2nd Lieutenant Sydney Gordon Leslie HALL
11th Battalion AIF
By Ian Curtis
‘For God and Country’ 1
Sydney Gordon Leslie Hall was born at Lucindale, South Australia on 22 July 1891 to Ebenezer Hall and Fanny Sophia (née Humphries), who had married in 1865. Sydney was the youngest of 12 children. His father was born in Homerton, London, the son of The Reverend Charles Hall. When Ebenezer was two, his father immigrated to Tasmania to take up an appointment with the Congregational Church.
In 1849, the family moved to South Australia. Ebenezer Hall was a highly respected member of the Lucindale District as a farmer developing Bloomfield Park during a quarter of a century. In 1902 he sold his property to Mr W J French of Mount Gambier and was farewelled by the community which he had served as Chairman of the Lucindale District Council, President of the Agricultural, Horticultural and Pastoral Society and Institute and also as a Justice of the Peace in the Police Court. On 26 February, only days after being farewelled and while preparing to move to Western Victoria to continue his pastoral pursuits, Ebenezer passed away from inflammation of the bowel. He is buried in the Lucindale Cemetery. Sydney’s mother moved to Hyde Park in Adelaide after the death of her husband.
Sydney gained his early education at Norwood Primary School before attending the Collegiate School of St Peters. During this time he joined the Army Cadets and developed a passion for all things military. After leaving school, Sydney joined the Adelaide branch of the Union Bank as a clerk and was later transferred to the Kadina Branch. He also continued his military service, initially with B Company 81st Wakefield Infantry, being appointed 2nd Lieutenant.
He then moved to Western Australia where two of his older brothers were living. Sydney worked in branches of the bank in Perth, Fremantle and Pingelly. In Western Australia, he joined the 88th Perth Infantry and attained the rank of Captain and in May 1915, he applied for a commission in the AIF.
Sydney was appointed 2nd Lieutenant on 1 May 1915 with the 6th Reinforcements of the 11th Battalion. He stood 5 ft 10 ½ inches tall, weighed 11 stone, was 23 years 10 months and named his mother as next of kin.
It was reported that prior to joining the AIF, while in camp in Western Australia, he was in charge of prisoners at Rottnest Island. At the start of the war, the Department of Defence commandeered Rottnest Island for use as an internment and prisoner of war camp from 1914 to the end of 1915. In September 1915, the camp held 989 persons, including 841 Austrian and German internees and 148 Prisoners of War. Recreational and holiday pursuits were re-established in December 1915.2
Later, Sydney Hall was an instructor at Blackboy Hill Camp.
Blackboy Hill Camp was the birthplace of the AIF in Western Australia, located at the foot of the Darling Ranges, east of Perth. Over 32,000 men passed through the camp, before embarking.3
On 6 June 1915, Sydney embarked from Fremantle as officer in charge of the 6th Reinforcements, 11th Battalion onboard HMAT A2 Geelong.
After reaching Alexandria, he embarked for the Dardanelles on 1 August and was taken on strength of the 11th Battalion on 4 August, joining the unit on the Gallipoli peninsula on 5 August. The 6th Reinforcements consisted of 138 men under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Sydney Hall and 2nd Lieutenant Alexander John Robertson.4 They were joined by 128 men of the 7th Reinforcements under the command of Lieutenant Edward Richard Pinnell and Lieutenant Ernest William Morris. They were about to have one of the most terrible introductions under fearful conditions and in the face of extreme danger, which was beyond all praise.5
Only two days after joining the battalion, Sydney was reported missing. He had led a counter attack on Leane’s Trench. On 6 August, during the battle of Lone Pine, the 11th Battalion held off a fierce Turkish attack on Leane’s Trench. Heavy casualties on both sides were the result. The battalion suffered 41 killed, 94 wounded and 19 missing.
On 14 August, a Court of Enquiry was assembled by order of the Commanding Officer 11th Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel James Lyon Johnston for the purposes of enquiring into the absence of 2nd Lieutenant SGL Hall, reported missing.
The president of the enquiry was the Battalion 2IC, Major Stephen Richard Horricks Roberts, assisted by Lieutenant Anthony Purdon Hagerty Corley6 and 2nd Lieutenant Ferdinand George Medcalf. Evidence was provided by Lieutenant E R Pinnell, 2479 Private James Clinton Dickinson and Lieutenant APH Corley. Lieutenant Pinnell stated that; ‘under orders Lieut Hall led a counter attack delivered against the Turks on the left front of LEANE’s TRENCH on the morning of the 6th August. He last saw Lieut Hall as he disappeared over the slope immediately on the left of LEANE’s TRENCH. He is aware that a search had been made under fire from the enemy, for the body of Lieut Hall without success. The ground in front of the left front of LEANE’s TRENCH is very broken and it is possible that the body had been overlooked during the several searches which have been made under the cover of darkness.’7
Private Dickinson, who was a member of the party that Sydney led, did not see him after they reached the left of Leane’s Trench and stated that he believed he was dead. Lieutenant Corley stated that the enemy retired rapidly under heavy fire and it was his opinion that due to the circumstances, it was not possible for the enemy to take prisoners.
