Volunteers of Essendon and Flemington, 1914-1918

 

 

 

 

Mystery Man

 

Major Johnston Hughston RAMC

 

by Marilyn Kenny

 

 

The Essendon Gazette of 10 June 1915,  in its For King and Country column,  carried the photo of a young man in civilian dress with a subheading.  There was no article to explain the reference or nor does his name appear on the Roll Of Honour either then or in the succeeding three years of the War.  Who was this man and why did the Essendon Gazette think that this could be of interest to readers?

 

Johnston Hughston had been born 7 April 1892,  second child and first son of Dr Robert Wilson Hughston and his wife Grace nee Smith.  Johnston,  usually known as Jack,  had been named for his paternal grandfather.  At the time of his birth the family lived in Shepparton but moved to Dandenong 1896-1897. There followed about three years in Port Fairy until the family moved again in 1901 to the large town of Hamilton in the Western District.

 

Hewlett House The imposing doctor’s residence in Hamilton owned and occupied

by the Hughston family 1902 -1908. Photo: Victorian Heritage Council. 

 

There in 1904 the family was completed with the birth of Jack’s only brother, Alexander Campbell Smith Hughston. Jack  had also acquired two sisters: Eleanor (Nell) and Catherine  in 1894 and 1897. In 1905 Jack,  along with his sisters, exhibited fancy dances in the interval of a Christmas ball hosted by his mother. He performed in the Foursome Reel and Highland Fling.  Jack attended Hamilton College, leaving in 1907 as Dux.

 

The educational needs of Jack and his elder sister Christian Mary, who had also been a prize winning pupil at Hamilton College, required the family to again uproot and move to Melbourne. Johnston Hughston enrolled at Scotch College,  then located in East Melbourne,  for the years 1908 to 1910. He then commenced medical studies at the University of Melbourne. 

 

Fifth year medical students 1914. Jack in centre of set.

Photo: University of Melbourne Medical School Archives

 

Jack completed his medical course in 1915. In ordinary times he would have obtained a hospital residency of one or two years then gone into general practice or undertaken specialist training.  However war had intervened.  Lord Kitchener,  British Minister for War planned for a three year war and raised a New Army.  The pre-war strength of the Royal Medical Corps had only been 25% of establishment and even this had been severely eroded by massive British losses in the early months of the War. It had become clear that the RAMC could only maintain services with colonial reinforcements . In February 1915 the Australian Defence Department received a cable asking that one hundred medical men be sent to England as soon as possible. These men were to be commissioned as Lieutenant for one year in the Royal Army Medical Corps.  The Defence Department approached the Medical Schools and put an appeal in the newspapers. The doctors  were required to be single,  under 40 years of age and medically fit. They would receive first class steamer  return passage to the UK,  24/- a day, (inferior to the AIF),  rations, a uniform allowance and £60 end of service bonus.  The Department expressed the belief that all medical men would feel the call of their country. 

 

At the beginning of the war the medical profession had volunteered almost as a body and already 300 of Victoria’s 1000 doctors were in uniform. Successful final year students were asked to either volunteer or take the place of a hospital volunteer. Final examinations were to be held at once.  There was concern that with this campaign most hospitals would be staffed mainly by the nobler sex only.  On Tuesday 30 March Jack’s name appeared in the newspapers on a list of those doctors soon to embark.  On Thursday 1 April,  Easter Thursday,  the University in a special ceremony conferred medical degrees on fifteen students including Johnston Hughston. At 1 pm on the same day his father Dr Robert Wilson Hughston was found dead.

 

 

The Family

 

Annie Hughston,  1859-1943,  Principal of Fintona.  

Photo: The Lady Principal

 

Robert Hughston was born in 1864 in Berwick, Victoria,  the second child and eldest son of Johnston Hughston and Catherine Wilson. His parents were teachers who later moved to Daylesford and there raised their five surviving children. He entered medical school in 1882 and was admitted as a medical practitioner in 1889. In 1889 Robert travelled to Brisbane to marry Grace Smith.  Her father, Alexander Campbell Smith, was a prominent Presbyterian minister who had served in Daylesford from 1875 to1885.   Grace had, it appears, had been teaching.

