, inasmuch as he has since been found to be known to the police as Launcelot Gobbo” ( a mischievous character in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice). All this was recorded in a small publication which was later printed in London.
Stephen and his compatriots were quickly brought back to the harsh realities of life when they marched into Sling Camp near Bulford on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, not far from many other British and Australian camps.
There was much that was new to be learned. Drill and musketry required to be smartened up, range practices had to be fired; then came wiring, bomb-fusing and throwing, gas-mask drill, with visits to the gas chamber, Lewis gun instruction, trench stunts on the latest methods, mock attacks, and trench-digging. In the early days, when reinforcements were wanted for France, men were kept in Sling only a week or two, and then were sent across efficient or inefficient; but after 1916 they usually took the full course of thirty days. At the end of that time they were fit, hardy, disciplined, lean visaged troops—troops that any general would covet.
p 249, Lt H. T. B. Drew, “The New Zealand Camps in England” in The War Effort of New Zealand, Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd, 1923, Auckland
Stephen left for France on 24 May 1917 and after three weeks at the transit camp at Etaples joined the battalion in the field on 18 June 1917. On the 31 July he was wounded in action in both legs and after treatment in the field he spent a fortnight in the army general hospital in Rouen before being admitted to Brokenhurst on 17 August 1917.
By November his wounds had healed quite well but there was evidence of muscle and nerve injury which meant that he would be unfit for general service for two to three months. As a result he embarked on the S. S. Arawa in Plymouth to return to New Zealand on 10 January 1918.
He received the British War Medal. He joined the New Zealand Territorial Force in 1922 and was posted to the Retired List on 26 August 1928.
E.R. Sergeant Adrian Frederick Hope
Trooper Adrian Frederick Hope was the third son of Cornelius and Ella Mary Louise Hope and a twenty year old farmer when he enlisted a month before his older brother, Edward Somerville Hope, joining on 27 August 1914 at Pontville, Tasmania.
He left Australia on the 22 October 1914 to join the 3rd Light Horse Regiment in Egypt and continued to Gallipoli on 13 November 1915 only to return to Egypt in the following month when the regiment became part of the Western Frontier Force.
He remained in the Middle East with the 3rd Light Horse but in December 1916 after completing a training course he was detached to the signals service with the rank of Corporal. In all this time he had suffered from various minor illnesses which had required admission to hospital.
In August 1917 he transferred to the 1st Light Horse Training Regiment at the School of Instruction at Zeitoun. However after another stay in hospital in September – October 1917 he reverted to the ranks at his own request and returned to the 3rd Light Horse.
On the 31 March 1918 he rejoined the 1st L.H.T.R. at Zeitoun, and was appointed Acting Corporal without pay. On 9 June he was promoted to Extra Regimental Sergeant. Then on 13 October he embarked at Suez for return to Australia per H.T. Devon, arriving in Melbourne on 23 November 1918. He was discharged in Hobart on 24 January 1919.
He received the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
He didn’t remain in civilian life for very long. He joined the Permanent Forces on 22 August 1919 to serve in the Special School of Instruction with the temporary appointment of Acting Staff Sergeant-Major. He remained in the permanent army until he retired in 1951.
He spent most of this time in New South Wales, living at Armidale with his wife and daughter. He married Mabel Heckenberg in Burwood N.S.W on 30 October 1919 and their daughter Wanda was born on 3 September 1925.
Private Angus James Hope
Angus James Hope was a nineteen year old labourer when he enlisted on the 1st December 1914.
He was the oldest son of Dr James Somerville Hope and his wife Alvida Emilie and was born near Smithton, Tasmania on 19 June 1895.
He joined the 12th Battalion in Egypt but he contracted Meningitis and died at the Mena Hospital to the south of Cairo on 3 April 1915.
He was posthumously awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Sergeant Cornelius Hope
Cornelius Hope was born 15 February 1895 in Barrington, Tasmania, the son of William Alfred and Maria Sabina Hope. His father was a grandson of Thomas and Ann Stone. At the time he enlisted he was a teacher with the Education Department and had been in the Senior Cadets and six months in the 91st Infantry. He enlisted at Brighton, Tasmania on 10 September 1914.
