Lieutenant Thomas P Chataway
15th Battalion, AIF
Area Staff WW2
by Robert Simpson
Thomas Percival Chataway was born in Mackay Queensland on 25th October 1891. He was the eldest of five children born to Thomas Drinkwater Chataway and Anna Maria Alterieth. Thomas Drinkwater married Anna in Rockhampton on 8th November 1890. He had been born in Rotherwick England in 1864 and Anna in Indonesia in 1861. Thomas Drinkwater followed his brother James Vincent to Australia and into both journalism and politics. James was very involved in matters around Mackay and was a member of many local organisations. He also held a commission in the Mackay Mounted Infantry. James died of heart disease in 1901, received a state funeral and is buried at Cleveland cemetery. Thomas Drinkwater arrived in Sydney in 1881 and worked as a journalist there before moving to Queensland. After marrying Anna, they then lived in Mackay in the early 1900’s where he was originally a journalist. In 1901 with another person, he applied for a patent for a machine for cutting sugar cane, but it was not registered. He was mayor of Mackay from 1904 to 1906 and then he moved into politics, becoming the local M.P in the Senate in December 1906. He only served one term.
In 1914 they moved to Victoria, where he continued his journalistic work and he was also involved in government positions during the war. Thomas Drinkwater and his brother James Vincent were sons to James Chataway and Elizabeth Ann Drinkwater who had been married in the early 1850’s in England. James was born in Birmingham in 1829 and Elizabeth in Gibraltar in 1833. James had gone to Cambridge University in 1846 and received his Batchelor of Arts in 1851 and Masters in 1854. He became an ordained Deacon in 1852, a priest at Worecester in 1853, Vicar of Wartling Sussex from 1856 to 1866, Curate of Heckfield from 1866 to 1870, Rector of Rotherwick from 1870 to 1895 and then he resigned. In 1896 they travelled to Australia and Canada and returned home in 1898. He died in 1907 in Rotherwick. Elizabeth died in 1893 and was buried at Rotherwick Churchyard in Hampshire England. They had fifteen children, three of whom moved to Australia. One of their daughters, Ethel, married Charles Frederick Moberly Bell who was managing director of The Times. They had a son, Clive Vincent, who served in the Boer War, in India and in WW1, rose to the rank of Major and was awarded the O.B.E.
Left to right: T. D. Chataway who became Mayor of Mackay and Senator of Queensland, T. P. Chataway who wrote the history of the 15th Bn. 1st AIF which he served in during World War I and Rev. James Chataway, Rector of Rotherwick in Hampshire, England. From State Library of Queensland.
By 1914 Thomas Percival Chataway was still living with his parents in their home, “Nebia” at Gordon Street Toorak and was a journalist, following on from his father.
Thomas enlisted on 9th October 1914 with the 1st Reinforcements, 15th Battalion, of the 4th Infantry Brigade in Melbourne. The record states he was born in the Mackay District near Mackay. His next of kin was listed as his father, Thomas, of 20 Gordon St Toorak and was later changed to his wife with a London address. His terms of service were for the period of the war and longer if required. Another attestation form also lists the maiden name of his future wife with an address care of another person in Albert Park. He was 23 years old, 5 foot 11.5 inches tall, weighed 10 stone 12 pounds, had a chest measurement of 33 to 36 inches, and was of medium complexion with grey eyes and brown hair. His religious denomination was listed as Church of England. He had a scar on the outside of his left knee and had no vaccination marks.
Most of the volunteers for the 15th Battalion were from Queensland and the rest were from Tasmania. They trained together in Melbourne, with him being in No. 3 Company. As Private 1401, Thomas, a labourer from Gordon Street, Toorak, Victoria embarked with the 15th Battalion on HMAT Berrima A35 on 22nd December 1914. They arrived in Egypt in early February 1915 and proceeded to join the M.E.F. on 15th April, for Gallipoli.
A letter dated 20th February 1915 to the Camp Commandant at Broadmeadows from Base Records was asking of the whereabouts of Thomas and stated “I understand the matter is of the utmost financial importance to the enquirer”. What the details are about is not known, but he was overseas at the time. Another letter on the 25th asks if he was serving there to which the reply of “T. D. Chataway is not in the strength of the Depot” was added. There is also a pencil note stating “Base Records evidently sent here in error”.
On 25th April, as part of the 4th Brigade they landed at Anzac, late in the afternoon. The battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the Anzac beachhead for the next few months. He was wounded in action on 10th May. On 19th May 1915 he was transported on the Gascon and admitted to the Raz-El-Tin hospital with a gun shot wound in the neck. He was transferred to England on 24th June 1915 on the Glenart Castle. On 6th July 1915 he was admitted to the hospital at Manchester. His date of discharge from hospital was not recorded.