 

William Hughston,  1867-1930,  founder Open Air School, Sandringham.

Photo: The Lady Principal

 

Both Robert and Grace had siblings who were then embarking on significant careers.  In 1892 Roberts’s sister Jane contracted a marriage with one of his classmates, Dr Walter Craig, who settled in Box Hill, practicing there for more than fifty years.  Robert’s siblings Annie and William qualified as a teachers and worked with sister Violet at the Camperdown private  school that William  had established in 1894. After two successful years they moved to Melbourne where Annie Hughston set up the private school, Fintona.

 

William Hughston went on to establish his own Open Air School at Sandringham. He was a social thinker and among other activities germinated the idea for the establishment of what was to become the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. In 1897 Violet married Walter Logie Murdoch. Murdoch was a schoolmaster,  Lecturer in English at the University of Melbourne and influential Argus journalist.  In 1913 he became the founding Professor of English at the University of Western Australia. (Walter Murdoch was the uncle of  Sir Keith Murdoch and hence Great Uncle of Rupert.)   He took the appointment partly as he wished to show the Hughstons,  educated intelligent and gifted,  that he had the goods.

 

Walter and Violet Murdoch 1910 at Alfred Deakin’s Point Lonsdale home.

Their eldest daughter as Catherine King became a prominent broadcaster, and son William a leading Court Reporter for The Herald and Weekly Times. Another daughter, Anne Hughston Murdoch born in 1916, married and settled on the land in Western Australia.  Photo courtesy  Australian Dictionery of Biography

 

Grace’s brothers all had substantial scholarly careers.  Thomas Jollie Smith was a brilliant Presbyterian minister and academic.  Robert Neil Smith was Professor of Mining Engineering at the University of Tasmania.  A Campbell Smith was Professor of Hebrew at Ormond College.  Grace’s two sisters, Anna and Eleanor, remained unmarried and the former,  Miss A Campbell Smith,  appears to have lived with the Hughstons.  Grace,  her mother-in-law Catherine, and sisters-in-law Annie and Jane all signed the 1891 Women’s Suffrage Petition.

 

At Hamilton the farewell in May 1908 reflected both the Hughston’s family involvement in the community and the regard with which they were held.  Robert had held many honorary positions, such as President of the Irish Society (the Hughston family came from Fintona in Northern Ireland),  President of the Mechanics Institute,  on the Show Committee and an organizer of the Odd Volumes Literary Society. Robert was praised for his conscientious attention to his arduous medical work and for the leadership he had given in social and intellectual undertakings. At a farewell social the Mayor presented the doctor with a purse of sovereigns.  All the Hughstons’ well-kept furniture,  pony,  buggy and harness were sold at auction.  The next month Dr Hughston was reported to be seriously ill and underwent a operation under the hands of Melbourne’s first flight surgeon, George Adlington Syme.   By October 1908 Robert had recovered.

 

Essendon

 

The family took up residence in the old St John’s Manse in Mount Alexander Road. It is not clear what brought the family to this district with which they had no known links. It may have just been that this practice was available or the Presbyterian connection. However Walter Murdoch had close associations with the radical poet and social thinker Bernard O’Dowd of Robinson St, Moonee Ponds, and this may have been the link. Hughston was also interested in the theory of socialism.  Hughston succeeded to the practice of Dr Thompson.

 

Responsibilities included being the Medical Officer for the Shire of Broadmeadows and Honorary Doctor to St Joseph’s Foundling Home. 

 

Dr Hughston had a noted devotion to the Foundling Home.  The babies were fed on foods recommended by him and as these samples testify they thrived.  The infant mortality rate in the general population was 12 % but 7% at St Joseph’s.   Photo: Advocate 2 July 1910 p 21.   A Visit to Sixty Babies. 