He was appointed to “C” Company in the 12th Battalion and on the 2 March 1915 was embarked on EMT Devanha for the Gallipoli Peninsula. Unfortunately his service was interrupted on a number of occasions when he was hospitalized with enteric disease and he returned to Australia on the Kanowna in October 1915.
On the 22 May 1916 he was appointed a Sergeant in the all Tasmanian 40th Battalion and proceeded overseas to France in November 1916. During 1917 he suffered gas poisoning on two occasions as well as a gun shot wound to his left leg and the index finger of his right hand.
His health was not good during 1918 and he returned to Australia in December 1918. He received the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
He returned to his profession of school teacher and married Gladys Morey in 1921. They had three daughters and lived in Paviour Street, New Town, Tasmania. He died on 24 October 1960.
Corporal Edward Somerville Hope
Edward Somerville Hope was born in New Norfolk, Tasmania on 13 May 1893, the second son of Cornelius and Ella Mary Louise Hope. He was a clerk in the Office of Taxes when enlisted at Pontville, Tasmania on 15 September 1914.
He was appointed to the 15th Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade AIF, and Corporal on 1 October 1914 and proceeded to the Gallipoli Peninsula on 12 April 1915.
In May he was wounded in action and died at sea while being transported to Alexandria in HMHS Lutzow on 9 May 1915. He was posthumously awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Gunner Kenneth Bertram Hope
Kenneth Bertram Hope enlisted at Launceston, Tasmania on 23 April 1918, aged nineteen and a half. His parents were Cornelius and Ella Mary Louise Hope gave their consent and two of his older brothers had already served overseas.
He sailed from Hobart on 6 July 1918 on TSS Moeraki, arriving at Sydney and proceeding to the Liverpool Camp on 8 July 1918. After a week in Liverpool he embarked on HMAT Borda in Sydney on 17 July 1918 and sailed for England, arriving in London on 27 August 1918.
After artillery training at Fovant and Heystebury he achieved the rank of Gunner and transferred to Rouelles, France on 25 November 1918 before joining the 4th Division Artillery on 29 November 1918.
He returned to England on 1 February 1919 and on the 25 February embarked on the “Balmoral Castle” at Liverpool to return to Australia, arriving at Melbourne on 13 April 1919. He was discharged on 13 May 1919 and received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
He then began his medical studies at Melbourne University, graduating in 1924. He practiced in Melbourne before joining the Commonwealth Department of Public Health and became head of the quarantine services.
He married Brenda Madeline Law in 1928 and they had three children, Kenneth, Robert and Wendy.
During WW2 he served with the 2/2nd Field Ambulance with the rank of Major.
Private Felix Ariel Lyon
Felix Ariel Lyon was a twenty-one year old farmer from Thomson’s Brook, Western Australia when he enlisted on 13 September 1915 at Bunbury, Western Australia and he passed the preliminary medical examination.
However early in 1916 he was found to be medically unfit and discharged and he died from pneumonia on 27 August 1918 at his home at Thomson’s Brook, Western Australia.
Sapper John Barker Lyon
John Barker Lyon was Felix Ariel Lyon’s oldest brother and a forty-six year old blacksmith when he enlisted on 22 April 1917. He was a widower and gave as his next of kin his oldest son, Felix Osbert who was fifteen at the time.
He was judged fit for military service and joined the Tunnelling Company at Seymour, Victoria in May 1917 but was discharged on 18 September 1917 for medical reasons (being aged forty-seven!). After the first four weeks of training involving hours of physical training, squad drill and route marching he was suffering from fatigue to such an extent that he could not continue with the training.
Lieutenant Peter William Lyon
Peter William Lyon was one of the brothers of John Barker Lyon and Felix Ariel Lyon and the son of Henry Barker and Oceana Ellen Lyon. He was twenty-nine when he enlisted on 11 February 1915 and gave his occupation as “Traveller”. However he had been a member of the 18th Light Horse Regiment for three years.
He had married Ethel May Taylor in 1905 at Donnybrook, Western Australia and they had two sons, Malcolm William Lyon (b. 1910) and Leo Harry Lyon (b. 1912).
He embarked at Fremantle on 6 June 1915 on HMAT Geelong and then continued to the Dardanelles on HMT Berrima in July and was appointed Lance Corporal.