After recovering from his wound, he rejoined the Battalion at Ismailia on 15th January 1916 after disembarking from the Onana. A letter from his future wife, Francis Campbell-Walker, was replied to stating Thomas had returned to duty in Egypt and if there were any future reports on him, she would be notified immediately. Her address was gives as C/o Miss Gore, 145 Mills St., Albert Park, Victoria. She had been sent a letter on 23rd July stating he was now in hospital at Manchester and giving his postal address. His father got the same letter and another one on 19th June stating Thomas had been wounded, but not seriously and that was assumed that in the absence of further reports that things were progressing favourably.
Thomas proceeded to join the B.E.F. at Alexandria on 1st June 1916. On 8th August 1916 he was appointed Lance Corporal in France after disembarking at Marseilles on that day. The battalion had its first major action at Pozieres in that month.
He was promoted to Corporal on 19th January 1917.
The battalion suffered heavy losses at Bullecourt in April 1917 when the 4th Brigade attacked German positions without the promised tank support. On 5th May 1917 he was marched in and reported for duty as a Cadet with No. 2 Officers Cadet Battalion at Cambridge from 15th Battalion in France. He was detached from the 15th Battalion to the Officers Cadet Battalion on the 12th and placed on the supernumery list of N.C.O.’s on the 15th and taken on their strength.
On 1st September 1917 he was appointed as 2nd Lieutenant and posted to General Infantry Reinforcements. He proceeded overseas to France on 18th September 1917 and was taken on strength of the 15th Battalion from the Cadet Officers Battalion on 24th September. He was with the 4th Division at Roulles at that time. The Battalion spent most of 1917 in Belgium advancing to the Hindenburg Line. Thomas was promoted to Lieutenant on 8th December. On 16th January 1918 he was sent to U.K. on leave and he returned to his unit on 1st February. The Battalion helped to stop the German spring offensive in March and April and was involved with the allied offensive of 1918 and fought near Amiens in August. Again, on 8th September he was on leave, during which he married, and rejoined the unit on the 25th. On 8th November as a Lieutenant he proceeded on 1914 leave to U.K. and rejoined his unit on 30th January 1919.
On 13th September 1918 in West Dulwich Emmanuel, he married Frances Alice Campbell-Walker. She had boarded the Osterley in Melbourne bound for Liverpool in August 1917. Frances had been born in 1894 in Horsham Victoria and was a teacher at the time she left for England. Not much is known about her father George Walker except he was a farm assistant. Her mother, Frances Homan Campbell, married George in 1891 when she was 27 but they must have separated some time after Frances birth as they are found at different addresses in Electoral Rolls. Frances Hoffman’s parents were Colin Campbell and Frances Elliott McWhirter who had married in 1851 in Victoria. Colin’s father, Alexander was a Scotsman who was a partner in the West Indies trading company John Campbell Snr & Co. It was the largest and wealthiest of the West Indian sugar companies in Glasgow. Apparently, he was a man of great energy, a Captain of the Highland Sharpshooters and an ardent supporter of the Celtic Society. Colin was a Reverend who had moved to Australia before marrying. He had graduated with honours at Oxford in 1838 and then left for Australia, arriving in Hobart Town in March 1839. He originally was a journalist and a squatter and he later moved to Victoria worked in various government offices until he was elected in 1854 in Melbourne. After retiring from politics in 1877 he applied for admission to holy orders in the Church of England, having been a volunteer for church work for 25 years. Colin retired from the Ballarat diocese in 1889, travelled to England and returned and then devoted himself to the promotion of religious instruction in state schools until his death in 1903. His wife Frances was born in Edinburgh and studied medicine unofficially with her brother. She came to Australia in 1848 to ease an asthmatic condition. Her father was at sometime the physician to the Viceroy of India and he became president of the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh. Frances Alice gave her address at the time as 22 Rosedale Rd, Dulwich, London and another form has it changed to C/o Union Bank of Australia, 71 Cornhill, London.
He was granted 75 days long service furlough abroad on 8th November 1918 as noted above and on 6th April 1919 he was marched out to England from France for Return to Australia. He marched in to No. 4 Group, Hurdcott on the 15th.