 

Mary attended her aunt’s school Fintona along with her Craig cousins, but Nell and Catherine completed their educations at PLC and MCEGGS. Son Campbell attended his uncle’s Open Air school, for which Dr Hughson also acted as medical advisor.  In 1910 Mary made her debut along with two other local lasses.  This was at Madge McCracken’s 21st birthday dance at Northpark. Mary was described as Madge’s schoolfellow.  Over 200 guests attended the dance, with all reception rooms decorated with roses,  a band playing in the ballroom and supper served in a marquee. 

 

The North Park Ballroom decorated for Jean McCracken’s 1913 wedding

Photo courtesy Bundoora Homestead -the Smith era.

 

In 1912 Mary was the hostess at her own 21st held in the Glenroy Hall with the McCrackens,  the Peck sisters of Hiawatha and over one hundred other guests. 

 

 

The building in the top right was the Glenroy Hall located in Cromwell St. The hall, a converted

stable,  was opened in1886. Photo: Broadmeadows Historical Society via Fighting the  Kaiser blog.

 

The Hughston family is often mentioned as attending various social functions with Jack noted as among the gentlemen present.  Mary became prominent in Melbourne amateur theatrical circles.  Dr Hughston threw himself into local community movements and was a Foundation Member of the Essendon Progress Association.  Set up in March 1910, this body occupied itself with issues such as improving Post Office services, a better fish supply and minimum allotment sizes.  One of the first objects was to build a Public Hall, which plan was put en train by buying land in Russell St, offered by Theodore Napier for £7 a foot.  The £3000 needed was raised by issuing debutures at £1 at 5% interest. Dr Hughston purchased shares to the value of £10.

 

Professionally Dr Hughston was respected,  undertaking emergency surgery on the Labor Candiate for the Seat of Maribynong.  James E Fenton of Daisy St  fell ill during the early days of the 1910 Federal campaign. Electioneering was suspended but resumed once he recovered. Fenton went onto win the seat which he held till 1934, being acting Prime Minister 1930-31

 

James Edward Fenton. 

Photo: Australian Dictionary of Biography

 

Dr Hughston, as a Public Vaccinator, was caught up in the July 1913 smallpox scare and the the community demand for vaccinations.  He had a busy and troubled time and had been at a disadvantage in not being able to procure an adequate supply of lymph notwithstanding

repeated applications. 

 

In November 1913 Dr R W Hughston announced that he was reliquishing the Essendon practice as the strain was too great.  The house at Hamilton was sold and the Essendon practice passed to Dr  J E J Deane.  Robert also had his will drawn up by Councilor John Rhoden, solicitor of Leslie Rd, Essendon.  In January 1914 Robert was farewelled in the new Essendon Public Hall  with Mr Fenton presenting  him with an Illuminated Address,  gold watch and chain and purse of sovereigns. He was praised as a splendid citizen,  involved in all public movements and  for his unbounded charity. There were over a dozen speeches from medical collegues, Friendly Societies,  clergy, police and community groups. All  deplored his departure, expressed great respect for the man and many referred to the friendships that had grown over his five years in the district. In reply Hughston spoke of his many happy Essendon days and how he valued the love and esteem of a group of wholehearted friends.  The next morning Robert embarked  on a steamer for a visit to Violet and Walter Murdoch at Cottesloe Beach,  Perth. This was the first of many visits paid by family members travelling back and forth across the continent.

 

Harrow Bush Nursing Centre Jan 1916 Weekly Times

 

Harrow

 

The hope had been expressed that Dr Hughston would return to a metropolitan practice. However he again sought refuge in the comparative retirement of a country life.  In April 1914 he moved to Harrow. This Wimmera township,  250 miles from Melbourne,  had a populution of about 300. The economy was based on pastoral interests and the town had two churches and hotels, a school, sporting clubs,  a literary assocation  and a Mechanics Institute with a 2000 volume library.  The Bush Nursing Service  (established 1910) had been set up in Harrow towards the end of 1913. Dr Hughston  was an earnest supporter of the scheme,  and refused to accept the retaining fee of £1/1, and gave the nurse a free hand to attend normal maternity cases on her own.  When the scheme came under threat in October 1914 the doctor spoke in support of it indicating how the nurse took responsibility from the family and transformed the doctor’s worry to cheer.  Robert acted as Shire Medical Officer and coped with a measles epidemic.  The district gave farewells for AIF volunteers and in March 1915 set up a well-supported Belgium Relief Fund; Dr Hughston offering the use of his motor car to canvas the district for donations.  At Harrow the doctor employed a housekeeper and yard man and kept a cow and fowls.  The remainder of the family seems to have stayed in Melbourne.  There appears to have been no plans for Robert to attend his brother William’s wedding on the 27 March, or his son’s graduation.

