SAPPER CHARLES HENRY LEAVER
5363 – 3rd Tunnelling Company
Born at Kensington (Marrietville), South Australia, Charles Henry Leaver stated he was 45 years old (actually 49) when he signed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ on 9 April 1916. He recorded that he had been rejected for service a year previously due to his teeth, however a medical examination at Perth on 10 April found him to be ‘fit for active service’.
A married miner, Charles was 5ft 8ins tall and weighed 153 lbs. He had a dark complexion, brown eyes and brown hair.
He named his wife Mabel Gertrude Leaver (nee Beard) of 62 Cargill Street, Victoria Park as his Next-of-Kin.
He signed the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ on 10 April and was assigned to 62 Depot in Perth and then to the 21st Reinforcements for the 11th Infantry Battalion.
On 15 May he was appointed to the Mining Corps Reinforcements at their training camp at Seymour, Victoria.
Charles embarked at Melbourne, Victoria on 30 September 1916 on board HMAT A23 Suffolk with the September Reinforcements to the Tunnelling Companies already on the Western Front.
The Suffolk departed on 30 September 1916 with 166 Tunnellers and arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia on 10 October, departing the same day. Arriving at Capetown, South Africa on 30 October, Suffolk departed there the next day and voyaged on to Dakar in West Africa, arriving on 15 November. After a delay of 5 days, she sailed for Plymouth, England on 20 November, and after a voyage lasting 64 days, the Tunnellers disembarked on 2 December. Charles and the other Tunneller reinforcements underwent a months training at Perham Downs before he embarked for France on 1 January 1917 on board S.S. Arundel.
It is believed that Charles marched in to the Australian General Base Depot at Etaples and was then moved to the 1st Anzac Entrenching Battalion. He reported sick to the 15th Australian Field Ambulance on 9 February and was admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station with laryngitis on 11 February. He was then transferred by Ambulance Train to and admitted to the 18th General Hospital at Carriers in the following days. Discharged from hospital on 21 February, he marched back into the Australian General Base Depot.
Charles was transferred to the Reinforcements Tunnelling Companies and then attached to the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company where he was taken on strength on 10 March 1917.
Charles was one of the members of the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company to take part in the Battle of The Lys, 09 April 1918 [see: Western Front/3ATC]:
“After dark there was placed in the line of the flank, where it bent towards Erquinghem, a tiny detachment of the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company, forty in all, who had being doing special duty near Armentières, with Neil Campbell in charge. Alarmed at their billets at Pont de Nieppe by a previously silent British battery firing directly rearwards over their heads, the tunnellers had reported to the 34th Division for orders, and by order and counter-order, had been marched for miles, forward and backward, from one of its brigade headquarters to another, until after dark they reached a position to which they had first been hurried. They were allocated to a scratch battalion of cooks, batmen, and various detachments, commanded by a Major Jackson (himself a South Australian serving in the British Army), and known as 'X' Battalion. The tunnellers posted a line of sentries and kept guard for the night.”
The Australian Imperial Force in France during the Main German Offensive, 1918 (8th edition, 1941) Volume V – p. 427
“The tunnellers helped to defend Armentieres from the south. Lieutenant Campbell was placed in charge of a company of a scratch battalion, and was killed in the confused fighting on this front before the order was given to evacuate the town. The detachment of tunnellers under Lieutenant J. Dow continued to fight as infantry throughout the next few critical weeks when the Germans threatened to capture the important railway town of Hazebrouck the loss of which would have forced the retirement of much of the Allied army in Flanders”
The Royal Australian Engineers 1902-1919
Charles proceeded on Special Leave on 7 August 1918, rejoining his unit on 24 August, possibly to visit his son Charlie who had been wounded in June whilst serving on the Front.
He marched out for demobilisation on 27 January 1919. Returning to England on 4 February, he marched in to No.1 Com. Depot at Sutton Veny on the same day. He returned to Australia on board Khyber, leaving London on 31 March 1919 and arriving at Fremantle, Western Australia on 3 May
Discharged 3 August 1919, Charles Henry Leaver was entitled to wear the British War Medal (13899 and the Victory Medal (13644). His Military documents were forwarded to the Repatriation Commission in Perth in October 1937.
Charles Leaver died on 20 September 1957, aged 91, years and is buried in the Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth, Western Australia
Two sons of Charles and Mabel Leaver also served in WW1:
[5425 Pte Charlie Leaver, born at Cobar, New South Wales, named his wife Eileen M Leaver as his Next-of-Kin. A 23-year-old hairdresser by trade, he enlisted at Blackboy Hill, Western Australian on 8 February 1916. He embarked on Aeneas on 15 May 1916 with the 17th Reinforcements to the 11th Infantry Battalion, arriving in France on 11 August 1916. Wounded in action at Merris on 3 June, 1918, he was evacuated to England with a gunshot wound to his left hand, returning to France on 12 December 1918. Charlie Leaver returned to Australia on Somali, arriving at Fremantle on 8th July, 1919, he was discharged from the Australian Imperial Force on 23 August 1919. Charlie also served in the Volunteer Defence Corps and with the AACS WA Detachment during World War 2.]
