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Latchford-E-W-Lt

Page history last edited by Lenore Frost 1 year, 9 months ago

Volunteers of Essendon and Flemington, 1914-1918

 

Latchford in the 6th AIR 1907-1910
Training-for-Instructional-staff Albury 1910
 Heidelberg-Staff-School-1912                                  
 Area Officers Instructional Camp, Langwarrin, 1913
Area Office 58B Ascot-Vale-1914   Latchford-E-W-Light-Horse-Depot, circa 1915 

 

Lieutenant Frederick Charles Morrison, Captain Ernest William Latchford and

 Captain Joseph Akeroyd, all of the 38th Battalion, October 1916. AWM2016.45.10

 

 

Ernest Latchford, on the left, sent this photo to his fiance from France in 1917.  Courtesy of Mark Latchford.

 

Latchford E W     Lt        Ernest William               38 Inf Bn    27    Soldier    Single    C of E       

Address:    Ascot Vale, Francis St, 77 (Electoral Roll 1914) (drill instructor)

Next of Kin:    Latchford, A, Mrs, mother, 45 New St, Armadale   

Enlisted:    11 May 1916       

Embarked:     A54 Runic 20 Jun 1916

Prior Service:  1 year 12th AIR (TAS); 3 years 6 AIR (VIC); 6 years Permanent Instructional Staff, including 4 years as Area Officer 58B Ascot Vale Senior Cadets.

Awards:  Military Cross

 

Relatives on Active Service:

Goode-L-J-Pte-353 future brother-in-law

 

Big Batch of Trainees Before the Court, 4 June 1914

 

 

Staff-Sergeant-Major E. W. Latchford, who was attached to the Ascot Vale Area Office, after trying for the past 18 months to get to the front, has at length succeeded in being accepted. He is attached to B Company, 38th Battalion, and holds the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

 

WITH THE COLOURS. (1916, March 30). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 5 Edition: Morning.. Retrieved January 28, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74592462 

 

The two postcards of South Africa are courtesy of Mark Latchford.

 

 

"Dear Jacko,***

This was our first port of call since we left the "Sunny Land".  Do you remember the place at all.  It is a suburb of Cape Town about 1 mile or so away.  Had a good trip except for 3 weeks in Hospital a/c Bronchitis through over-exercise & getting a chill, but am A1 now.  We expect to land in 2 days time & at present we are looking out for submarines & hoping to goodness we don't see any.  The "Runic" is a bit slow but a good sea boat.  Give my regards to all in Area 58B."

 

*** Jacko K was John Alexander Kerr, pictured in a couple of photos of the Area 58B Officers, and one of the Officers of the Essendon Rifles.  Kerr and his wife Adeline lived at 17 Union Rd, Ascot Vale.  He became Area Officer at the 58B Senior Cadets and later CO of the 15th Infantry Brigade CMF.

 

 

I met an officer on board named Charlie Mayh [sic Mahy]* who was in the 1st Vic Contingent in SA [South Africa] and knew you there.  He is with the 10 F[ield] Engineers.  Do you remember him?  This is a photo taken from Cecil Rhodes' house about 7 miles from Cape Town showing the other side of the Table and other mounts.  Sheldrick, Patterson (1897) & Upton are all well here.  Jack Fraser is Ship's Adj.  Arthur James Maudesley** is writing letters about 10 feet away & wishes to be remembered to you.  We have the AMC on board from Ascot. 150 cases of measles on board.  2 deaths, 1 "Gitis" other "Ammonia".***  Hope Mrs K & family are well.  Give my regards to "Blown".  My watch is still doing good work.  Bye Bye & regards - your old Pal, Latchy.

 

*   2nd Lieutenant Charles Harold Mahy, civil engineer of St Kilda

** Captain Arthur James Maudesley, accountant of Oakleigh.

*** Ern may be referring to meningitis and pneumonia as the causes of the two deaths.

 

ROLL OF HONOR

Lieut. E. W. Latchford, of Francis street Ascot Vale, has been promoted to [the] rank of Captain. Captain Latchford, [prior] to enlistment, was area officer at [Ascot] Vale.