 

On Thursday 1 April Dr Robert Hughston attended to a patient and then after a late breakfast retired to his room.  There he was found slumped on his bed,  beside him a bottle of chloroform and towel.  The inquest on 2 April found that it was an accidental death from heart failure consequent on the use of chloroform.  The Harrow Bank accountant and Dr Hughson’s staff all testified to him being addicted to drugs which he took to relieve pain,  often to the point of rendering himself unconscious.  Chloroformomania was well known to the medical profession and its intoxicating effects were never forgotten by the user.

 

News of Robert’s death filtered through on Good Friday and elicited deep chords of regret in the places he had served.  The obituary in the Hamilton newspaper spoke of his endearing qualities and his earnest and detailed devotion to his calling.  It was this work that had shattered his constitution.  He was praised for his generosity and his broadminded and considerate nature.  It was said that Robert had an especially active brain focused on self-improvement,  ever hunting knowledge and answers to the problems of life.  The burial took place at Harrow. Dr Robert Hughston’s estate amounted to £3864,  most of which being made up the proceeds of four life insurance policies.  There were legacies of £300 each to his daughters and the remainder went to his dear wife. 

 

Christian Jollie Smith graduated in Law in Melbourne 1911. Under

the name of Pamela Brown she also in 1918 became Melbourne's

first female taxi driver.  Photo: The Herald October 1912

 

In Melbourne Jack Hughson’s preparations for departure continued.  He was living with his mother,  sisters and aunts at the family home in Armadale.  On 18 April his cousin,  solicitor Christian Jollie Smith,  drew up his will, which was witnessed by his Smith aunts.  He left his entire estate to his mother. Christian Jollie Smith may also have performed the same service for his cousins William Hughston Craig,  enlisted May 1915, and Clifford Craig,  enlisted February 1916. On  20 April Jack embarked on the Morea along with eight other doctors, the last of the one hundred initially recruited. The doctors called themselves Kitchener's Hundred and it is under this name that their stories were unearthed and written of decades later.  Another Essendon boy was part of the Morea group.  This was Dr Arthur Ernest Stenning,  son of Fred Stenning plasterer of Pratt St, Moonee Ponds. 

 

Autographed photograph of the Morea.  Built in 1908, it was a well looking ship but had noisy propellers and  creaked and groaned a great deal.  It carried 400 first class 200 second class and a crew of 300. Dr J Hughston’s signature top right.  Photo courtesy Chiron, 1991.

 

The steamer travelled unescorted as a passenger ship.  The group dressed for dinner each night and enjoyed all the luxuries as if it was peace time.  The only work required of the doctors was attending to a few minor illnesses and performing some vaccinations.  One of Jack’s peers wrote in his diary that it was A great adventure,  duty the key.  The ship went through the Suez Canal and landed at Tilbury,  the voyage taking six weeks. The group stayed in London for a week in accommodation located by the Australian Agent General.  Uniforms were ordered,  pay arrangements made and the group went sightseeing.  They then moved into camp where they met up with other from Kitchener’s Hundred.  The camp was located at Beachy Head near Eastbourne in southern England.  Several outstanding Australian  sportsmen and a former Prime Minister’s son were in camp as part of Kitcheners Hundred, by now about 115 strong.

