SAPPER ALBERT TORZILLO
1393 – 2nd Tunnelling Company / 4th Division Headquarters
Pasquale Torzillo emigrated from Viggiano in the south of Italy, inland from Sorrento. Viggiano is in the mountains, but it is in the province of Potenza.
Many families of Viggiano between 1700 and 1900, in different ways, were interested and involved by the phenomenon of street musicians: this phenomenon existed also in other regions, for example Liguria, in the provinces of Parma and Piacenza, in Ciociaria. Musicians from Viggiano played in the streets and in the squares, like other street musicians, they emigrated and underwent very long journeys; but they used different instruments. They did not use mechanical instruments, preferred by the others (these kinds of instruments did not need any talent). They preferred to use violins, flutes, and harps. The choice of the harp was very uncommon in national and international music world. The musicians built a small diatonic harp with less than twenty strings.
In 1876 Pasquale, a noted harpist, married Frances Emily Becke, daughter of Frederick and Caroline Becke. The couple lived in Sydney and had six children in the following years; Guiseppe, known as Joseph born in 1877; Frederico Cecilio born in 1878; Angelina born in 1879; Franceschina Caroline born in 1881; Alberti, known as Albert or Bert, born in 1883 and Francesca Leonie born 1885.
Albert ‘Bert’ Torzillo, along with his brother Joseph, inherited their parents’ musical talents and were to become musicians entertaining the public at concerts throughout their lives. Bert played the harp under the stagename of Signor Torzillo and Joseph became an orchestra conductor. Their uncle was Louis Becke, (a brother to their mother) who was a celebrated writer of stories of the South Sea Islands.
Both parents played the harp, with Bert having artistic musicality with this instrument. When he was twenty-seven years of age the Signor’s name first appeared in advertisements in his home town of Sydney for a solo appearance in Miss Eileen Boyd’s Concert at the Sydney Town Hall on May 3, 1910, although he is noted to have toured with companies before then.
Throughout the pre-war years he would appear in many concerts, sacred, seasonal or entertaining, working with or under the direction of Mr Nicholas Gehde, Miss Aida George, Madame Cecelia Waldron and Mr Arthur Goodwin. Nearly all were performed at the Town Hall but he also is reported to have played at other Sydney venues of the Adelphi Theatre and St James’s Hall. He also toured the country in between these performances in Sydney.
The following is the last concert advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald that mentions him by name appearing in the Matinee on July 24, 1915 before he enlisted:
He enlisted for active service abroad on November 4, 1915 and passed the medical examination at the Board of Health Recruiting Depot in Sydney. The thirty-one and a half year old returned on December 10 and completed Attestation Forms. Personal details taken show he was 164cms (5ft 4½ins) tall, weighed 63.6kgs (140lbs) with a chest measurement of 93cms (36½ins).
Complexion was fresh with hazel eyes that tested to having good vision and dark brown hair. Religious faith was Church of England. He nominated as Next-of-Kin was his brother Mr J. Torzillo of 254 Liverpool Street, Sydney, NSW. He was sworn in the same day. Training took place with ‘A Coy’ 19th Battalion until December 29, 1915 and on January 1, 1916 he was transferred to the Mining Corps’ Training camp at Casula, near Liverpool, NSW.
Albert was assigned to the No.1 Company 1st Reinforcements, Mining Corp, with the rank of Sapper and the regimental number 1393.
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.
Sapper Torzillo was one of 1,248 members of the Corps who 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.
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. Soon after arrival, the Australian Mining Corps ceased to exist as a whole and was redesignated into three Tunnelling Companies which were dispersed where the British Armies required them immediately.
In his letter home dated May / June, 1916 to his wife, Lance Sergeant Penleigh Boyd mentions briefly the vast changes life of a soldier is compared to civil occupations and gives Torzillo as an example. He wrote:
On May 22, 1916 Sapper Torzillo was attached for duty in the field with the 177th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, probably in the Railway Wood area where the Company was working at the time.