[Lieutenant William Alfred Leaver M.C., M.M. – a 19-year-old teacher, William named his mother Mabel Leaver as his Next-of-Kin. He embarked with “C” Company, 28th Infantry Battalion on 29 June 1915 for Egypt as a private. At Gallipoli for atime before hospitalised with poisoned hand. On 5 November 1916 at Flers on the Western Front, William went out after two enemy snipers who were causing casualties and accounted for them. Lance Sergeant Leaver was awarded the Military Medal for his actions. Four months later, William was a 2nd Lieutenant at Warlencourt on 2 March 1917 when he took a bombing party and proceeded to bomb toward the objective, gaining a lot of ground until he was wounded. He was awarded the Military Cross. Badly wounded and sent to hospital in England. Returned to Australia as paymaster onH.M.T. Borda, May 1919
5282 Sapper Gerald Beard of the 1st Aust. Tunnelling Company was the brother of Mabel Beard who married Charles Henry Leaver. The two men enlisted at the same place, at the same time, and embarked on the same ship for the European theatre. Although serving in different Tunnelling Companies, it is believed the two men kept in touch while on the Western Front.The diary of Charles Leaver has a reference to meeting up with “Boss”.
“This had me at a loss until I found this entry in the West Australian Newspaper:
Further confirmation that the relationship was close is a letter to my grandmother from her son William Alfred (in the photo from Australia’s Fighting Son’s) dated 10th November 1917 (letter held at the Battye library in Perth) which reads..... ‘I rode over to where they told me Uncle Boss was camped the other day but did not find him...’” [Bill Leaver - Feb 2010]
Mabel's concern must have been great with 2 sons, a husband, a brother, and a nephew all serving overseas."
4529 Sapper Harry Leslie Bateman, 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company married Charles’ daughter Geraldine at Moora, Western Australia in 1923
© Donna Baldey 2010
Compiled with the assistance of Bill Leaver of WA, grandson of Charles Henry Leaver and great nephew of 5282 Spr Gerald Audley Babbington BEARD- 1st Aust Tunnelling Coy. Photos by kind permission of Bill Leaver.
Following page is taken from: Australia’s Fighting Sons of the Empire (with an original photo from Bill Leaver):
Extracts from the diary of Charles Leaver, transcribed by Bill Leaver:
December 14 (1917) - We went out this morning. Things were fairly quiet. He did a good bit of damage in the town the night before last. He dropped one bomb on a house and killed a whole family of nine. The father was the only one that escaped and he was at work in the mine.
15. There is a fair amount of gunfire today.
16. Came in this morning. Fairly quiet, but he is shelling the town. He shelled Hazebrouck yesterday and killed five hundred and he sent word by aeroplane that he was going to shell Bethune and Noeux-les-Mines and warned the people to get out so we are in for a hot Xmas if he does.
17. Went on fatigues this morning and saw some of the places he bombed. Where the shells dropped the houses are flat. It has been snowing all last night and up to dinner time today but has stopped now. There is a big bombardment out Hulluch way going on now and he is sending a few shells over the townhere now.
18. Came out this morning. It was bright and clear but very cold and the ground was frozen. The duck boards were like glass to walk on. There were a few shells bursting around but not any near us. There is a rumour going that fifty Fritz’s cameover last night to give themselves up and they fired the machine guns over their heads but would not take them.
19. Things still quiet. Came in this morning It is still freezing and slippery underfoot. All the trees are loaded with frost. Old Fritz is still putting a few in the town.
21. Just heard that nine more came over to give themselves and said that all of them would come up if we would not fire on them. They are all full up of it and we won't be sorry. The weather is still freezing. It is a job to keep warm. No letters and no passes yet. There was a shell came over just at tea time and struck a coal mine just behind our billets and set the poppet legs alight. That is the second time it has been done this week
22. Came out this morning. Things are fairly quiet
23. There was a lot of gas shells about last night and some of our lads got gassed. It was mustard gas and it is a cruel thing as it blinds them if they get a fair dose for the time being if it does not kill them.
24. Came in this morning. Had a quiet day and had a bit of a sing sing at night with some canteen beer to break the monotony. Great disappointment on letters or parcels.
25. We had a quiet day today a splendid dinner and a ration of rum we had roast beef and plum pudding and tin fruit with plum sauce and lollies thanks to the Australian Comfort Fund. It has been snowing on and off all day and it is falling heavy tonight. Went to the trench party to finish up the day.