 

Photo  courtesy of Chiron, 1991

 

The officers shared a two man tent. They rose at 6am and took a bath prepared by their batman. There was an hours drill before breakfast. During the day they attended lectures on sanitation, diseases affecting troops,  military law,  the structure of the British Army,  field ambulance, map reading,  courts martial and evidence,  defence against gas attacks and equipment. The doctors also had  practical field work in stretcher drill,  semapahore, bugle calls,  tent pitching and digging latrines. They were excused horse riding which earlier arrivals had undertaken. There was no clinical work. The doctors  were not registered to practice medicine in Britain and it eventually  needed a Special Act of Parliament to allow them British registration.  On 21 June they were also formally gazetted as British officers.  UK trained medicos were usually first commissioned as Captains not Lieutenants.  Colonials could not be superior in rank to their British peers in the RAMC. 

 

London Gazette June 1915

 

 

 

68 Field Ambulance

 

Dr Hughston was assigned to the 68 Field Ambulance,  part of the British 22 Division of Kitchener’s Third Army.  A Field Ambulance was a mobile front line medical unit,  manned by troops of the RAMC. Each Field Ambulance had special responsibility for the care of casualties of one Brigade,  of up to 4000 troops,  and when in action each cared for about 1500 wounded men.  This was a first responder service which operated a casualty evacuation chain,  from the Aid Posts in the front line to Dressing Stations at different points behind the combat line as well as sick rooms and rest areas.  Casualties could be walking wounded as well of those brought in by stretcher bearers.  Its full establishment comprised of 6 to 10 medical officers and 224 men, none of whom carried weapons or ammunition.  The Unit relied heavily on horses for transport for carrying the wounded but also supplying water, rations, forage for animals and equipment.  Later bicycles and motor ambulance vehicles were added but these also required mechanics for maintenance.  The 22 Division moved to France in September 1915 but relocated a month later via Marseilles to Salonika

 

The Balkans Campaign

 

Image courtesy of Never Such Innocence. 

 

This Theatre of War is not well known in Australia.  In October 1915 Serbia was attacked by a German,  Austrian –Hungarian and Bulgarian alliance.  A combination of British,  Dominion,  French,  Italian,  Russian and Serbian forces aimed to stop the Central Powers uniting and forcing a corridor to Turkey.  The Allies concentrated their forces in Salonika (now Thessaloniki) though the battle front stretched for 250 miles.  Approximately 400, 000 Central Powers troops engaged 600,000 Allies.  The campaign was long and dangerous and cost thousands of lives and many more casualties. The rocky terrain restricted transport of equipment and supplies to what could be carried by mules and often meant that trenches could not be employed.  The bitter winter weather inflicted severe privation and the stunningly hot summers also brought malaria carrying mosquitoes to the troops.  The multitude of nationalities meant that it was difficult to plan and implement actions.  Regarded as a sideshow the BSF (British Salonika Forces) were not well supplied with reinforcements or equipment.  A state of stalemate existed for much of the three years of the campaign.  The 68 Field Ambulance participated in the Retreat from Serbia in December 1915,  the Battle of Horseshoe Hill in August 1916 and the Battle of Machukovo in September 1916.  Wounded often had to be evacuated on travois.  It is estimated that between 400 to 1500 Australian men and women served in the Balkans mostly attached to British Units or Hospitals. 

 

Serbian troops on the front line showing the difficult terrain.

Photograph by Herbert Corey

 

Photo courtesy of Scotch College World War I Commemorative Website

 

 

1916-1918

 

In April 1916,  as his one year’s contract was concluded Hughston had the choice between continuing with the RAMC or returning to Australia.  At home he could elect to enlist with the AIF. However he would not have his RAMC service recognized with respect to seniority or pension entitlements.  Officers were not permitted to enlist in the AIF outside of Australia as this meant they would receive a higher level of pay and block promotion of their peers.  Jack continued in the RAMC and was promoted to Captain.  In late March 1918 Captain Dr Hughston arrived back in Melbourne. He had taken leave to recover his health being weary and a wreck from malaria. He stayed until May 1918, electing to return to Macedonia. It was  reported that his  keen sense of duty compelled him to return.  He felt there was a great dearth of medical men who knew the district,  could cope with the climate and could work with the troops.  In such a difficult campaign every man was essential.  On return he was promoted to Major and was Mentioned in Despatches. Jack’s unit along with others were being relocated in preparation for an offensive focused on Lake Doiran.  On 3 August Jack sustained a chest wound after being hit by a shell splinter.  He spent a month in hospital recovering.  Dr Jack Hughston returned to duty in charge of two advanced dressing stations about seven hundred yards behind the lines.