On July 11, 1916 he went to the 12th Casualty Clearing Station and was sent a day later to the 25th General Hospital at Hardelot suffering with abrasions to his right knee. He was discharged to Base Details at the 1st Aust Divisional Base Depot in Etaples on August 6 and rejoined his unit on August 29, 1916.
He was transferred to the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company (2ATC) on October 7, 1916 and taken on strength three days later and remained with the company. 2ATC relieved the 172nd Tunnelling Company, RE, in May 1916 in the Neuville St Vaast/Vimy area. The Company then relieved the Canadians at the Bluff in January 1917 and moved to Nieuport in the same month, to construct subways for Operation Hush. They were involved in an enemy attack - Operation Strandfest - in this coastal sector in July 1917, referred to in C.E.W. Beans Official History as ‘The Affair at Nieuport Bains’.
While on leave in London a year later the following misdemeanour was dealt with:
Offence:A.W.L. 7.30 a.m. 20/9/17 until 10.30 p.m. 28/9/17
Award:Forfeits 18 days pay.
Total forfeiture:27 days pay.
On November 29, 1917 he went sick to the 98th Field Ambulance and was admitted with P.U.O. (Pyrexia (Fever) of uncertain origin.) then transferred to the 96th Field Ambulance following to the 3a Casualty Clearing Station.
Six days later he was conveyed to the 8th Stationary Hospital at Wimereux until December 20, 1917. From there he departed on the hospital ship St David to England, entering the following day the Bath War Hospital in Bath with Trench Fever.
A month later on January 21, 1918 he was discharged to the 3rd Aust Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford and four days later was released to the No.3 Command Depot at Hurdcott. Base Records notified his brother on January 25, 1919 that he was in hospital.
On February 21, while at the Depot, Albert went to the Brigade Hospital suffering with boils, returning on March 2, 1918.
On April 17, 1918 he marched into the Overseas Training Camp at Deverill and proceeded from Southampton to France on April 26 arriving at the A.G.B.D. at Rouelles the day after. On May 4 he went as a musician to the 4th District Headquarters and was then transferred to the field and taken on strength as a member of the 4th Australian Division two days later.
Albert was one of 8 members of the Tunnelling companies who had listed ‘musician’ as the trade or profession. All embarked on Ulysses on 20 February 1916, and all served on the Western Front in Front Line units.
The photograph below shows the “Smart Set” Concert Party, of the 4th Division, at their improvised concert hall in a barn, discussing fresh plans, after the hall had been partially wrecked by an explosion of two high-velocity shells. Eight-seven casualties were sustained by the 14th Battalion personnel, portion of whom were billeted in another portion of the barn, which the shells hit direct at 2 a.m.
Left to right are: Private C. O'Brien; 10815 Corporal G. E. Castles; 10867 Lance Corporal (L Cpl) Howitt, AAP; unidentified; unidentified (standing); unidentified; unidentified; Captain C. D. Leake (wearing cap); 13088 L Cpl W. L. Chisholm (side of face); 8118 L Cpl R. R. Rowe; 17565 Pte Charles Thomas Holt; unidentified; Sapper A. Torzillo (back to camera); 3225 Pte R. E. Summers. [AWM Image ID E02467]
Note: 10815 Cpl G.E. Castles is George Edward Castles of Victoria who listed ‘vocalist’ as trade when enlisting in February 1916. George was the younger brother of Amy Castles.
Albert was granted leave to the United Kingdom on August 6, rejoining his unit twenty days later.
When Peace was declared he was still with his unit and on February 24, 1919 was counted in an audit of the company.
On March 22, 1919 he was admitted to the Canadian Hospital at de Gravelle, Belgium with Diphtheria and discharged to Base on April 4, 1919. His duty at the Base was to organise a Concert Party.
He crossed the English Channel on May 5, 1919 to Folkstone with orders to report to London Headquarters. Leave was granted by the Furlough Department and he was to report to Headquarters on May 13 but was granted an extension for an extra day. He went to the No.4 Depot at Hurdcott the next day.
The H.T. Miltiades departed Plymouth, England on June 19, 1919 with Sapper Torzillo on board for the voyage home.