He was wounded in action at Gallipoli on 24 September 1915, receiving a shell wound to the left arm and was invalided to England. He rejoined the 11th Battalion in France in June 1916 as a Private, but after promotion to Corporal and then appointed acting Sergeant he was again promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in August and Lieutenant on 21 November 1916.
He was reported “Missing” on 15 April 1917 but this was later changed to “Prisoner of War”. The story of his capture and two attempts to escape from captivity is set out in an official statement he made on 3rd January 1919 which can be read here.
He returned to Australia on HT Wandilla, disembarking on 9 May 1919. He received the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal and was Mentioned in Despatches “for gallant conduct and determination displayed in escaping or attempting to escape from captivity”.
Lieutenant Frank Dixon Nicholas
Frank Dixon Nicholas was the second son of William Dixon Nicholas and his wife Annie (nee Hope) who was a granddaughter of Thomas and Ann Stone. He was a twenty-six year old bank teller and had served two years with the Tasmanian Rangers when he enlisted on 19 June 1916..
He embarked on HMAT Seang Bee in Adelaide on 10 February 1917 to join the 12th Battalion. After reaching England he attended the Command School at Durrington before proceeding to France on 11 October 1917.
He was appointed Lance Corporal on 10 November 1917 and after attending a course for aspirant officers he was selected to attend the No. 6 Officer Cadet Battalion at Balliol College, Oxford. This was not a university course but part of a military training program for officers which was conducted in various university colleges. He arrived on 4 January 1918 and in August had qualified for a commission in the Infantry and returned to his unit in France.
He was wounded in action on 18 September 1918 with gun shot wounds to both thighs and sent to England for treatment. He was able to return to his unit on 20 December1918 having been appointed Lieutenant at the beginning of the month.
He returned to Australia on the HT Ormonde, embarking on 16 June 1919. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Captain Percival Dixon Nicholas
Percival Dixon Nicholas was the eldest son of William Dixon and Annie Nicholas and the brother of Lieutenant Frank Dixon Nicholas.
He was a twenty-six year old surveyor when he enlisted on 2 September 1914 and had been a member of the Corps of Australian Engineers for two years. He embarked on HMAT Geelong for Egypt at Hobart on 20 October 1914.
He arrived at Gallipoli to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 2 Mar 1915 and by the end of April was back in Cairo with a gunshot wound to the chest and right arm. He rejoined his unit at Gallipoli in July and was made 2nd Lieutenant on 4 Aug 1915 and Lieutenant on 20 Feb 1916.
On 13 March 1916 he transferred to the No. 3 Machine Gun Company and attended the 11th Machine Gun School held at Zeitoun near Cairo. He left Alexandria for France on 29 Mar 1916 and rejoined the 12th Battalion on 17 April 1916, having been promoted to Captain.
On the morning of 25 July 1916 at Pozieres the Battalion were holding the line, having reached their objective the day before. “Capt. Nicholas was sitting in a Trench joking with some men of his company when a shell burst very close, a piece of which struck him on the head killing him instantly. He was buried in the Military Cemetery at Pozieres but it is not certain by whom. A cross was erected over his grave.” (Official Report)
Unfortunately the area was then subjected to heavy shell fire and fought over and the grave has never been found. He was posthumously awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal and he is commemorated at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
Private Eustace Evelyn Guy Seymour
Eustace Evelyn Guy Seymour was the youngest of the eleven children of Captain William Francis Steven Seymour and his wife Mary who was a granddaughter of Thomas and Ann Stone.
He was a twenty-three year old rivetter when he enlisted on 12 June 1915 and it would seem that he had been brought up by his mother on her own. In responding to an army request in 1920 about his father or other close relatives she replied “I may state that myself and family have not heard or seen anything of my late husband for twenty-five years so that his present address is unknown to me.”
He enlisted in Liverpool, N.S.W and I think that at the time he may have been staying with his sister Eleanor whose husband, the Rev. Frederick Archibald Reed was the Anglican Rector of Guildford, N.S.W.. She was also the beneficiary of the will he made at the time.
He embarked at Sydney on the HMAT Ceramic on 25 June 1915 and joined the 1st Battalion at Gallipoli on 5 August 1915. He received a bullet wound to the chest and face on 6 August 1915 and after being transferred to HS Neuralia he died on 10 August 1915 and was buried at sea.
