SAPPER REGINALD NAUGHTON
1302 – Aust Electrical & Mechanical Mining & Boring Company
Reginald Valentine Naughton was born in Geraldton, Western Australia in 1897 the son of William Edward and Caroline Hannah (nee Adlam) Naughton. Military experience was gained with the 88th Infantry (exempt).
In 1911 he was selected for the Young Australia League tour to Collie, Washington, U.S.A. with their names and itinerary published in the following newspapers:
They left Wellington, New Zealand on the Maitai and arrived in San Francisco on September 14, 1911 travelling as second class passengers.
Four years later at the Perth Recruiting Depot on December 20, 1915 the almost nineteen year old motor driver from 647 Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley applied to enlist for active service abroad. Passing the preliminary medical examination personal particulars taken of the single man show he was 175cms (5ft 9ins) tall with a chest expansion of 86cms (34ins). As he was under the required age of twenty-one years consent of both parents were given for him to join the A.I.F. On January 8, 1916 he was passed fit for active service and his application was accepted.
Attestation forms were completed adding further information of his height remeasuring at 174cms (5ft 8½ins), weight 57.7kgs (127lbs) with a chest expansion of 82-87cms (32-34ins) with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark hair. Distinctive marks were four vaccination scars on his left arm. Church of England was his religion. Next-of-kin was his father Mr William Edward Naughton, 647 Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley, W.A. He was sworn in the same day.
Basic training commenced on January 20, 1916 as a Private with the 45th Depot Battalion until he was transferred to the 17th Field Ambulance on February 1 then re-allotted to the Engineer Reinforcements. He was assigned to the No. 3 Company of the Mining Corps with the regimental number 1302 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. Sapper Naughton joined the No.3 Company on March 25, 1916 to complete establishment.
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’.
On May 26, 1916 he suffered a separated ret-cartilage and sent to the 12th Casualty Clearing Station and returned to Mining Corps Headquarters on June 1.
His civil qualifications of motor driver were more beneficial to the work of the Aust Electrical & Mechanical Mining & Boring Company therefore was transferred to the company on October 7, 1916 and taken on strength. He was appointed to the rank of Motor Driver on October 16, 1916.
He went to the 12th Casualty Clearing Station on December 10, 1916 with Influenza and returned to duty on December 20.
On January 25, 1917 he reverted to the rank of Sapper and his service continued without incident.
He was taken to the New Zealand Field Ambulance on December 23, 1917 with P.U.O. (Pyrexia (fever) Uncertain Origin) and transferred to the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station. Conveyed on A.T.32 entered the 3rd Canadian General Hospital in Boulogne with Trench Fever. On December 27 departed on the Hospital Ship St Denis for England entered the Graylingwell War hospital in Chichester with slight P.U.O.
On January 16, 1918 was transferred to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford until January 30 then discharged to the No. 3 Command Depot at Hurdcott. On February 5 marched out to the No. 2 C.D. at Weymouth. On April 4, 1918 went to No. 4 C.D. until June 4 then to the Overseas Training Brigade in Deverill.
He proceeded overseas to France from Southampton ten days later arriving at the Aust General Base Depot in Rouelles the next day and returned to his unit on June 18.
He was attached for duty only with the Aust Corps Depot Headquarters on September 25, 1918 remaining until the end of the war. He returned to the A.E.M.M.B. Company who remained on the front continuing to generate electricity and supply and service small engines and pumps for water supplies for those rehabilitating their areas.
On March 18, 1919 entered the 12th Stationary Hospital for treatment of a social disease and transferred for treatment at the 3rd General Hospital on April 6. Conveyed to England on the hospital ship Goorka and admitted to the 1st Aust Dermatological Hospital at Bulford on April 11, 1919. He left on May 16, 1919 after 49 days curative care for the No. 3 Group camp to await his voyage home.
After demobilisation he returned to Australia on board the H.T. Konigin Luise which departed on June 21, 1919 for Australia. While at sea he was admitted to the ship’s hospital on June 27 for treatment of scabies (a skin irritation caused by Itch Mite whose eggs are laid under the skin’s outer layer.) Base Records advised his next-of-kin on July 21, 1919 that he was returning home. The ship docked at Fremantle, W.A. (5th M.D.) on August 3, 1919. News of their arrival was published in:
Military Discharge was issued in Perth (5th M.D.) on September 25, 1919 on termination of his period of enlistment.
The British War Medal (8189) and the Victory Medal (8154) were issued to Sapper / Driver Reginald Naughton, Aust Electrical & Mechanical Mining & Boring Company for service for his country.
The following announcements appeared in:
The Daily News Friday December 12, 1924:
MAINLY ABOUT PEOPLE
Miss Elfrida Jacoby, daughter of Mr and Mrs Fred Jacoby, of Harvest-terrace, who is proceeding to Adelaide by the Katoomba to-morrow, will be married early in the New Year to Reginald Naughton, late A.I.F. and the Australian Electrical Mining Mechanical and Boring Co. Miss Jacoby has been in receipt of many handsome present from her old frields. A pleasing incident happened last Wednesday, when the Butterfly tea girls presented her with a Nono, a French conception of a bobbed doll. Mr Reginald Naughton is the son of Mr and Mrs W.E. Naughton, now of Adelaide, and late of Subiaco. He was educated at Scotch College, and accompanied the Y.A.L. on their first world tour in 1911. Miss Jacoby spent most of her childhood days at Mundaring Weir.
He married in 1926 in Adelaide, S.A. to Ada Eileen Francis.
He held the licence for an hotel in the Northern Territory in 1927 which was transferred and published in the:
He held the licence for the Horseshoe Hotel at Noarlunga, S.A. in 1932 and proposed a new business venture which was reported in the coming months in:
A divorce was granted between he and his wife Ada and reported in:
He was a witness in a Police Court case in 1940 which was published in the:
A request for his Statement of Service by the Brisbane Branch of the Repatriation Commission was sent by Base Records on August 6, 1958.
© Donna Baldey 2013