On June 26, he was admitted to the ship’s hospital for treatment of Scabies and discharged on July 1, 1919. Base Records advised his brother on July 15 he was returning.
The ship docked briefly in Melbourne, Victoria (3rd M.D.) on August 6 and arrived in Sydney, NSW (2nd M.D.) on August 8, 1919.
Albert Torzillo was discharged from the A.I.F. in Sydney, NSW on September 30, 1919, entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
In February 1920 Signor Torzillo is the headline act billed as the Great Harpist at Cowen’s Spring Cantata:
Former soldiers created a show called ‘The Dinkum Aussie Diggers’ which toured the country after the war in 1920. The following is an advertisement for their Melbourne shows:
The British War Medal (34170) and the Victory Medal (33736) were received by Sapper 1393 Albert Torzillo, 2nd Tunnelling Company / 4th Aust. Division for serving his country.
In 1924 he was part of the act ‘The Voice and the Harp’ in which he partnered the brilliant Australian tenor voice of George Castles, a fellow veteran of the war, and gave many concerts across Australia including a season at the Tivoli Theatre, Sydney.
Bert was one of the mourners at the funeral of his brother Joseph which was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday October 18, 1926:
He received newsletters from and participated at the Tunnellers’ Anzac Day Reunion and their register has him listed from 1928 at 14 Searl Street, Petersham; the Capitol Theatre, Hay Street, Sydney; the Prince Edward Theatre, Sydney and Queens Road, Five Dock, Sydney.
In advertisements for concerts in 1929 and in 1931 he is mentioned still performing as a harpist. At the Irish National Concert on St Patrick’s Day in March, 1932 gave his rendition of “The Harp That Once through Tara’s Hall.”
He married Sarah Rose Naughton at Five Dock, Sydney in 1930. Bert and Sarah were residing at 4 Royston Court, Royston Street, Darlinghurst in 1933 with the occupation of musician and in 1937 lived at 138 Brougham Street, Darlinghurst.
His performance in August 1937 at the Apollo Club in the Conservatorium’s Concert entertained guests with his harp obligatio “Breathe, My Harp” by Sir H.R. Bishop. He also did radio concerts which were broadcast throughout the radio network.
Alberto / Alberti ‘Bert’ Torzillo passed away on Saturday June 18, 1938 in the Prince Albert Hospital, Sydney aged 55 years. The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday and Tuesday published the following notices:
The following article appeared in the RSLs Reveille magazine:
Alberts’ nephew Joseph John, known as Jack, also enjoyed a distinguished musical career, encapsulated in the article which appeared in the Music Unions publication of December 1984:
© Donna Baldey 2010/2012
with the assistance of Heather Goodall, NSW.
THESE ARE A FEW OF THE NUMEROUS NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ADVERTISING CONCERTS
OF SIGNOR A. TORZILLO’S PERFORMANCES
Sydney Morning Herald May 3, 1910
AMUSEMENTS
MISS EILEEN BOYD’S CONCERT
At her concert at the Town Hall this evening, Miss Eileen Boyd will sing “There is a Green Hill”, “The Enchantress” and “Ave Maria,” by Dr Chas W. McCarthy, and an aria by Doniletti. The concert should prove attractive in other directions, as the young contralto will be assisted by Miss Thelma Hanlon, Messrs Hopkins Jones, J.R. Marsden, W.H.R. Woods, Carl Budden, W Greaves, Signor Torzillo and Miss Lenore Vera Barnett (accompanist). The plan is at Nicholson’s.
Sydney Morning Herald December 10, 1910
AMUSEMENTS
MR N.J. GEHDE’S SUNDAY CONCERT
Mr N.J. Gehde’s sacred concert at the Town Hall tomorrow afternoon will include Misses Elsie B. Peerless, Renee Lees, Irene McPherson, Ella Abbott, Hazel Doyle, Messrs Eugene Osslpoff, (farewell), Maurice Chenoweth, J. Moizer, Warwick McKenzie, Signor A. Torzillo, and the Gibson Mandolin Sextette.