He was posthumously awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Private John Francis Stephen Seymour
John Francis Stephen Seymour was one of E.E.G. Seymour’s older brothers. He was a twenty-eight year old butcher when he enlisted on 21 August 1914.
On 21 October 1914 he embarked on HMAT Orvieto in Melbourne and joined the 5th Battalion at Gallipoli early in April 1915 and before the month had ended he had received a gunshot wound in the left leg which required hospitalization back in Egypt.
He embarked on HMAT Hororata at Suez on 29 July 1915 to return to Australia and was discharged in Melbourne on 21 January 1916 on medical grounds (weakness in left lower limb). He received the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
John Francis Stephen Seymour on his return lived with his unmarried sister Annie Seymour at 6 Bent Street, Caulfield, Victoria. He got work at the Dunlop Tyre Company in March 1916 but was put off in October on account of losing so much time. As he said himself, “I was always losing time through sickness – sometimes for weeks, at other times a day or two a week.”
He began receiving a part pension on 13 July 1916 (suspended 2 October 1917) and worked from time to time as a casual labourer with the Victorian Railways at the Spencer Street Goods Shed in the period 1919 to 1924. In 1923 he went for a few months to Sydney and spent fifteen months in Western Australia in 1924-1925.
In 1926 his mental and physical health was failing and he was admitted to the Receiving House, Royal Park, Victoria on 10 June 1926. He died on 26 September 1927 from General Paralysis of the Insane (GPI) also known as Paralytic Dementia.
Private Arthur Edward Stone
Arthur Edward Stone was a twenty year old farmer when he enlisted on 3 April 1916. He was the third child of Edward Albert and Mary Maud Stone and his father was a grandson of Thomas and Ann Stone. He embarked on HMAT Themistocles in Melbourne on 28 July 1916 and on arrival in England had a short spell in the military hospital at Devonport before he joined the 6th Training Battalion at Larkhill.
On 15 February 1917 he joined the 21st Battalion in France and was wounded on two occasions, 3 May 1917 and 4 October 1917.
He was transferred to the 24th Battalion on 13 October 1918 and returned to Australia on HMAT Miltiades, leaving Plymouth on 19 June 1919. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Driver Stewart Stone
Algernon Stewart Arthur Stone when he enlisted in Brisbane on 4 January 1915 chose to use only one of his given names. He was the fourth child in the large family of Thomas and Catherine Lucy Stone who lived at Cootralantra in the Snowy Mountains area of New South Wales. At the time he was a twenty-one year old labourer and had previously served for eighteen months with the Cooma Volunteers. His father was a grandson of Thomas and Ann Stone.
He commenced service at Gallipoli as a Driver with the 5th Light Horse Regiment on 29 August 1915. In October he was admitted to hospital with enteric disease and transferred to the No 2 Australian General Hospital in Cairo. He returned to active service at the end of the month.
In October 1916 he was again admitted to hospital with a left inguinal hernia. When his parents received the news from the Base Records Office in Melbourne his mother wrote a very anxious reply. On discharge from hospital in December he was attached to the Australian Base Post Office in Kantara beside the Suez Canal.
In December 1917 he returned to the 11th Light Horse Regiment but by August 1918 his health had again deteriorated. On 22 December 1918 he embarked on HT Leicestershire at Suez to return to Australia.
He was discharged on 18 March 1919 and received the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Private Derwent Gerald Johnson Stone
Derwent Gerald Johnson Stone was Stewart Stone’s older brother and a twenty-four year old farmer when he enlisted in Toowoomba, Queensland on 18 January 1916. He embarked at Sydney on 16 May 1916 and arrived in England on 20 July 1916.
He proceeded to France on 22 September 1916 and joined the 31st Battalion in the Field on 9 October 1916. On 20 February 1917 he received a gun shot wound in the left leg which required hospitalization in England.
On the 7 July 1917 he was deemed fit enough to resume active service so was sent to the Overseas Training Brigade at Perham Down to prepare for life back in the trenches. He then returned to France on 21 October 1917.
On 11 December 1917 he was again wounded with a severe gun shot wound to the right leg which fractured his tibia. He returned to England and was admitted to the 1st Western General Hospital in Liverpool which was a specialist centre for the surgical treatment of fractures of the thigh.