 

ROLL OF HONOR. (1917, May 31). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 2 Edition: Morning. Retrieved May 12, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74602668

 

 

Ernest Latchford's Letters from Belgium and France, courtesy of Mark Latchford

 

No 68. Belgium 8.10.17

 

Dearest Little Sweetheart,  

 

Things have changed a great deal lately, since last l wrote to you. We have marched through rain feeling very fed up but not down hearted, waited in more rain for trains which never seemed to arrive and then slowly travelled along. Detrained late at night and slowly plodded along towards a new location, near a famous ruined town; messed about for hours in the mud and finally laid down for a rest. We have another go  at the 'Beast' very very soon and perhaps it may be bad for a large number of our deary loved ones at Home. Whatever happens, Sweetheart, be brave and fear not. God disposes of us according to his ideas.

 

The Battalion attacked lately and had wonderful success but lost poor Nedge Moore [see photo below for Captain Edmund Fox Moore], the only officer killed. Selleck was wounded. Awful hard luck. I am in charge of the Coy, and lead it over again soon. Very busy, dear, so can't write much, but enclose my farewell letter, written before the Messines affair, in case of. 

 

Received three letters today from you. 56, 58, 59. Splendid cheery letters. Hope things turn out alright for both of us, Sweat heart. It is raining like the dickens and things are in a deplorable condition. Pretty prospect, but still the job has to be done. Goodnight My Own Dear Love and May God answer your prayers, is all I ask. My Dear Girl. Love to all. Your loving Boy. Ern. Xxx xxx xxx  

 

Officers of the 38th Battalion in France, circa 1916- April 1917 Identified back row, left to right: Lieutenant (Lt) Sandiford, Lt Alan Newcombe Hyett, Lt John Wilson Angus and Lt Bushfield(?). Front row, left to right; Captain (Capt) Ernest William Latchford, Capt Edmund Fox Moore and Lt William Henry Orchard. Lt Hyett was killed in action on 2 June 1917 at Ploegsteert, Belgium, aged 26. Captain 'Nedge' Moore was killed in action on 4 October 1917 at Passchendaele, aged 33 and has no known grave.  Australian War Memorial Collection, AWM2016.45.11

 

No 69. France 17.10.17

 

Dearest Little Woman,  

 

I daresay you have read all about the scraps up this part of the country (Ypres) in your papers and wondered perhaps if your old man was anywhere near the noise. Well, Sweetheart, it was a case of "In again, Out again, Gone again, Monaghan". We had a week of hell and misery and am now back in the bush away from all the sound of strife, thank God. I never thought anything could make a piece of country like it was. You could never imagine the condition, Lin. The whole bally place has been battered about since Oct. 1914 and the man who made it first, would never recognise it now.

 

 

View of the swamps of Zonnebeke on the day of the First Battle of Passchendaele. This

photograph indicates the general condition of all depressions on the battlefield on the

day of the main assault upon Passchendaele by the 3rd Australian and the New Zealand

Divisions, the 4th Division attacking on the flank. During the attack of 26 September, the

1st Division experienced hard fighting over this area. In the background on the right are

the ruins of the Zonnebeke Church. AWM E01200

 

We were attacking a place called Passchendaele, about 6 miles east of the famous old town of Ypres. Shell holes were as plentiful as promises on New Year's Day and the mud was generally up to the waist or knees. It was raining all the time practically that we were there, and take it all round it was not the place one would pick for a honeymoon. There is only one road leading from the town out towards the line, and it was the most wonderful sight in the world to see the traffic that goes up and down this road, day and night to supply the needs of all ranks and arms of the service. The place from the town forward is simply an awful desolation of battered ground, sprinkled with a few blasted trees and grim grey concrete forts wrested from the Bosche. Pillboxes they call them. They are simply a small square place made of reinforced concrete, sometimes with walls and roofs 6 ft thick and holding from 10 to 40 men with machine guns. Mud and water and unburied dead, equipment, broken wagons, motor cars, shells, dead horses and mules and debris of every description lay around everywhere. The road itself is one black ribbon across this waste. Men marching in single file, lorries, cars, wagons, ambulances, pack mules, guns etc in two endless streams, one going, another coming with traffic controls just like the corner of Bourke and Swanston on a busy day. If the Hun shells the road, as he generally does, the broken car, wagon etc is pushed over on its side, clear of the road and the job goes on, just as usual. Near the town and behind it for miles is one mass of camps, horse lines, hospitals, stores, etc wonderful to realise.