 

Image courtesy Medical services general history

 

 

The arrow on the left indicates the position of the 68 Field Ambulance,  that on the right of the

31 Casualty Clearing Station situated at Janes. Maps courtesy Macpherson W G Mitchell T J Medical

Services General History Volume 4

 

 

Detail from above. The FA were posted on the Gugunci –Doldzeli Road at Gugunci,

Asagi Mahale and Pearse Ravine

 

 

28 Casualty Clearing Station Balkans Campaign. Image courtesy Imperial War Museum

 

At 10 am 14 September Jack was hit in the back by shrapnel whilst was inspecting these ADS in company with his Commanding Officer.  The CO provided immediate aid and then stretcher bearers carried Dr Hughston some miles down the mountain.  He was then taken by motor ambulance to the 31 Casualty Clearing Station where he died about 7 am on 14 September.

 

On 18 September the BSF and Greeks attacked the Bulgarian Army near Lake Doiran about 80 kilometres from Salonika.  This became known as the Third Battle of Doiran.  On 26th September 1918 Bulgaria surrendered.  The 22nd Division had suffered casualties of 7728 killed,  wounded and missing during the war.

 

Dr Jack Hughston was initially buried at Janes Cemetery. By 1921, however, this remote location was proving too difficult to maintain.  Over 500 graves were then brought into Sarigol Military Cemetery 50 kilometres to the south.  It was then that his grave was inscribed:

 

  Fear no more the heat o' the sun nor the furious winter's rages

 

Sarigol Military Cemetery Kriston 50 north of Thessaloniki now contains 682 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 29 war graves of other nationalities.  Photo courtesy CWGC

 

Obituaries published in Australia spoke of Jack’s popularity,  a man straight and true,  who always did his duty and whose men would follow him anywhere.  His Commanding Officer praised him,  saying that within the Ambulance Unit,  Johnston was the most beloved officer.  He called him a splendid fellow,  a born soldier,  and easily my best officer.  He declared that he had never met a more gallant officer,  or one in whom I could place such implicit trust.

 

A majority of Kitchener’s Hundred returned to Australia but Jack was one of five who died as a result of enemy action.  Many of the remainder went onto significant medical careers.  Jack’s two cousins both returned. The subsequent career of one Dr Clifford Craig  is an indication of what Australia lost in the death of Dr Johnson Hughston.

 

  A young Australian who freely gave his life when duty called.

 

 

 ©M Kenny 2020

 

 

Appendix

 

In the decades after the war the very existence of Kitchener’s Hundred dropped from public consciousness.  As these were temporary appointments the British did not retain records and those that survived were destroyed in WW 2 bombing raids. 

 

This Medal Roll card for Johnston Hughston is one of the two records to survive.  UK,  British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards,  1914-1920 Ancestry. com.  UK,  British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards,  1914-1920 (database on-line).  Lehi,  UT,  USA: Ancestry. com Operations Inc,  2008.

 

As these were overseas appointments there were usually no Australian records. This extended to the officer’s names not being recorded at the Shrine’s Books of Remembrance or on the Australian War Memorials Roll of Honour. This was partially rectified with the creation in 1981 at the AMW of the Commerative Roll which records Australians who died during or as a result of service in wars but who were not members of the Australian Armed Forces.

 

Dr Hughston’s name was however recorded on the Honour Rolls of his schools,  Hamilton College and Scotch,  his College,  Ormond and University of Melbourne. 

 

Hamilton College Roll of Honour Dr Hughston’s name in central panel

 

 

After forward

 

The exigencies of the moment

 

Grace Hughston had been lauded when Jack had returned to duty in 1918 and praised on his death.  It was said she had a Mother’s sense of duty and was prepared to make one of those supreme sacrifices which have characterised the noble women of the British Empire.  But what happened to a family after the deaths in such close succession of husband and oldest son?