He was able to embark on the HS Dunlace Castle on 8 April 1918 to return to Australia. He changed to HMAT Karoola in Suez and disembarked in Australia on 28 May 1918. He was discharged on 27 November 1918 and received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Private Joseph Stone
Joseph Stone was not quite twenty-one when he enlisted at Bendigo on 18 March 1916 and his parents, James and Mary Ann Stone both gave their consent to him serving overseas. His father was a grandson of Thomas and Ann Stone who was a farmer at Calivil South, Victoria.
At first he spent time with various units in Victoria: Castlemaine, three different units in Bendigo and finally Royal Park.
He embarked on HMAT Ballarat at Melbourne on 19 February 1917 and after arriving in England at Devonport he joined the 4th Training Battalion at Codford, one of the many training camps on the Salisbury Plain on 26 April 1917.
He proceeded to France in September and joined the 14th Battalion on 22 September 1917. Between November 1917 and March 1918 he spent quite a bit of time in hospital and then after returning to the Field he was gassed on 20 May 1918 but was able to return to duty on 4 June 1918.
At this time there was some problem with the army’s communications with Joseph’s parents. They had been informed that he had been gassed but not given any other details.
His father wrote, “It makes one very anxious not knowing more particulars. I would esteem it a great favour if you could let me know if he was taken to a hospital or where he is. I cannot understand why there is not full particulars about him. When my other son was ill you let us know so often about him & when he was taken to the casualty station & then later on to England in hosp..”
He embarked on HT Beltana on 2 June 1919 to return to Australia, arriving 19 July 1919 and was discharged. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Private James Foster Stone
James Foster Stone was the oldest brother of Joseph Stone and was almost twenty-two when he enlisted on 22 March 1916. Like his brother he gave his occupation as “farmer”.
Being in the same intake as his brother he also spent time with various units in Victoria: Castlemaine, three different units in Bendigo and finally Royal Park.
Similarly he embarked on HMAT Ballarat at Melbourne on 19 February 1917 and after arriving in England at Devonport he joined the 4th Training Battalion at Codford, one of the many training camps on the Salisbury Plain on 26 April 1917.
One difference was that he was promoted Lance Corporal for the duration of the voyage.
Like his brother he embarked from Southampton on 10 September 1917 and joined the 14th Battalion AIF on 22 September.
Unfortunately he became seriously ill in November 1917 and returned to England on HS Pieter de Coninck and was admitted to the Bath War Hospital on 1 December 1917 with severe Lobar Pneumonia.
By mid February 1918 he had been discharged from hospital and after some time with No 3 Command Depot at Hurdcott and the Overseas Training Brigade at Longbridge Deverill he returned to France on 1 May 1918.
On 4 July he was wounded in action, receiving a gunshot wound to the neck. This necessitated his return to England where he was admitted to the Duchess of Connaught Canadian Red Cross Hospital on the Astor family estate Cliveden in Taplow, Buckinghamshire.
On discharge from hospital and time with the Overseas Training Brigade he returned to France and rejoined his unit on 7 October 1918.
On 20 August 1919 he married Bridget Wilson Taffe at St Mary of the Angels Catholic Church in Paddington and they returned to Australia together on HT Runic, disembarking on 6 February 1920. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Private Kenneth Reginald Stone
Kenneth Reginald Stone was a twenty-one year old farmer when he enlisted on 13 July 1917 in Bendigo. He was the third and youngest son of Alfred Withers and Hannah Maria Stone, but his mother had died in 1901 and his father had married again in 1904, resulting in three younger siblings.
After spending a short time in camp in Melbourne he embarked on HMAT Nestor on 21 November 1917 and began a rather involved journey to France.
He reached Suez on 15 December 1917 and spent a few days in the Australian Camp there before embarking on RMS Kashgar at Port Said on 9 January 1918. They disembarked at Taranto, Italy on 20 January, then went by train to Cherbourg, France and embarked on SS Mona’s Queen (a steel paddle-steamer) on 31 January 1918, arriving in Southampton on 2 February 1918.
He went on to the 5th Training Battalion, Fovant and then joined the 22nd Battalion in France on 7 May 1918 and was wounded in action (gunshot wound to left arm) on 19 May 1918 but was able to return to duty on 5 June.
He received a severe gunshot wound to the right elbow (fractured ulna) at Rouen on 2 September 1918 and returned to England for treatment at the 1st Southern General Hospital in Birmingham on 4 September. He was discharged from hospital on 4 October 1918 but did not return to the field.