 

The town itself is a mess of brick and stones broken beyond repair and awful to contemplate. Shells dropping haphazardly everywhere. The Bosche planes come over at night and bomb the district. They cannot miss in such a mass of men, horses and material. That is the nice quiet rest home your 'old man' was led into. We moved up to the attack late on Thursday night, along a duckboard track and it was 'some' walk. The Hun shelled the route and knocked down some of us as soon as we started and generally speaking, we were under fire all the way. We had to assemble into our fighting lines or waves about 200 yards from the Bosche forts - no trenches - simply trying to get the men into some sort of lines so that when the barrage opened, they would be in a kind of order for the attack. It rained like the Dickens all the time and the Bosche shelled the place continuously. Then we had to squat down in the mud for nearly three hours, wet through, waiting for daylight. The excitement is bad enough - knowing that one is going into action and maybe finish, without the additional strain of sitting tight under shell fire and shivering with the cold. The time however came to an end and away we went.   From that time it was just  a question of one piece of bad luck after another. Our neighbours, the NZers were held up by wire and concrete forts so we couldn't do our job . There seemed to be machine guns everywhere and we lost a great number of our boys. It’s heart-breaking after the fatigue, strain and worry to find that all your efforts were in vain.

 

After hanging on for two days in the awful morass-like desolated plain, we were relieved and started for home. The going home was a dam sight worse than the going up, as it was darker, wetter, muddier and were more tired. I lost my way more than I actually found it and finally arrived home at 12 midnight. Wet to the third skin - mud up to the eyes, and as tired, as if I have been fighting Jack Johnson for a week. Home was represented by my valise under two sheets of old corrugated iron support by about 8 petrol cases. The one place the cold wind couldn't come in was underneath the valise, that being on the ground. But it was HOME to us and after a nip of RUM (awful enemy to mankind) a change of underclothes - a slight wash in a handy shell hole a beautiful plate of porridge - half a loaf of bread -a good smoke and then sleep for years, it seemed LOVELY . No wonder we were tired, for the weight of our clothes was enough to drag us down. Two or three times coming home I walked into holes of thick mud up to my crutch and it took me two or three men to pull me out. Next day was a very quiet solemn day counting up the casualties and squaring up. The night, Fritz gave us some hurry up. Gas shells all night and bombing by planes. It's a weird sensation and it causes prickles on one's neck to sit still in the dark and hear an invisible enemy plane, whirring about slowly a few hundred feet over one's napper, looking for a place to dump his cargo. It was a night of horror alright. The nearest one dropped about 200 yards off. Bon for us. Next morning early BANG goes Fritz and we had another taste of shell fire - mind you Lin, this is 6 miles from the front trenches.  

 

 

A view of the ruins of the Cloth Hall, Ypres, October 1917.  (AWM E01117)

 

Much to our relief we received orders to push off and away we went. We marched through the old town, past the enormous Cloth Hall, where I was stung by a flying piece of metal -never broke the skin though and where we had the bad luck to lose 11 more by shell fire. Treb. Wounded, another New officer of A killed and some NCOs and men of A Company. We were soon well away and found to our delight motor buses waiting for us. A delightful trip all day over 60 miles to a lovely country village where we started out from a month previously - Bon, eh?   The convoy consisted of 25 Lorries and we arrived at midnight after being lost and running mad half over Northern France. Some experience, Sweetheart. The whole countryside seemed full of lost lorries like sheep in a thunderstorm. Goodnight My Dearie, I'm longing for you. I feel sure your prayers carried me through this time. Bye, bye Love and God bless and comfort you. Not feeling too bright at present, poor old Nedge and so many of the boys gone. Best love from your very loving Boy, Ern. Xxx xxx xxx.  

