Origins of the 42nd Battalion, AIF

On 2 February 1916, the Australian government formed a Third Division in Queensland commencing March 1916. It moved to England to train in July 1916 commanded, for most of its war service, by Major General John Monash.

John Henry CROMPTON's 42nd Battalion formed, together with the 41st, 43rd and 44th Battalions, the 11th Infantry Brigade. With the 9th and 10th Brigades, its Engineers, Pioneer, Salvage, Ammunition Column, Medical Services, Sanitary Section and four Field Artillery Brigades it was part of the Australian 3rd Division, II Anzac Corp.

In December 1916 it was the last Australian division to move to France, taking over part of the 'nursery' sector near Armentieres. In June 1917 it participated in the battles of 3rd Ypres including the Battles of Messines, Pilckem and Broodseinde Ridge where the 3rd Division lost, in total, 4,122 men.

Enlisting

John Henry's service record, placed on the web by the Australian War Memorial, (AWM) gives insight into 22 months of illness, a short time at the front and an understandable confusion over his death. These can be seen from links on the last page. On the 6 December 1915 John Henry enlisted at Thompson Park, Enoggera Barracks situated 6km north-west of Brisbane. He therefore qualified, by 25 days, for the 1914/15 Star. It is possible that he travelled there with Ronald Reeve Davey, a fellow farmer and close friend from Elimbah, who witnessed John Henry's will. Right: A family photograph taken at his embarkation and published in the Queensland Pictorial of 03 June 1916. Here he is wrongly identified as being a member of the 34th Battalion reinforcement draft. Source: State Library of Queensland - Queensland Pictorial (Accessed: 14 March 2015)

Above: A modern map locating Enoggera Barracks, Brisbane. The 1915 barrack area is coloured green, to the west of the red circle.

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'The Enoggera Army Camp, renamed Gallipoli Barracks in 1990, was responsible for the training of thousands of Queenslanders for service in both World Wars. The broader defence area at Enoggera has a considerable history of association with military activities, dating back to 1855. It is believed that British Imperial troops, based at Bulimba on the southern bank of the river, used the area for training exercises from as early as 1855. Rifle and training ranges, including the old Toowong Rifle Range, were established there and subsequently used by civilian groups such as the Queensland Rifle Association and the Queensland defence forces, including volunteer militia. Many Queensland troops sent to the Boer War in South Africa in the 1890s also trained here.

After Federation in 1901 the Commonwealth became responsible for defence matters. … Once Commonwealth military units began to be established in earnest, the government began to acquire property on a large-scale to facilitate training and accommodation of its forces. The land at Enoggera was acquired by the Commonwealth as part of this process in 1908. The acquisition amalgamated four separate properties: Thompson`s Paddock, Rifle Paddock, Fraser`s Paddock and Bell Paddock, comprising a total of 1235 acres. The first major improvement made by the Commonwealth was the development of a new rifle range, with mounds targets and shelter sheds.

… The School of Musketry, Small Arms Magazine Store and two Cordite Magazines were erected in 1910 as part of a functional complex associated with the rifle range. These were followed by the explosives laboratory and the expense magazine in 1912. A cavalry remount section barracks was built in 1913, including a general barracks block, infirmary and farriery. Four more explosives magazines were built in 1913, and an additional magazine in 1915. The 1917-1920s period saw a number of hospital buildings and mobilisation stores also established.'

Source: Small Arms Magazine (former), Murray Av, Enoggera Barracks, Enoggera, QLD featured in Aussie Heritage

Right: Typical recruits at Enoggera Barracks c.1915 Source: With permission Australian War Memorial ref: H02156 Photographs of the camp can be seen at the Australian War Memorial, [Click on < Collection search>, enter <Enoggera> and choose <First World War>]

Enoggera became the main reception camp for Queensland AIF volunteers. It was set in what appears to be low rolling parkland. It was also the location of an Army Clearing Hospital, No.13 Australian General Hospital, with at least 15 wards, the Army Medical Corps, the Dental Corps and facilities for the Light Horse cavalry.