He embarked on 20 November 1918 on HMAT Suevic, arriving back in Melbourne on 5 January 1919. He was discharged on 24 January 1919 and received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Private Lawrence Watkin Stone
Lawrence Watkin Stone was the younger brother of Arthur Edward Stone and enlisted two months after his brother on 26 September 1916 but in Queensland where the rest of the family would be soon leaving Giligulgul to settle in Western Australia.
He embarked in Brisbane on HMAT Marathon 27 October 1916 and reached Plymouth, England on 9 January 1917 and joined the 7th Training Battalion at Rollestone on the Salisbury Plain.
Unfortunately his training was interrupted by a number of transfers to hospital: the Fargo Military Hospital on 9 February 1917 with influenza and Parkhouse Hospital on 25 March 1917 with mumps.
He proceeded to France on 25 April 1917 and joined the 26th Battalion on 5 May 1917 and almost immediately was in hospital again with a middle ear infection. He rejoined the battalion in June but at the end of July again visited hospital with “I.C.T. toe”. The initials stand for “Inflammation of the Connective Tissue” but could have a variety of causes.
He rejoined the battalion on 27 July 1917 and then had a fortnight’s leave in England in March 1918. When he rejoined the battalion on 18 March he was just in time to be part of the Allied response to a major German offensive on the Western Front which is known as the “Spring Offensive”.
The 26th Battalion was transferred from the Messines sector south to the Somme where in April and May they were involved in defensive tasks. Then in June and July the battalion was involved in what was known as “peaceful penetration” of the enemy lines.
On 8 August 1918 the 26th led the 7th Brigade’s attack around Villers-Bretonneux and then continued on towards the Somme River as part of the “Hundred Days Offensive” which would bring an end to the war.
Lawrence was killed in action on 29 August 1918 before they reached the Somme and is buried in the New British Cemetery in the village of Assevillers. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Private Marcus Raymond Hope Stone
Marcus Raymond Hope Stone was eighteen and a half when he enlisted on 13 October 1916 and gave his occupation as labourer. He was following in the footsteps of his two older brothers, Derwent and Stewart who had already joined up and his parents Thomas and Catherine Lucy gave their consent.
After spending some time with the Depot Battalion at Liverpool, New South Wales and a stay in hospital at Turramurra he embarked on HMAT Marathon in Sydney on 10 May 1917.
He disembarked at Devonport on 20 July 1917 and proceeded to the 8th Training Battalion at Hurdcott before joining the 30th Battalion in France on 29 November 1917.
He had English Leave from 11 December 1918 to 4 January 1019 and was appointed Driver on 10 January 1919. He returned to England on 13 May 1919 and reverted to Private.
After spending some time in hospital at Bulford he returned to Australia on HT Pakeha on 6 October 1919, arriving back on 24 November. He was discharged on 25 January 1920 and received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Gunner Tom Luther Stone
Tom Luther Stone was the second youngest of the six children of Thomas and Georgina Stone. His father was a grandson of Thomas and Ann Stone. He was a twenty-one year old carpenter when he enlisted on 26 July 1915 in Melbourne. He had some military experience as a member of the 25th Battery A.F.A. in Albert Park, Victoria.
He embarked at Melbourne on HMAT Ceramic, bound for Egypt on 23 November 1915. On 6 March 1916 he proceeded from the training battalion in Zeitoun, Egypt to join the 46th Battalion in France. He was then taken on strength as a gunner in the 12th Field Artillery Battalion on 17 March 1916 and posted to the 47th Battery where he was appointed Driver on 1 April 1917.
He was on leave in England between 25 November and 14 December 1917 but two days later was admitted to hospital. He was not able to rejoin his unit until 12 February 1918, having reverted to Gunner at his own request.
He was on leave in England again in December 1918 and in March he returned to England in order to return to Australia. However his departure was delayed because of sickness and he finally embarked on HT Frankfurt, 2 July 1919.
He disembarked on 20 August 1919 and was discharged on 12 October 1919.0 He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
He married Anne Keziah James in 1920 and returned to his old trade of carpenter.
Private William Harold Stone
William Harold Stone was the second son of Thomas and Georgina Stone and one of Tom Luther Stone’s older brothers. He was born at Tarnagulla, Victoria on 21 June 1887 and was about to turn twenty-nine when he enlisted on 16 June 1916.