 

Capt. E. W. Latchford, of the 38th Battalion, late Staff-Sergeant-Major 58B, Ascot Vale, has been awarded the Military Cross. He is a native of Echuca, 29 years of age, and has been about two years at the front. 

 

OUR SOLDIERS. (1918, February 21). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 3 Edition: Morning. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74605136

 

Recommendation for Military Cross

 

38th Battalion AIF
Captain Ernest William Latchford.

On the 12th October, 1917, East of YPRES, this officer displayed great coolness and courage in action.  His company had suffered very heavily and he did excellent work in re-organising the Battalion under very heavy fire and in the face of great difficulties on account of the terrible state of the ground.  His example of courage and cheerfulness had a great effect on the worn out men and contributed largely to the maintaining of their spirits.

 

http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1068434--59-.pdf

 

Captain Ern Latchford on the right with the Military Cross ribbon his chest, circa January 1918. Courtesy

of Mark Latchford.

 

 

Captain Ernest William Latchford MC, an officer of the AIF in winter dress while serving in Siberia. Latchford, was one of several Australian officers who had served with Dunsterforce in Persia and who were for a time attached to Russian forces fighting the Bolsheviks. As part of his duties, Captain Latchford superintended musketry instruction at Irkutsk.   http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A01089  c 1918

 

Dunsterforce officers camped near Hamadan, Persia, circa 1918. Captain Wells (NZ) in helmet (or possibly second right), Captain C L McVilly 40th Battalion (AIF), Captain E W Latchford 38th Battalion (AIF), Wells (NZ), Bond (Imperial), Major R J Stewart 34th Battalion (AIF). http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A01087

 

Training Russian 'White Army' officer in musketry. Captain E W Latchford, 38 Bn AIF, was

responsible for training these men at Irkutsk in southern Siberia  Russia: Siberia 1919.

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A01069

 

Baghdad, April 1918. Officers of the 5th Party of the Dunsterforce. The main purpose of Dunsterforce was to re-organise resistance in Mesopotamia and Persia to German penetration of Asia during the period 1918 to 1919. The expedition was led by Major General L. C. Dunsterville, British Officer of the Indian Regular Army, which included forty members of the AIF.    http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A01577

 

Group of officers, mainly Dusterforce men, onboard ship leaving Basra on their way home. Identified from left to right:- Officer turned on side, unidentified; Captain Ernest William Latchford, MC, originally 38th Battalion (smoking a pipe); Captain Arthur Cyril Purves Hay, New Zealand army; Captain Richard Henry Hooper, MC, originally 58th Battalion, (slightly in back of group); officer in front unidentified; Chambers, Canadian army (head and shoulders visible); 2nd Lieutenant William Arthur Fraser, DSO, originally 41st Battalion; Duncan, Imperial army (last in line).  http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/J01321

 

Mentioned in these publications:

Letters to Lily Vale:  Ernest Latchford MC MBE in France, Persia, and Russia, 1916-1919, by Mark Latchford. Openbook Howdon, St Mary's, South Australia: 2019.

With the White Russians in Siberia   E. W. Latchford  in "Reveille", vol 6 to 12, August  1933 (pp 26-27) through to vol 7, no. 8, April 1934 (pp 23, 57).

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/a-career-officer-and-leader-to-the-end-20130408-2hguc.html Obit of his son.

With the Dunster Force, Persia and Baku

Former Area 58B (Ascot Vale) Senior Cadets Essendon Gazette 8 Nov 1917

Military History Speaker Program, MHHV ‘Special Missions in Persia and Russia, 1917-1919: Colonel Earnest Latchford MBE, MC.’

 

 

War Service Commemorated

Essendon Town Hall F-L

Essendon Gazette Roll of Honour With the Colours

 

For more photos:

Latchford in the 6th AIR 1907-1910
Training-for-Instructional-staff Albury 1910
Heidelberg-Staff-School-1912                                  
Area Officers Instructional Camp, Langwarrin, 1913
Area Office 58B Ascot-Vale-1914   Latchford-E-W-Light-Horse-Depot, circa 1915 

 

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