26. Came out this morning. Had a bit of luck as we had only just got into the tunnel when Jerry started to shell the flat that we had just come over.
27. Things fairly quiet. Heard that the Canadians got a hundred prisoners last night. They are on our right and another lot was coming over to surrender but they drove them back as they did not want prisoners.
28. Came in this morning it is still snowing and freezing and very cold. Got a double issue of rum.
29. It is colder this morning than it has been this winter and the guns are going strong out in the line. No mail or parcels yet.
30. Came out this morning it was fairly quiet A few big guns of ours going.
31. Things still quiet.
1918 January first. - Things were quiet all night till five this morning and then old Fritz started to bombard and he sent it over thick and heavy for about twenty minutes and then started to come over on a raid but our lads were waiting and he only got to his wire and went back quick. He did not get any of our lads. Did not hear if we got any of his. It was quiet coming in to the billets but there is some big bombardment going on to night and I think the Staffords are going over on a raid.
2. Had a quiet day in the billets. It has not been so cold today. It is snowing a bit to night
3. We went out this morning. It was fairly cold going but all right when we got out there. Had been a raid the night before and old Fritz nearly got over to the tunnel but got stopped. He was coming over to try and blow it in as he had some mobile charges with him but our lads were waiting for him.
4. Our side is getting ready for him if he makes a big push here as they are concentrating troops on this front so we have been ...... in the tunnels to blow them in if he does get them which I don’t think he as much hope of.
5. We came in this morning. It had been freezing hard all night and as slippery as glass.
6. We had church parade this morning. We get it about once a month so it is not too bad. Am writing to the boys today. Just heard that our mails have been sunk. It is rotten luck - parcels and all.
7. Had a quiet time going out but a bit sloppy as it rained through the night.
8. Things are fairly quiet but there is a fair amount of big stuff bursting on the tunnels - can’t hurt us - they just cut the lights when they come to close. The Staffords made a successful raid last night and Fritz was just ready to come over and our barrage caught them just as they got to their wire and cut them up pretty bad. We got two prisoners, one officer and a corporal. They were coming to try and blow in the entrance to the tunnel.
9. It had snowed pretty heavy through the night and then started to freeze and it made the duck boards pretty slippery coming out so I put sand bags on.
10. In billets today. Was on ration fatigue this morning and it was a cold ride to the station as there a cold wind blowing.
11 Went out this morning - things were quiet.
12. Things as usual.
13. Making great preparations in the tunnel for Fritz if he ever comes over putting in mines and safety doors.
14. In billets today. Had a heavy fall of snow last night.
15. Had a quiet tripout but Old Fritz started shelling the mouth of the tunnel just after we got in. He flattened the trenches all around but did not get the tunnel - but it was lively while it lasted.
16. Things fairly quiet - a few big shells bursting over head but we are well under ground and it only shakes the timber a bit.
17. He caught one of the Notts and Durhils last night, just at the mouth ofthe tunnel. The shell hit the side of the trench and came back and he got it full in the chest. He lived for about ten minutes.
18. I got a letter from home when I came inyesterday and three today. It was a god-send to hear from home once more as it is three months since I hadthe last.
19. Went out this morning. Just as we got to line trench we struck an aeroplane that had been brought down the day before and both men killed that was in it. There was some heavy shell came over while we were going in but only a couple came near us. The tunnels are in a nice state! The weather has taken up and then set in and the water has come through the chalk and there are pools of water in places nearly up to our knees. It is ------but we are lucky as our dug-out is dry so far but it might start any time to come through.
20. It is a cow going and coming to our work as the mud and water is all along the way.
21. Just come out and glad to get out of it for a spell.
22. Had a quiet time today. Old Fritz has been sending a few shells over the town but did not come within a quarter of a mile of the billets. There was one of our officers seriously wounded and a sapper killed at hill seventy. Lieutenant Russell was his name one of the reinforcements that relieved us was severely wounded coming in on the twentieth. He was a fine fellow - Harry May. I don'tknow the man that got killed today. His name was McCardil.
23. Poor Lieutenant Russell died last night he was terribly wounded. His only thought wasfor the sapper thatgot killed with him. He was too badly wounded to do anything - only give him morphine to ease pain. We had a quiet time coming out.
24. Tunnel is in a terrible state. The thaw has set in and the water is coming through the chalk and it is in the tunnel - some places up to our knees and nearly all the fuses are out but ours are not too bad but it is a good place to be out of. We saw a great bit of aeroplane manoeuvring to day. They were over the line in droves and our guns were throwing it over at same time and I pity the poor devils that were coming up on the other side as it must have been hell as it was one continual cloud of dust and shells.