Photographic evidence suggests several camps whose accommodation of regimented rows of whitish bell tents supplemented the original rows of low wooden barrack blocks. Some officers were accommodated in white Niger tents with the luxury of a fly sheet. Open-air washing benches were provided and dining areas, comprising of several trestle tables with two six-seater benches, were under thatch-shaded pergolas. Each camp appeared to have its own parade ground, surrounded by low wooden buildings with small windows high in the shaded veranda. Perhaps these were the administrative blocks.

There are several photographs of White City Camp: more solid, white wooden clapboard buildings, several having brick chimneys. Here was also recreation facilities: a gym, open-air boxing ring, refreshment booths run by The Salvation Army and YMCA, and a bench-seated amphitheatre backing onto an open-air wooden theatre set between two impressive brick towers.

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His medical

At Enoggera's Army Clearing Hospital John Henry, declaring 'never to have been unfit', was passed fit for active service. His medical officer, HD Stafford, recorded:

His Army Form B103 creates a picture of the 40 years and one month man who enlisted in the newly formed 42nd Battalion. The papers show he had no previous military experience, no previous convictions and to be unmarried, His mother Margaret Elizabeth CROMPTON, then of 55 Westborough Road, Scarborough, was nominated as next of kin. Right: A map locating Westborough, Scarborough

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His Will

John Henry's will in favoured Walter Ernest CROMPTON, his youngest brother, of 55 Westborough, Scarborough in East Yorkshire. Walter was then serving as a Royal Engineers motor cycle despatch rider on the Signals Company, Headquarters' Staff in France. The green door of number 55 is situated by the base of the W on the green road on the map above. Right: 55 Westborough Road, Scarborough Return to 1805info8h

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Embarkation

John Henry embarked from Sydney on 5 June 1916 on the 'A30 HMAT Borda', disembarking in Southampton on 22 July 1916.

The Australian War Memorial's Embarkation Roll (below) records 55 West Borough-road, Scarborough as his mother's home.

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Below: His Majesty's Australian Transport A30 Borda of 11,136 tons and 14 knots. Requisitioned as a troopship from P & O SN Co London. Commonwealth control ended 10 September 1917. Source: Diggers History - Troopships

En route

Suez was reached on July 6^th, and the next day we arrived at Tel-el-Kebir in Egypt, where we remained for a few days and thus gave the doctor an opportunity to diligently exploit his prowess with "The Needle", and so, the 42^nd was once more inoculated.'

Source: Brahms, Vivian. 'The Spirit of the Forty-Second', Naval and Military reprint, page 13

Source: Alex Postans' letters from John Henry

The voyage continued on the "Borda", on which we re-embarked at Alexandria, for the passage through the Mediterranean. ... The menace of enemy submarines was very great, but we reached Marseilles, in Southern France, without mishap on July the 19th. We proceeded through France by train to Le Havre. It was here that we first saw a Red Cross train. Painted all white with large crosses of red, occupied by wounded men and nurses, it was the means of making us realise how near we were getting to the battlefield, and how grim was the job we had on hand. (Brahms)

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This letter to Alex POSTANS in Heath, Alberta, was written whilst on home leave, with his mother in Scarborough, some eight days after landing in Southampton and before his full Larkhill training began. However, the leave was so short that John Henry didn't envisage seeing any other of his relatives.

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End Notes:

• The MORRISONS were Alex POSTANS relatives who lived at Greenshield a couple of miles from Wainwright. Wainwright was 16 miles from the homestead.
• Lumby was Ted “Goodnight” LUMBY (he prefaced most sentences with the word 'goodnight'), a neighbour.
• Joe is Joe FLINT John Henry's friend, neighbour and homestead referee. Joe bought Jack's Albertan homestead.
• Monaghan
• British sovereign was valued at Can$4.8666 on the 1914 gold standard.

John Henry Crompton's service record

John Henry's army record shows him to be a sick man, constantly plagued by bowel trouble. It appears that he was killed in his only action.

