Trinity: the 101 parishioners

Percy from the Pews

The Australian War Memorial archives in Canberra give a constant reminder of the enormous price this nation paid in lives lost during the carnage of World War One. This is underlined for Tasmania by the records of the 101 Holy Trinity parishioners who died – sons, brothers, fathers, close relations. They’re all there.

For instance, the Holy Trinity Roll of Honour board has the names of eight sets of brothers. Their full stories aren’t known to me, but these would tell of valour. Here are some recorded details to consider as further reasons why Holy Trinity’s War Memorials must remain protected:

The Anderson brothers. Both privates, they died in France in 1916 during the Somme offensives – and they died within a day of each other. Benjamin Anderson, 20, was killed in action on September 3, Robert James Bertram (or just plain Bert), 28, the next day. Brothers in arms, brothers in death, they’re honoured at Villers-Bretonneux. They were educated at Trinity Hill School, Benjamin becoming a jam worker, Bert working on the railways.

The despair of their parents at losing two sons in quick succession is hard to imagine.

The Lane Brothers. Also killed on the battlefields of France, a year apart. Private Bernard Valentine Lane, 24, died of wounds at Bullecourt (a small village that is a place of pilgrimage because of the many Australians who were killed) on May 17, 1917. Lieutenant Frederick William Lane, 28, was killed in action at the Somme’s Dernancourt on March 28, 1918. The Lanes were from Lindisfarne, Bernard a farmer, Frederick a draughtsman in the Tasmanian civil service.

The Clark brothers. Two more victims of the bitter fighting in France, Lance-Corporal Tasman Leslie Clark, 25, dying from wounds on April 20, 1916, and buried at Bologne. A plasterer from North Hobart, he left behind a wife and child. Sergeant Cecil Roy Clark, 22, killed in action at Harbonnieres on August 9, 1918. A bricklayer, he had been a sportsman keen on running and boxing.

As with many National War Memorial records, the files reveal other family war service links – for the Clarks there were another three brothers who also went to this terrible war, and they survived.

The family Davern. Holy Trinity’s board has just one name, but a trace through the Australian War Memorial shows a second brother was killed.

Private John Thomas Davern, 24, died on April 9, 1917 – an Easter Monday – after being badly wounded by shellfire near Pozieres, another significant place of the Somme offensives. From St Mary’s, he had been a railway engine fireman. Driver Lymond Davern, 21, killed in the Somme actions near Flers on November 5, 1916. He’d been a farmer.

Two other brothers served and survived, but a cousin, Private Cecil Davern, 27, also from St Mary’s, was fatally wounded at a third Somme location, Daours, on August 29, 1918. He’d been a miner.

The family Slade. Another remarkable record of family wartime service – of a father, his three sons and their cousin. Private Alfred Charles Slade is on the Holy Trinity honour board. He was 25, killed in Belgium in the battles at Ypres on October 6, 1917 – and he had previously been wounded there. Born at Bridgewater, he had been a carter and enlisted at Oatlands.

His father Alfred Slade has one record of being well into his forties when he joined up at the start of 1916, but Alfred Charles’ own records had his dad being 55. A railway guard, and from near the church in Warwick Street, Alfred survived, as did two of his sons, but their cousin, Private Charles Slade, 24, was killed at Hazelbrook, Belgium, on July 25, 1918. From Colebrook, he had been employed as a railway guard at Smithton.

The family Gould. Yet one more illustration of rallying to their country’s call.

Private Archie Darling Gould was just 19 when he was killed in action at Albert, France, on August 13, 1916. He had previously been a clerk. He was also a nephew of Major George Darling Gould. A 48-year-old ironmonger, he died of meningitis in Brisbane in June, 1915, en route to the fighting. He was buried in his hometown of Launceston.

And his son, Lieutenant George Frederick Gould, won the Military Cross in France in 1917 when his battalion was in the frontline and being heavily bombarded. His citation said that on April 9 at Boursies he led the first wave of his company in attacking the enemy trenches. He led his men forward again the same day consolidating their position and inflicting considerable loss on the enemy.

But let the last mention here be of a hero from the Holy Trinity roll – Second-Lieutenant William George Drew, 28, killed on January 24, 1917, in the bloody actions at Flers. He’d been born on King Island, was a carpenter and joiner, and he left a wife and two children.

His death came just a few months after he had won the Military Medal. At the start of the previous September he had displayed general coolness in the firing line on a patrol which bombed a German advance post near Moquet Farm.