Family members who served included Mary Esme Chataway, who was a cousin. She was a Staff Nurse with the 11th Reinforcements of First Australian General Hospital who embarked on the HMAT Orsova on 10th November 1915 and was listed as a 25-year-old from Mackay. She returned to Australia as a Sister on 19th December 1918. Another cousin, Vincent Maxwell Chataway, embarked at Queensland on HMAT Clan McGillivray on 7th September 1916 as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 20th reinforcements, 9th Battalion. Vincent was awarded the Military Cross “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He handled his platoon with great coolness and quick decision assisting to drive the enemy out of his position. Later, he continued to advance after the retreating enemy, capturing and sending back many prisoners. He displayed great ability and leadership throughout.” This was at Lagnicourt, France on 15th April 1917 as noted in another citation of the event. Together with an unidentified fellow member of the 9th Battalion, Chataway removed a painting from the burning cathedral at Bapaume, France, by cutting it from the frame with bayonets and then cutting it in half. “Chataway’s half was presented to the Australian War Memorial, and will be returned to France in March 1999.” (‘The Australian’, 16 December 1998, p. 7). He returned as a Lieutenant on 18th July 1919. Another cousin, Seymour Darcy Eagle Chataway, embarked with the 8th reinforcements 26th Battalion as Private 3472 from Brisbane on 3rd January 1916 and returned on 24th December 1918. He was the Mayor of Cairns from 1960 to 1967.
A brother, James George Drinkwater Chataway also served and embarked at Sydney on RMS Mooltan with the 3rd Depot Unit of Supply, 21st Army Service Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant on 11th December 1915. He was living with his parents at “Nebia” and his occupation was listed as an Amanuensis. He returned as a Lieutenant with the 3rd D.U.S. on 23rd March 1919.
Thomas returned to Australia on 16th June 1919 from England as a Lieutenant with his new wife on the Ormonde. After arriving back in Australia, they lived at “Nebia” with his parents in 1919 while they both worked as journalists. At some stage they had used the returned soldier settlement loan to buy a block at Tumbarumba as listed in the loan file [12/6891] 02888. Another record has listed – CHATAWAY, Thomas Percival, Manus Estate Tumbarumba, Tumbarumba, 24 Nov 1919, 31 Aug 1928; with the dates being the start and end dates, but not stating what for. If they had a block there they were not living there all the time. His appointment with the AIF was terminated at Melbourne on 16th August 1919. On 7th November 1921 the Department of Repatriation asked Base Records for them to forward his hospital admissions to them. Another note asked to threat the matter urgently as his pension could not be dealt with until they received the information. He signed for his Victory medal in 1922 at Victoria Barracks.
By the 1924 Electoral Roll they had moved to 5 Tashinny Rd. Toorak. His father died of arteriosclerosis on 5th March 1925 in Melbourne at his home at 6 Balmerino Avenue, Toorak. He was buried in Brighton Cemetery. In the 1931 to 1937 electoral rolls they give their address as C/o G Walker Murmungee, so they had some contact with her father. On 7th April 1926 Frances applied to the Australian government for the registration on the Copyright for a poem titled “A Plea”, which was written about the tragedy of the war. It was written for the Friendly Union of Soldiers’ Wives and Mothers. The application was not successful. They were living at Jeny Manor, Davidson St. South Yarra at the time. In 1937 Thomas wrote to Base Records asking for a certified copy of his discharge from the AIF in 1919 as he had lost the original one years before. He was applying for entry into the Public Service under the Returned Soldier’s Act.
During World War 2, Thomas served in the army as a Lieutenant in the Staff Area. He joined in Caulfield, Victoria and was living at Beechworth with the service number V1446 on 8th July 1940 and was discharged on 19th April 1944. Frances was listed as next of kin. As his service records are not open it is not known what he did. Thomas was reported in the newspaper in 1940 as being the secretary of the Beechworth Public Library. In the 1942 roll they were living at 99 Templeton Street Wangaratta and were both still journalists (obviously the electoral roll did not register his service). Other family members also served in the war, with two being killed. Thomas wrote the unit history of the 15th Battalion and in 1948 he was presented a red leather-bound copy by the Angels Remembrance Club. They were so called, as “angels” was a code word for the Battalion. A change of occupation by the 1954 roll has Thomas as a clerk and Frances was a housewife. By 1963 he had retired and they were living at Bartels Street. McCrae. He passed away there on 28th May 1964. Frances was still there in the 1980 Roll and she passed away on 16th November 1987. Probate for her was granted on 1st February 1988. He was cremated, but his ashes were interred on 3rd March 1966 at Cheltenham Cemetery. Frances was interred with him. It would appear they had no children.
Aged 72. I walked with the elect of the gods.
Aged 93. Loved wife of the late Thomas P Chataway.
The Australian War Memorial has a manuscript from him which contains two typescripts, “Mourning Glory”, a play set partially in the trenches in France in 1916, and “Death Rides Abroad”, an account based on the author’s experiences at Gallipoli (Quinn’s Post) and at the Somme, written under the pen name of “Lewis Gun”.
His medals are 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory medals, WWII War Medal and Australian Service Medal as well as a cased Gallipoli Medallion.
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