Sydney Morning Herald December 24, 1910
AMUSEMENTS
MR GEDHE’S CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
Mr N.J. Gedhe’s will direct tow sacred concerts at the Town Hall to-morrow. In the afternoon Misses Elsie B. Peerless, Irene M’Pherson, Signor A. Torzillo (harpist), Messrs Roy Allen and W.R. Marsden, Masters E. Martin Waddington (boy cornetist), and Jack Hendley and the Metropolitan Band, will assist.
In the evening Misses Elsie Peerless, Ivy Allen (violinist), Muriel Hinchey, Florence Grant, May Couch, Signor Torzillo, Herr S.M. Moskwin, Messrs Roy Allen, Chas Wood, M. Chenoweth, the Gibson Mandolin Quintette and the Meistersingers’ Male Quartette will contribute to an attractive programme of sacred songs.
Sydney Morning Herald September 9, 1911
AMUSEMENTS
MR GEDHE’S SUNDAY CONCERT
Mr Nicholas J. Gedhe’s concert at the Town Hall to-morrow afternoon will be the last for a considerable period. Miss Elsie B. Peerless will sing Pastor Cooper’s “Ave Maria,” (with violin obbligato) and Gounod’s “O Redeemer Divine,” and an attractive programme will include Misses Ivy Allen, Ella Abbott, Messrs Maurice Chenoweth, Roy Allen, A.R. Richards, A. Torzillo, Master Charlie Hayes (cornetist), the Meistersingers’ Male Quartet and the Cathedral Choristers.
Sydney Morning Herald October 14, 1911
AMUSEMENTS
ADELPHI THEATRE CONCERT
At the Adelphi Theatre tomorrow night Mr A. O’Brien will conduct the Sydney Professional Band in selections from “Faust,” “Sampson & Delilah,” “Maritara,” and Fackeltany, Signor Torzillo will assist, and Messrs Griffin, Purdon, Fellows and Daly will play a trombone quartet.
Sydney Morning Herald March 4, 1912
AMUSEMENTS
MISS AIDA GEORGE’S CONCERT
On Wednesday March 27, in the Town Hall under the direction of Nicholson and Co, Ltd, Miss Aida George, a soprano from the studio of Signor Stelland will give a farewell concert prior to her departure for Paris for further study under famous masters. The assisting artists will St Cecelia’s Ladies Choir (conductor Hector O. Flemming), Signor A. Torzillo, Messrs Charles Laiven, W. du Boulay, W. Warrington Reynolds. The plans (and invitations) are available at Nicholson’s.
Sydney Morning Herald May 25, 1912
AMUSEMENTS
MADAME CECELIA WALDRON’S CONCERT
An invitation concert will be given in the Town Hall on Thursday June 20, by Madame Cecelia Waldron, to introduce her soprano pupil Miss Kitty Jones. The assisting artists will be Miss Constance Brandon-Usher, Mr Bryce Carter, Mr Laurence Phillip, Signor Torzillo, Mr Seafor Heaton, and Mr Arthur Upjohn (monologues). Invitations at Nicholson’s, where plans will open shortly.
Sydney Morning Herald May 24, 1913
AMUSEMENTS
MR NICHOLAS GEHDE’S MATINEE
Mr Nicholas J. Gedhe will direct a concert at the Town Hall to-morrow afternoon, when an attractive programme will be contributed to by Misses Elsie B. Peerless and Ivy Allen, A. Torzillo, Messrs Ernest Archer, Harold Hazel, Walter J. Stent, Master Royden Williams, the Gibson Mandolin Septette, and the Cathedral Chorister Boys.
Sydney Morning Herald June 21, 1913
AMUSEMENTS
MR NICHOLAS GEDHE’S MATINEE
Mr Nicholas J. Gedhe announces a concert at the Town Hall for to-morrow afternoon when Misses Elsie B. Peerless, Ivy Allen and Thelma Henderson, Signor A. Torzillo, Mr Harold Hazell, Master Royden Williams, and the Cathedral Chorister Boys will contribute to an attractive programme.
Sydney Morning Herald June 28, 1913