 

In 1918 Grace Hughston was 52 years and had three daughters, aged 21 to 27 years, and a son of 14.  Christian Jollie Smith executed his will in his mothers favor,  his estate totaling £517,  the bulk of which were the proceeds of a life insurance policy.  Her income would also have been supplemented by a Mothers British War Pension.  Mary had been listed on the prewar electoral rolls as a teacher, however she had no formal qualifications and may have been assisting at Fintona or Sandringham. 

 

By early 1918 Mary and her mother were managing Allerton, a Healesville guest house offering gas heated baths and a full tariff for 2 guineas per week. By July 1918 newspapers carried the story that Mary, owing to the exigencies of the moment,  had to practice outside of her private circle.  She, like many girls, was to take up an unexpected and new occupation.  Mary and her aunt Anna Margaret Campbell Smith had taken the lease of a large house with tennis court,  The Hill in Domain Rd.  They would take in paying guests.  Mary was well known for her dainty and appetizing dishes and would do the cooking.  She had cultivated the culinary art so that she will be independent of skilled domestic help.  This venture seemed to last about two years before Grace,  Mary and Anna moved to a Caulfield North house where they resided for many years,  perhaps continuing to take in boarders.

Mary Hughston sorting at the Red Cross Refugee Clothing Depot.

  The Age Feb 1941

 

 Nell Hughston. Punch August 1914

 

Nell Hughston was pressed into business setting up her own fashion label and salon.  In 1918 under the name of Louvette,  she opened at Albany Chambers,  230 Collins-street as a blouse and lingerie specialist.  She made a specialty of charming hand-made blouses in pleated,  embroidered or tailored styles of washing satin,  ninon,  crepe de chine and silk.  The salon was decorated with an artist’s hand in tones of honey,  black and white.  The   lingerie was described as cobwebby,  yet strongly made.  Boudoir caps and nighties were also available and all moderately priced. 

 

 

The venture did not survive beyond 1920, however Nell continued to work in sales.  She and her aunt Eleanor Lucy Campbell Smith made a home together in Armadale.  They had a close friendship with the Sterling sisters Ida and Eileen,  which may have been formed in their Essendon days, and in their sense of mutual loss of a brother. See Lt J H Sterling. 

 

In 1933-34 Nell travelled to the UK. On her return she may have been the driving force behind another venture.  In January 1934 Grace purchased a block of land at Mooroolbark and a house,  Mistover was built for £390.  This was an early part of Edna Walling’s Bickleigh Vale Village and gives an indication of the family’s associations and interests.  Nell lived at Mistover for a time and it was the family country home.  The next owner in 1945 of Mistover was Helen Gray Peck nee Sterling,  wife of Eliel Peck,  brother of the Peck sisters from their Essendon days.  In 1946 Nell became the only sister to marry,  being described as a daughter of the late Dr R Hughston of Essendon. 

 

Mistover

Photo courtesy Don Kohinga and Chris Jones, Friends of Edna Walling Bickleigh Vale Village

 

Catherine Hughston chose a less domestic life.  After a period living with her Aunt Eleanor and office work, Catherine trained as a nurse, graduating in 1926 from Mildura Hospital.  She then qualified as a midwife and did specialist training before working with the Royal District Nursing Service, was 18 months at the Australian Inland Mission then at Maryborough. In 1937 she was appointed in charge of the first mobile Baby Health Centre caravan.  This travelled to remote homes throughout the Wimmera. Privately funded, the caravan was both living quarters for the two nursing sisters and a fully equipped infant welfare facility.  In 1941 Sister Catherine Hughston,  like her brother,  travelled to the UK to enlist in a British unit taking up active service with the Queen Alexandra Nursing Service.  Catherine mostly served on hospital ships for the duration of the War and returned in late 1946. She continued to practice as a nurse in Heathmont, the single females of the family consolidating their joint households there  after her return. 

 

 

Sister Hughston at the opening of the mobile service.  Photo Weekly Times November 1937.

