SAPPER JOHN MANSFIELD THORN
300 – 1st Tunnelling Company
Born in 1893 in Mansfield, Victoria, John was the son of Charles Sydney Thorn and Matilda Bourke.
John underwent a medical examination at Holdsworthy, New South Wales (NSW) on 1 August 1915 and signed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ on the same day. A carpenter by trade he had been apprenticed to his father, Charles Thorn. He named as his Next-of-Kin his father Charles Sydney Thorn of Chisholm Street, Greenwich, New South Wales.
He was appointed to “A” Company, 10th Battalion on 1 August and signed the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ on 25 August 1915 at Holdsworthy, NSW. He remained with that unit until 20 October 1915.
His Statement of Service shows that John was with the Mining Corps with the rank of Sapper from 28 October 1915.
The original ‘Attestation Paper’ was lost and John re-attested on 8 November in the presence of Lieutenant Edric Noel Mulligan (later to become Major Mulligan, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Aust. Tunnelling Company).
A second medical examination at Liverpool on 8 November recorded that he was 22 years and 7 months of age; that he was 5ft 10½ins tall, weighed 136 lbs, had a sallow complexion, blue eyes and fair hair.
He was again found to be ‘fit for active service’ and appointed to No.1 Company, Australian Mining Corps at Casula by Major John MacTaggart, Commanding Officer of No.1 Company. John re-signed the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ on the same day at Liverpool, New South Wales.
In the 3 months between the two sets of enlistment paperwork, John had apparently grown 2¼ins taller, added 12 lbs to his weight and his hair had gone from brown to fair.
John embarked with No.1 Company of the Australian Mining Corps.
Following a farewell parade in the Domain, Sydney, the Australian Mining Corps embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on 20 February 1916 on board HMAT A38 Ulysses.
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.
Ulysses arrived in Melbourne, Victoria on 22 February and the Miners were camped at Seymour while additional stores and equipment were loaded onto Ulysses. Departing Melbourne on 1 March, Ulysses sailed to Fremantle, Western Australia where additional members of the Corps were embarked. After a delay of about a month due to Ulysses requiring repairs following a collision with an uncharted rock when leaving Fremantle on 8 March, The Mining Corps sailed for the European Theatre on 1 April 1916. The men on board nicknamed her ‘Useless’.
The ship arrived at Suez, Egypt on 22 April, departing for Port Said the next day; then on to Alexandria. 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 Mining Corps was transhipped to B1 Ansonia for the final legs to Marseilles, France via Valetta, Malta. Arriving at Marseilles on 5 May, most of the men entrained for Hazebrouck where they arrived to set up their first camp on 8 May 1916.
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’.
In August 1916, Base Records, Melbourne received advice from the Asst. Camp Adjutant, Casula, to effect:
“Here with attestation sheet for James Mansfield Thorn. This man was posted as a deserter from Casula but it has since been discovered that he sailed with the Miners Corps from this Camp.”
John was temporarily attached to the 1/2 Cornwall Army Troops Company, Royal Engineers, 2nd Army, at Bailleul on 18 November 1916, rejoining his unit on 3 December.
On 8 December, he was again temporarily attached to the same Workshop, not re-joining his unit until 15 July 1917.
To complete the paperwork after the disbanding of the Mining Corps, John had been officially transferred to the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company on 24 December 1916.
On 8 November 1917, Mrs. E.G. Bennet-Wilkinson, of Nicholsons Ltd., Perth, Western Australia, wrote to Base Records, Melbourne, enquiring as to whether John had been killed or wounded, as she had heard his two mates had been and letters had not been coming from him as before. She also enquired about 5665 Private J. Tomlinson of the 28th Battalion.
Base Records replied that they had no information in respect of John. They also advised that Pte Tomlinson had suffered a gunshot wound to his thigh and was in hospital in England.
John was promoted to 2nd Corporal on 1 January 1918 and enjoyed some leave from 20 July to 6 August 1918.
He marched out of the 1st Aust. Tunnelling Company on 12 February 1919 and marched in to the Australian General Base Depot. He arrived in England on 25 February and was marched in to No.3 Camp at Parkhouse.
On 20 March he marched out to the Concentration Camp at Heytesbury, awaiting repatriation and demobilisation. He left London on 20 April 1919 on board Boonah, disembarking in Sydney on 11 June 1919.
John Mansfield Thorn was Discharged from the Australian Imperial Force on 26 July 1919, entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Reunions
Past members of the Australian Electrical & Mechanical Mining & Boring Company and the Tunnelling Companies gathered on or about Anzac Day for a reunion luncheon. We have had access to some of their records, which were very well kept by Roy Nilsson (AEMMBC) and are quite detailed.
THORN, J.M 1ATC appears in the records in 1928 with the address: 8 Wallace Street, Greenwich Point. In 1934 he is again recorded and has changed his address to: 8 Alexander Street, Manly. In 1968 he is living at 60 Wyndora Avenue Harbord and is still at that address when he appears in the records in 1970-71.
Sydney Morning Herald – Monday, September 15, 1975
© Donna Baldey 2010 – update 2011
Photos of Jack Thorn courtesy Elizabeth Meakin, granddaughter of Jack Thorn.