He embarked on HMAT Shropshire in Melbourne 25 September 1916 and arrived in Plymouth, England on 11 November 1916, before joining the 15th Training Battalion at Hurdcott Camp at Compton Chamberlayne, west of Salisbury in Wiltshire.
He then proceeded overseas on 30 December 1916 and after further training at Etaples joined the 60th Battalion in the field on 8 February 1917. On 9 May 1917 he was detached from the battalion for duty with the 5th Australian Division Canteen.
The AIF Canteen Service was established in 1915 under the authority of the Defence Act of 1903 but but was a self-supporting and independently administered organisation. “It operated Australiawide on ADF bases, on troopships, in internment (POW) camps, and also deployed overseas with our troops… The AIF Canteen ran a network of canteens, mobile outlets, issuing points and bulk stores.” (Queensland RSL News, Edition 05, 2015)
He returned to England in April 1919 and embarked on the SS Port Lyttelton to return to Australia on 10 June 1919. He was discharged on 19 September 1919 and received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
He married Millicent Grace Michael in 1920.
Private Milton Kay Hope Taylor
Milton Kay Hope Taylor was the oldest son of William James Taylor and Edith Rebecca Madeline Taylor (nee Hope) and his mother was a great-granddaughter of Thomas and Ann Stone.
He was a nineteen year old farmer when he enlisted on 21 July 1917 in Hobart and his parents gave their consent. It wasn’t until 28 February 1918 that he embarked on HMAT Nestor in Melbourne, arriving in Liverpool on 20 April 1918. He then proceeded to the 1st Training Battalion at Sutton Veny in Wiltshire, one of the many army camps on Salisbury Plain.
After spending a month in hospital with influenza he was only back in camp for another month before leaving for France on 22 July 1918 and joined the 12th Battalion on 28 July 1918.
On 11 August 1918 he was wounded in action with a severe shrapnel wound to the left leg which resulted in him being invalided to England and admitted to the War Hospital in Bath on 20 August 1918. His wound was considered serious enough for him to return to Australia but before that could happen he was again in hospital, with German Measles and Influenza.
He embarked for Australia on HT Karmala on 2 January 1919 and was discharged on 7 March 1919. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Lance Corporal William Edward Waugh
William Edward Waugh was the oldest son of John and Lucy Mary Waugh and grew up in Laanecoorie, Victoria but he was working in Perth, Western Australia when he enlisted there on 9 September 1914. He was twenty-three at the time and his trade was given as Machinist. Later his mother wrote:
“He left home at the age of 19 & went to Western Australia where he worked on farms with a Govt bore seeking water and finally with the Massey Harris Machinery Co. Perth, W.A..”
This article with photograph, appeared in the Bendigo Advertiser on Thursday 23 March 1916
I have not been able to find any record of how he travelled to Egypt but he proceeded to Gallipoli to join the 16th Battalion on 12 April 1915. Just twenty days later he was reported missing but a subsequent Court of Inquiry held on 6 April 1916 would find that he was killed in action on 2 May 1915. Some of the witness statements have been preserved and are of interest.
Witness knew a man named Waugh in the 16th Btn in B Co. He knows that this man took part in the attack on the position known as Dead Man’s ridge between Pope’s Post and Quinne’s Post on 2/5/15. The casualties in the 16th Btn were very heavy in that attack. Witness has not seen Waugh since.
Sgt.Maj Hough
Waugh was in charge at Dead Man’s Ridge. Witness says Waugh was lying in a hole during the charge. The firing was terrible. The company had to retire. They had held the position all the night. Cpl Foster, A Co, 16th Btn., told witness Waugh was killed.
Pte H. Dixon
Witness says that Waugh was in B. Coy, whilst witness was in C. Coy., but he knew Waugh who came from Dowerin, Western Australia to enlist. Waugh was a tall, dark finely made man, about 25 years of age, and went out on the night of 2nd to 3rd May, 1915, in a charge which was badly cut up. Witness never saw him after that and in his opinion he is certain he is dead, but it was so dark that its difficult to speak as to individuals.
Corpl. G. S. Bradley
He was posthumously awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
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If you know of any other family members who served in the First World War please let me know so that we can add their details to this page.
