Volunteers of Essendon and Flemington, 1914-1918
Lance Corporal Archie Tuohy is shown here wearing his Military Medal ribbon,
circa 1917-1918. Courtesy of Kate Lawless.
Tuohy A St G Pte 518 Archibald St George 21 Inf Bn 19 Farmer Single R C
Address: Essendon, Glass St, “Ladyward”
Next of Kin: Tuohy, Michael, father, “Ladyward”, Glass St, Essendon
Enlisted: 5 Jan 1915
Embarked: A38 Ulysses 10 May 1915
Prior service: 58 Inf Regt
Awards: Military Medal
Relatives on Active Service:
St-George-G-F-Pte-126 uncle
Tuohy-F-M-Pte-260 brother
Sergeant A St G Tuohy
by Lenore Frost
This photo shows Archie as an early recruit with the AIF, shown without badges. The revolver
is not standard issue for infantrymen, and probably he brought it from home for the portrait.
Courtesy of Kate Lawless.
Private Archibald St George Tuohy embarked with the 21 Infantry Battalion on 10 May 1915 aboard the HMAT Ulysses. Some months later Tuohy with other reinforcements was being transferred to Gallipoli when the vessel Southland was torpedoed in September 1915.
Australian troops embarking on HMT Southland at Alexandria. The Southland was torpedoed in the Aegean Sea on 2 September 1915 when carrying Australian troops to Lemnos Island. The survivors were taken aboard the hospital ship Neuralia. AWM: A01865
Men of 11 Platoon, C Company, 21st Battalion, AIF, moving a collapsible boat
away from the torpedoed Southland. AWM A00746
Another local lad from Essendon, Lawrence Mahon, was crushed between a lifeboat and the hull of the Southland and disappeared beneath the water. Tuohy wrote to Mahon's mother with details, and such was the disorganisation of the AIF that it was Tuohy's letter to Mahon's mother that helped them to determine Mahon's fate.
After the evacuation from Gallipoli, the AIF was re-organised, and Tuohy was transferred to the 6 Machine Gun Company. He served with distinction in this unit in France, earning a Military Medal, until he received multiple gun shot wounds on 3 May 1917. He was evacuated to England for hospital treatment and convalescence. On 31 August 1917 he was transferred again to the Anzac Provost Corps, where he remained until returning to Australia in 1920.
Tuohy had received a promotion to Temporary Lance Corporal on 30 April 1917, just prior to being wounded. The Temporary rank meant he had the responsibilities, but did not receive the pay, of a Lance Corporal. It was not until 29 November 1918 that he was promoted to Lance Corporal, and on 19 July 1919 he was promoted to Temporary Sergeant - again without a sergeant's pay.
Tuohy was no doubt pleased to remain in England in the Provost Corps to be with his sweetheart, Lillian Rowland, a shorthand typist of Sussex. They married on 5 July 1919.
A death at sea
Archibald Tuohy was aboard the Southland, a troopship taking reinforcements to Gallipoli when it was torpedoed, on 2 Sep 1915. The troops were quickly transferred to other vessels, with about 30 soldiers losing their lives. Amongst these was Pte L E Mahon of the 21 Inf Bn. Tuohy, a fellow resident of Essendon, wrote to Mahon's mother giving her further details concerning her son's death. He had evidently had his head crushed between a lifeboat and the Southland during such a transfer, and he sank into the water, his body never recovered. Mahon had been posted as Missing, presumed drowned until the army learned of the letter, which was provided to a board of inquiry. With more certainty over his death, the family was able to be provided with a death certificate.
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John Lawrence Stapleton, MC, George Patrick O'Gorman, MSM and Archibald St George Tuohy, MM standing, with John James O'Gorman (KIA 1917) seated. Belgium, 1916. Tuohy is wearing his Military Medal ribbon. Courtesy of Kate Lawless.
According to the 21 Infantry Battalion Unit War Diaries, the date written on the photo, 18 September 1916, was recorded as a wet day (the 6 MGC diary doesn't comment on the weather), but the boots of the men suggest the photo was not taken on a wet day. The photo, therefore, was probably taken a bit earlier.
The 6 MGC was at Erie Camp at the time, which was an army rest camp. A few days earlier the 21 Infantry Bn diary records that the men were detrained at Provan, and marched to St Lawrence via Poperinghe. According to Google maps Poperinghe is an 18 minute walk from Provan. A general google search on "St Lawrence camp" and "Poperinghe" brought up an interesting map contained in a website entitled "From the War Diary" relating to 2nd Lieut Phillip Ward of the Manchester Regiment. The map shows a very detailed picture of the camps surrounding Poperinghe, many named after Canadian towns or provinces, such as Erie, Ottawa and Toronto.
All of the four men were assigned to the 21 Infantry Battalion when they enlisted and embarked together in the Ulysses in May 1915. They were dispatched to Gallipoli, and after the evacuation were transferred to the 6 Machine Gun Company in March 1916, then sent on to France. Reference to the 6 MGC Unit War Diary reveals that they were encamped at Erie Camp, having detrained at Provan. During the period the photo was probably taken, half of the 6 MGC were sent into the line while the other half remained behind at training and maintenance of their guns. It would seem, therefore, that the photo was taken in the vicinity of Poperinghe.
The four friends served together until 1917 when they were split up by wounding, death, promotion and transfers.
Citation for Military Medal
Private Archibald St George TUOHY, 6th Aust Machine Gun Company, No 578
For gallantry in action at POZIERES on 3rd August, 1916, in crossing open ground under heavy shell fire to rescue Lance-Corporal Dutton* and returning at once to take the wounded soldier's place at the gun.
https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1615781/
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 14 December 1916 Location in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Page 3381, position 80 Date of London Gazette: 21 September 1916 Location in London Gazette: Page 9205, position 133
* L/C Dutton does not appear to be one of the local volunteers.
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Cpl A St G Tuohy, The Herald 20 July 1917
FOR BRAVERY AT POZIERES
Enlisting in 1914 in the 9th section of the 21st Battalion, Corporal
A. St. G. Tuohy, of Essendon, was in the Southland when it was tor-
pedoed, and was in the water for several hours.
He fought through the Gallipoli campaign and after the evacuation
went to France, where, at Pozieres, he won the Military Medal. Subse-
quently he spent ten days' furlough in London, and shortly after re
turning to duty was wounded. He is now convalescent in hospital in
London.
Corporal Tuohy is the fifth son of Mr and Mrs M. J. Tuohy, of Essen-
don. His brother, Fred, of the 8th Light Horse, was wounded in
the Lonesome Pine charge, and is at present in the Army Service
Corps in London.
FOR BRAVERY AT POZIERES (1917, July 20). The Herald
(Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 1. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242480552
Lilian and Archibald Tuohy, Lewes, 1919. Courtesy of Kate Lawless.
A personal diary of 538 Cpl. Ivor Alexander Williams, 21 Inf Bn, who was also aboard the Southland when it was torpedoed, and was landed at Gallipoli.
War Service Commemorated
Essendon Town Hall R-Y (A H G Tuohy)
Catholic Young Men's Society
Essendon Gazette Roll of Honour With the Colours
Regimental Register
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