 

Campbell Hughston graduated from Swinburne in 1923 and worked in Electrical engineering.  In 1928 he commenced with the SEC, engaged in pioneering work in the Latrobe Valley.  In 1936 being an energetic man who wanted a challenge, he resigned to work with a New Guinea Gold Mining company.  He returned after two years to again work in the electrical supply industry until 1947 when he took up apple growing at Merricks. In 1951 he returned to his calling, working around Morwell in electrical construction engineering until retiring in 1968.  He was described as a vital man heavily involved in charity work,  the arts,  National Trust and many social clubs.  He married the sculptress and printmaker Edith Moore in 1938.  

 

Campbell Hughston c 1969 Photo courtesy La Trobe Valley Express

 

Acknowledgements

Many thanks for their information and assistance to Alex Bragiola and Sara Hardy,  biographer of Edna Walling.

 

Selected References

Due to the 2020 Pandemic most primary sources were not available to be consulted

Anderson H The Poet Militant Bernard O’Dowd, Hill of Content Melbourne,1969

Australian Dictionary of Biography

Brentnall L 'Mary’s Christmas Album', Chiron, Melbourne Medical School, 2011

Butler A.  G.,  Downes R.  N,  Maguire F.  A.  Cilento R.  W.  Official history of the Australian Army Medical Services in the War of 1914-1918  Canberra : Australian War Memorial,  1930-1943.

Chalmers R Annals of Essendon Essendon Historical Society 1998

Healy J Ed Bundoora Homestead The Smith family Era 1899-1920 Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre

La Nauze J Walter Murdoch MUP 1977

Lemon A Broadmeadows The Forgotten History.  Executive Media Pty Ltd 1982

Likemann R Australian Doctors on the Western Front Rosenberg NSW 2014

Lush,  M Christensen E,  Gill P Roberts E 'The Lady Principal,  Miss Annie Hughston (1859–1943)' Australian Journal of Biography and History: No.  1,  2018

Macpherson W G Mitchell T J Medical Services; General History Volume 4 1921 London H. M.  Stationery Office

Pajic B Our Forgotten Volunteers: Australians and New Zealanders with Serbs in World War One. Arcadia, 2018

Roberts,  Elizabeth; Lush,  Mary  'William Hughston 1867-1930: His life and legacy'.  Victorian Historical Journal Volume 86 Issue 2 (Dec 2015)

Skinner,  Carolyn Margaret 'Christian Jollie Smith: a life' Macquarie University, 2008 Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie     University,  Division of Humanities,  Dept.  of Modern History,  2008

Trinca J 'Kitchener’s Hundred', Australian Military Medicine Sept 1999

Trinca J 'Kitcheners Hundred', Chiron, 1991 Vol 2 No 4

Trinca J 'Italian Links with Kitcheners Hundred' http://coasit. com. au/IHS/journals/Individual%20Journal%20Extracts/Kitchener%20from%20IHS%20Journal007. pdf

Newspapers Multiple including Essendon Gazette,  The Australasian,  North Melbourne Advertiser,  The Advocate,  Age,  Argus,  Weekly Times,  Table Talk,  Punch,  WA Record,  Hamilton Spectator, Portland Guardian,  Herald

NAA Service Records

PROV Wills and Probate,  Shipping Records,  Inquests 

State Library of Victoria- Sands and McDougall Directories,  MMBW Plans,  Victorian Government Gazettes

Victorian Births Deaths Marriages

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Web Sites

https://www. shipsnostalgia. com/threads/rms-morea. 302756/#post-3068516

https://www. neversuchinnocence. com/the-salonika-campaign-first-world-war

https://neoskosmos. com/en/27556/they-came-to-help-walking-thessalonikis-anzac-trail/

https://www. wartimememoriesproject. com/greatwar/allied/ramcunit. php?pid=12830

https://www. scotch. vic. edu. au/ww1/first/hughstonJ. htm

https://macedonia1912-1918. blogspot. com/2017/01/on-monastir-road-by-herbert-corey. html

https://www. bickleighvalevillage. com. au/

https://www. latrobevalleyexpress. com. au/story/4563058/keeping-it-clean-at-the-sec/