On 3 October 1916 John Henry was transferred to hospital, for the first time, before proceeding overseas with the 42nd Battalion on the 25 November 1916. During December 1916, whilst 'in the field', dysentery or diarrohea [sic] sent him to hospital for nine days. He returned to his unit on 13 December 1916 and back on duty three days later.

He was again sent to hospital, first on 11 January 1917, then on the 17 January to the 3rd Canadian General Hospital in Boulogne before being transferred to the 2nd Advanced Casualty Clearing Station (ACCS) on 23 January with enteritis. The next day, this necessitated repatriation to England on His Majesty's Hospital Ship St Patrick, where an 'ulcerated bowell' [sic] was diagnosed. Left: HMHS St Patrick

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Above: HMHS St Patrick extracted from a painting by Will Jeneway in 1916. With thanks to Chris Rushworth

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Enteritis enforced a 32 day stay in a hospital in Cowley Road, Oxford. During the World War 1 this was designated as the Cowley Section of the Third Southern General Hospital (whose headquarters were at the Oxford University Examination School) and provided orthopaedic, surgical and rehabilitation care for wounded servicemen. The photographs below show the Third Southern General Hospital, based in The Union Workhouse, Cowley Road, Oxford. The Oxford Poor Law Board constructed a workhouse for 330 inmates between 1863 and 1865, on an 11 acre site, in red and white brick and dressed with Bath stone. Later, in1929, it took the guise of a Public Assistance Institution as an innovative hospital for geriatric patients. Finally as the Cowley Road Hospital, part of the United Oxford Hospital, it was closed and subsequently demolition in 1981. Right: 1901 Ordnance Survey map of Oxford workhouse situated at the corner of Cowley Road and Divinity Road. Double click on the image for an A4 image.

Above: The entrance drive from Cowley Road. The central 30m spire housed the workhouse Master and Matron		Above: The original workhouse infirmary at the rear of the buildings

Above: An internal ward		Above: An additional tent ward in the grounds
Source: Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archives: 1990/3/2 1990/3/3  1990/3/6 1990/3/14 - acknowledged

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After discharge John Henry was granted a 16 day furlough beginning on 20 March 1917. It is possible that, whilst in Scarborough, he had his photograph taken (Right) in uniform and wearing the slouched hat of Major General Monash's 3rd Division, worn after training in Egypt. There is no photographer's address on the art-board surround, but the reverse records his name and Scarborough address.

On 3 April 1917 John Henry reported to No.2. Australian Command Depot (C.D.) Weymouth. Here, although he had put on weight, he was recorded as being thin but with normal bowel movements. He was now deaf in his left ear. During May 1917 John Henry's fitness was graded B3 on three occasions.

Despite this grading John Henry proceeded overseas on 14 June 1917, first reporting to CO 3rd ADBU (Australian Divisional Base Unit) in Rouelles, France before returning to 42nd Battalion on 13 July 1917. He was again sent to hospital on 24 July and did not rejoin his unit until 23 August. It was during this hospital stay that he missed the 42nd Battalion's opening action of 3rd Ypres at Warneton, on the Messines front, on 31 July 1917. On 13 August 1917 he was 'Adm. wounded L.hand (AVC)' and didn't return from hospital until 24 August 1917.

Click on the Adobe Acrobat link to open a transcription of John Henry's B103 Casualty Form Active Service, which describes his many illnesses. Note: On occasions the content and dates of the hand written and typed versions vary. The hand written documents downloads are not clear enough to transcribe with 100% accuracy. In general evidence is taken from the typed version, which may itself be second hand.

Click on the icons below to open files of John Henry's service record from the Australian War Memorial. These files do not include duplicated pages.
	Click on the Adobe Acrobat link to open a 27.8Mb .pdf file		Click on the link to open a 3Mb Word2003 file		Click on the link to open the directory of .jpg images

Source: Discovering ANZACs (Accessed 26/12/14)

This page was created by Richard Crompton and maintained by Chris Glass		Version A19 Updated 03 June 2023