The Court’s findings were that it was reasonable to suppose that 2nd Lieutenant SGL Hall was killed on 6 August 1915.
During a later investigation by the Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau, Lance Corporal R B Hall stated that he had heard later that Lieutenant Hall’s disc was brought in.8
Australia’s official war historian, CEW Bean, later wrote about Leane’s Trench, ‘the commander of the 11th had ordered another step to be taken to oust the digging Turks. This was a charge over the open north ofTasmania Post by twenty-five men under a reinforcement officer, Lieutenant Hall. This party accordingly dashed forward through the Wheatfield. The morning was advanced. The whole area was on the alert. As they reached the edge of the slope the machine–guns on Snipers’ Ridgeand the Knife Edge, and shrapnel-fire from a Turkish battery, were turned upon them. Hall was struck, and pitched headlong down the slope. A number of his men charged or stumbled down it, ten of their bodies being afterwards found near its foot. A body of the enemy, which they surprised, fled on their appearance, and, as it recoiled, the crackle of the Turkish machine-guns swelled into a deafening uproar. But of Hall’s party only three wounded men managed to return to the northern end of Leane’s.’9
Sydney’s mother first received notice that her son was missing and later that he had been killed in action. The family rallied around her to look after Sydney’s affairs, including his back pay and probate. Personal belongings, including a gold watch with glass broken, were forwarded.
The Minister of Defence in Melbourne received a letter dated 10 September 1915 from a Miss May Caddy10 of Kadina, South Australia seeking information about Sydney after she had learned that he was missing. She advised the Minister that she and Sydney were engaged to be married. She had last heard from Sydney by cable before he departed Fremantle. Any advice received would ‘greatly relieve me of the anxiety which I am at presently enduring.’ 11
In September 1921, Sydney’s mother received his Memorial Scroll. She died on 25 June 1922. His sister Evelyn received his Memorial Plaque in late 1922 and his Victory Medal in early 1923.
Sydney Hall was well known and respected in all the places where he had lived. There are a number of Rolls of Honour on which his name appears. Sydney is commemorated on Panel 33 of the Lone Pine Memorial as one of the 3,268 Australians and 456 New Zealanders with no known grave. He is also commemorated on panel 62 at the Australian War Memorial, the Kadina Arch, Kadina Honour Board Number 3, Kadina Honour Board No 4, St Peters College Fallen Honour Board, Unley Arch, Unley Honour Board Number 1 in the Town Hall, and Unley Honour Board Number 5 at St Augustine’s Church.
Sydney is also commemorated along with 21 other soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice at Gallipoli in the North Road Cemetery, North Adelaide.
The Unley Arch was officially opened, 3 August 1924, by Mayor A E Morris.
The inscription above the arch reads
Remembrance In their sacrifice was our shelter12
Two of Sydney’s older brothers served and both returned to Australia after the war. 14588 Gunner Arthur Louis Hall enlisted on 27 January 1916 and served with 1st Division Trench Mortar Battery. 6912 Private Stanley Cecil Percy Hall enlisted on 8 August 1917 and served with the 1st Australian Employment Company.
Sydney was the uncle of 2798 Private Harold Albert Hall who died of disease on 17 September 1917 while a prisoner of war in Germany. He was a member of the 16th Battalion who had enlisted, age 18, on 14 July 1915.
2nd Lieutenant Sydney Gordon Leslie HALL
1914 -15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal,
proudly displayed at the
Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum.
‘Lest we Forget’
References
Register (Adelaide S A) 28 February 1902 page 3 Watch (Mount Gambier S A) 1 March 1902 page 2
www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-19/blackboy-hill www.monumentaustralia.org.au www.rottnestisland.com www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au
NAA: B2455 Hall SGL
Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau File 1DRL/0428 2nd Lieutenant Sydney Gordon Leslie Hall 11th Battalion
The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 – 1918 Vol II
www.aif.adfa.edu.au www.spirits-of-gallipoli.com>families www.vwma.org.au
Endnotes
Motto adopted in 1890 by St Peters Church of England School, founded in 1847
2 www.rottnestisland.com
3 www.monumentaustraila.org.au
4 2nd Lieutenant Robertson was killed in action 6 August 1915, Leane’s Trench
5 Western Mail 24 February 1938, page 9
6 A month later on 17 September 1915, Corley was killed by a sniper whilst inspecting a section of the battalion trenches
7 NAA: B2455 HALLS G L
8 1 DRL/0428 statement by L/Cpl R B Hill dated 3 December 1915
9Bean, CEW, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 – 1918, Volume 2, Chapter XVII, pp.494-5. Leane’s Trench
10 Miss Clarinda May Caddy (1864-1848) was a teacher at Kadina. She later married James Leslie Brown.
11 Letter in Sydney’s File
12 www.vwma.org.au Unley Arch
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ANZAC Biographies
On our website you will find the biographical details of ANZAC (as well as British) servicemen & women whose medals or other memorabilia form part of the collection on display at the Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia.