SERGEANT HUGH CLOPTON GODFREY THURLOW
1431 – Australian Electrical & Mechanical Mining & Boring Company
Born in 1881 at Green Hithe, Kent, England, Hugh was the son of William Thomas Godfrey and Margaret (nee Clopton) Thurlow. He arrived in Sydney, Australia on 12 December 1899 on board the ship Travancor as ‘Hugh C G Thurlow, apprentice seaman, age 18 of London’.
Hugh signed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ and the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ on 14 January 1916 at Newcastle, New South Wales.
He stated that he was 35 years and six months of age and a Company Manager by profession of Double Bay, Sydney, New South Wales.
Hugh named as his Next-of-Kin his brother Mr. G. Thurlow of Court Road, Double Bay.
A medical examination found him to be ‘fit for active service’ and recorded that he was 5ft 5ins tall and weighed 128 lbs. He had a dark complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair.
After some time in the Depot Battalion he was appointed to the 1st Reinforcements, Australian Mining Corps at their Casula Camp on 10 February with the rank of Sapper.
Hugh embarked from Sydney on board Ulysses with the Australian Mining Corps.
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.
Following the 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 Broadmeadows while additional stores and equipment were loaded onto Ulysses. 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.
Departing Melbourne on 1 March, Ulysses sailed to Fremantle, Western Australia where a further 53 members of the Corps were embarked. 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. After a delay of about a month for repairs, The Mining Corps sailed for the European Theatre on 1 April 1916.
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 July 1916, Hughs’ Next-of-Kin advised the Minister of Defence of his change of address to the ‘Port Stephens Passenger & Tourist Transit Co., 75 Scott Street, Newcastle’.
Initially absorbed into the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company, Hugh was transferred to the AEMMBC on 7 October 1916 and taken on strength of that unit on the same day. He was promoted to Corporal rank on 25 October 1916.
He reported sick on 18 November 1916 and was admitted to the 12th Casualty Clearing Station with bronchitis, rejoining his unit on 24 November. He was promoted to Sergeant on 2 January 1917 to complete the Units establishment.
Hugh Thurlow and his men provided for 118 lights and three ventilation fans in the mine galleries and associated dugouts.
On 9 September 1917, the O.C. AEMMBC, Major R.V. Morse, recommended Hugh for a Military Medal. The recommendation read:
Hugh enjoyed some furlough from 17 to 31 December 1918, rejoining his unit on 1 January 1919.
Supplement No.30450 to the London Gazette of 28 December 1917 contained the award of the Meritorious Service Medal to No.1431 Sergeant H.C.G. Thurlow, Australian Electrical & Mechanical Mining Unit.
The Supplement to the London Gazette of 1 January 1918 promulgated the award of the Meritorious Service Medal to “1431 Sjt. H.C.G. Thurlow, Engrs.”
Hugh was granted Special Leave from France from 26 April to 26 May 1919. He was then granted leave from 26 May until 26 July 1919 with pay and subsistence to gain experience in the Agency Motor Trade, visiting Industrial Centres in England.
His leave was cancelled on 24 July and he returned to A.I.F. Headquarters, London for return to Australia. Hugh forfeited one days pay and was Reprimanded for being Absent Without Leave from 10 am until 5 pm on 8 August.
He enjoyed further leave from 12 to 16 August prior to his return to Australia on board HMAT A61 Kanowna leaving London on 28 August 1919.
Hugh spent from 1 to 8 September in the ships Isolation Hospital with scabies before disembarking in Sydney on 26 October 1919.
On 20 September 1919, the Meritorious Service Medal awarded to Hugh arrived from England and was sent to the Commandant, 2nd Military District for presentation.
Discharged from the A.I.F. in Sydney on 1 February 1920, Hugh married Beatrice G. Hough in 1920 at Stroud, New South Wales.
Hugh was apparently contacted around 10 March 1920 regarding presentation of the award of the M.S.M.
Hugh wrote to Lieutenant Colonel Wallace Brown on 15 March 1920:
“Dear Sir,
yours of the 10th inst, re M.S.M to hand for which I thank you. I declined this decoration whilst on active service in France & as my reasons for so doing still remain unaltered I now beg to be excused accepting the honour.
I shall feel greatly obliged if you can understand my feelings and cause the said decoration, which I decline to accept, to be returned.
Thanking you
Yours faithfully
(signed) Hugh C.G. Thurlow
late Sgt No.1431 A.E.M.M.&B. Coy”
District Headquarters, 2nd Military District, wrote on 18 March to his Salt Ash, Newcastle address advising that as they were not acquainted with his reasons for declining the award, could he advise them of same before they took further action.
On 25 March 1920 Hugh wrote to Major W. Buttner referring to his letter of 18 March stating in part: “Re M.S.M. I declined this decoration because in the opinion of myself & others in my Coy decorations were not always awarded in accordance with merit & consequently lost their value.”
On 17 May 1920, Hugh again wrote to Major W. Buttner:
“The writer whilst thanking Major Buttner for his communication No. 139/1/221 regrets being unable to accept the M.S.M. for reasons already stated & trusts the matter may now be considered closed.”
The Secretary of Defence wrote to A.I.F. Headquarters, London on 24 June 1920 advising that the decoration had arrived in September 1919 and was duly despatched to the Commandant of the 2nd Military District for presentation to ex Sergeant Thurlow. The letter went on to state that he refused to accept the decoration, stating that he declined it whilst on active service in France and while endeavours had been made to get ex Sergeant Thurlow to see the matter in its proper light, he steadily refuses to be convinced. The letter suggested that the award be cancelled.
On 16 September 1920, Australia House, London, wrote to the Secretary, Department of Defence, Melbourne, referring to a 19th August letter, stating that ‘no objection is taken to the relinquishment of this award, and the name will be removed from the Meritorious Service Medal Register accordingly.’ The letter also advised that the medal had been returned to the Secretary of the War Office.
Beatrice Thurlow, daughter of William & Amy M Hough, died on 18 April 1922 at Sydney, New South Wales, aged 29 years. She is buried in the Anglican section of the Stockton General Cemetery.
The Electoral Roll for 1930 record Hugh Clopton Godfrey Thurlow, living at Tea Gardens, NSW and working as a Clerk.
The 1937 Rolls record:
Hugh Clopton Godfrey Thurlow, Tea Gardens, NSW, Clerk
Humphrey Clopton Hovell Thurlow, Riverview, Tea
Gardens, NSW, Launch hand
Vera Muriel Thurlow, Riverview, Tea Gardens, NSW, HD
BDMs record that Humphrey Thurlow, presumed to be a brother of Hugh Thurlow, married Vera Muriel Hough, sister of Beatrice Hough, in 1925 at Sydney, New South Wales.
Hugh married Mary Belinda Paton (nee Sproule) in 1942 at Newcastle, New South Wales.
The Electoral Rolls for 1943 record:
Hugh Clopton Godfrey Thurlow, Tea Gardens, NSW, Clerk
Humphrey Clopton Hovell Thurlow, 12 Woods Street, Newcastle, NSW, waterside worker
Humphrey was born in 1876 in Staines, England and died at Wallsend, New South Wales in 1946.
Hugh Clopton Godfrey Thurlow died on 24 April 1947 at Raymond Terrace, New South Wales, aged 65 years.
He is buried at Nelson Bay Cemetery, Stockton Street, Nelson Bay, New South Wales.
Hugh Thurlows’ military records were forwarded to the Repatriation Commission, Sydney in August 1953.
Mary Thurlow, daughter of Adam and Alice Sproule, died on 18 October 1958 at Raymond Terrace, New South Wales. She is buried with Hugh in the Nelson Bay Cemetery.
Geoffrey Ralph S T H G Thurlow, son of William Godfrey and Margaret Clopton, died at Mayfield, New South Wales in 1944. Geoffrey is believed to be the brother of Hugh and Humphrey Thurlow and the G. Thurlow listed as Next-of-Kin to Hugh.
Reunions
Past members of the Australian Electrical & Mechanical Mining & Boring Company and Tunnellers 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 and are quite detailed.
Hugh Thurlow appears in their records in 1928 and 1934 at Tea Gardens, New South Wales. A notation ‘No reply 1931 / don’t send’ appears against his name.
There is a Thurlow Street in Nelson Bay which may be linked to this family.
Images of headstones and details of burials courtesy of Australian Cemeteries Index -
© Donna Baldey 2012