SAPPER WILLIAM HENRY HALL
783 – 2nd Tunnelling Company
William (Bill) Henry Hall was born in Devonshire, London, England about 1869. He came to Australia at a young age and married Ellen Webb in 1890 when he was 22 years old. His previous military experience was 6 years with the Morton and Kennedy Regiment. His occupation was a miner when he enlisted on December 16, 1915 at the Charters Towers Town Hall. After passing his initial medical examination he left by train on Monday December 20.
The following abridged extract from The Northern Miner dated Tuesday December 21, 1915 records the local volunteers’ farewell:
Bill was sent for training at the 1st Military District Mining Corps on New Year’s Day and sworn in at Enoggera, Brisbane, Queensland on January 3, 1916. His Attestation Forms display he was 46 years and 2 months and named his wife Mrs Ellen Hall, Corner King and Baker Streets, Charters Towers as his next-of-kin and had one dependant child. His wife was allotted 3/5ths of his pay to support her and family. Church of England was his nominated faith.
Volunteers for the Mining Corps, especially experienced men were accepted up to the age 49 years of age but to be sure of fitness a second medical examination took place at Casula training camp, Liverpool, N.S.W. It shows Bill was 178 cms (5ft 10ins) tall, weighed 69 kgs (147 lbs) with a 95 cm (37in) chest measurement. His complexion was fair with blue eyes and light brown hair. His regimental number was 783 and was assigned to the No 2 Company in the rank of Sapper.
At a civic parade in the Domain, Sydney on Saturday February 19, 1916, a large crowd of relations and friends of the departing Miners lined the four sides of the parade ground. Sixty police and 100 Garrison Military Police were on hand to keep the crowds within bounds. The scene was an inspiriting one. On the extreme right flank, facing the saluting base, were companies of the Rifle Club School; next came a detachment of the 4th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, then the bands of the Light Horse, Liverpool Depot, and the Miners’ on the left, rank upon rank, the Miners’ Battalion.
The Corps boarded HMAT A38 Ulysses in Sydney, NSW on February 20 and sailed for the European theatre. Arriving in Melbourne, Victoria on February 22 the Miners camped at Broadmeadows for a stay of 7 days while further cargo was loaded.
Another parade was held at the Broadmeadows camp on March 1, the Miners’ Corps being inspected by the Governor-General, as Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth military forces.
Leaving Melbourne on March 1, Ulysses arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia on March 7 where a further 53 members were taken on board.
On Wednesday March 8, 1916 the whole force, with their band and equipment, paraded at Fremantle prior to leaving Victoria Quay at 9.30 o’clock.
The ship hit a reef when leaving Fremantle harbour, stripping the plates for 40 feet and, although there was a gap in the outside plate, the inner bilge plates were not punctured. The men on board nicknamed her ‘Useless’. The Miners were off-loaded and sent to the Blackboy Hill Camp where further training was conducted.
The Mining Corps comprised 1303 members at the time they embarked with a Headquarters of 40; No.1 Company – 390; No.2 Company – 380; No.3 Company – 392, and 101 members of the 1st Reinforcements.
Finally departing Fremantle on April 1, Ulysses voyaged via Suez, Port Said and Alexandria in Egypt. The Captain of the shipwas reluctantto take Ulysses out of the Suez Canal because he felt the weight of the ship made it impossible to manoeuvre in the situation of a submarine attack. The troops were transhipped to HM Transport B.1 Ansonia, then on to Valetta, Malta before disembarking at Marseilles, France on May 5, 1916. As a unit they entrained at Marseilles on May 7 and detrained on May 11 at Hazebrouck.
A ‘Mining Corps’ did not fit in the British Expeditionary Force, and the Corps was disbanded and three Australian Tunnelling Companies were formed. The Technical Staff of the Corps Headquarters, plus some technically qualified men from the individual companies, was formed into the entirely new Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company (AEMMBC), better known as the ‘Alphabetical Company’.
Illness struck in the form of Diarrhoea on May 22 and Sapper Hall was transferred to the 1st A. Field Ambulance the next day. He was admitted at Doulieu and rejoined his unit on June 4, 1916.
An extract from his letter home was mentioned in The Northern Miner on Tuesday November 14:
Sapper Hall was taken on strength with the 2nd Tunnelling Company on December 29, 1916 and this period on the Front was incident free. Leave from France was enjoyed between September 5 and 15, 1917.
Official documents state on December 29, 1917 Sapper Hall was taken from the Field and admitted to the 21st Casualty Clearing Station suffering from Corns to his feet. The following day was transferred on transport 16 A.T. and admitted to the 3rd General Hospital at Le Treport. On January 8, 1918 he was conveyed to England onboard the hospital ship 34 A.T. Grantally Castle and admitted to the 3 General Hospital, Birmingham diagnosed with deformities of Toes where he remained until January 28. Discharged on furlough for several days before reporting to No 2 Command Depot and marched in to Weymouth reporting on January 31.
The Northern Miner published news on Monday April 6, 1918 which reads:
He remained at the Depot until Administration Headquarters declared him unfit for duty due to Bunions and embarked for Australia on the transport A74 for discharge on April 15, 1918.
News of his return was published in The Northern Miner on Friday June 21, 1918:
He was discharged in the 1st MD on July 16, 1918. Sapper William Henry Hall, 783 2nd Tunnelling Company received the British War Medal (12150) and the Victory Medal (11991) for service to his Country. A Letter to the Repatriation Department was sent on September 14, 1936.
The Northern Miner on Tuesday October 14, 1947 published the following:
He lay in an unmarked grave number 10575 in section 13 of the Charters Towers Cemetery until 22 March 2009 when the 31st Infantry Battalion Association, Charters Towers Branch organised, and help fund, the erection and blessing of an appropriate marker.