WHAT BECAME OF PRIVATE QUAMBY AT ANZAC COVE?

LOST MATES  HAUNT AN ANZAC

My great-uncle,  Anzac veteran Arthur Singleton, was admitted to a Tasmanian mental asylum in 1926.  He constantly spoke of being tormented by the voices of his dead mates on Gallipolli.  With the 12th Battalion Arthur  had gone on  to fight  at Lone Pine and in France,  but it was memories of the carnage  following  the dawn landing  at  ANZAC Cove  that quite literally  drove him mad. It is a cliche, but oh so true, that  he and his friends experienced a  ‘baptism of fire’ on The Peninsula.  No other action Arthur was involved in  had   quite the same impact. His medical notes written  by asylum staff  two years after his first admittance are revealing;

14.2.28  At times noisy and restless. He lies in bed is very sullen & one can get little out of him. Hears voices.  Said; “I am being worried by the chaps on Gallipoli.”

21.3.28  Is at times restless and hears voices chipping him.

 28.3.28 He says  that certain voices used to talk to him & raised him to a pitch of excitement.  He thus lost control of himself & did not know what took place.

For the relatives of men  missing  at Gallipoli  there was the anguish of waiting for  news.  Were they wounded, captured or, God forbid…..dead.  This was the case for the family of one of Arthur Singleton’s friends, John Quamby.  The men  had trained together at Pontville in southern Tasmania before boarding  the troopship  Geelong on Octbber 20 1914.

John Quamby’s enlistment papers show that he already carried some  battle scars;

Private John Quamby ; lost at  ANZAC  Cove

He was from a broken family and had spent time in a young offenders’ institution.  Fortunately  he  settled down after finding   employment  as  a miner when he was sixteen.

In  June 1915  Private Quamby’s name  appeared on a casualty list published in Australia. It was the only  news his family received.  For months they waited and worried.  Just before Christmas 1915 his mother wrote a touching letter to  army records office;

Her letter prompted a  concerted effort by the Red Cross to find out what had happened to Private Quamby.  The Australian  branch of the Red Cross had set up a Wounded and Missing Bureau, based in London.  It was staffed primarily by volunteers.

In May 1916  a Miss  Deakin contacted the 12th Battalion’s  Lance-Corporal Keen seeking information.  He responded;

‘My chum, Private Singleton, of the 12th Battalion , now’ with the 3rd Battalion, in training at Etaples, told me two days ago that Quamby had been killed at Anzac during the landing there about 25th April, 1015.  Private Singleton can give you full particulars…..

Arthur had a tragic story for the Red Cross;

I have often thought  how painful it must been for men like Arthur to revisit that terrible day of carnage,  just as the  12th battalion  was about to participate in another dreadful  battle  at Pozieres.

The confusion of the dawn landing  at Anzac Cove was illustrated by the varying reports the Red Cross received during their investigation.  Stretcher bearer   Private Betts said he was a personal friend   of  Private Quamby and  saw him  shot  below the knee.  He said he carried him to safety, but subsequently  heard he had  died on a hospital ship.  Another  friend  reported that Quamby had been shot in the hand and evacuated to Egypt.  However, the tragic  account provided by Arthur Singleton and his mates was accepted as the correct version.

Finally, a death notice could be placed in the local paper, though  there was still some doubt surrounding the exact day he died.   Later  it was confirmed that John had not responded to the first muster on morning of the landing, and that he had  indeed died on April 25.

HONOURING AN ANZAC

His body was never located, but his name is recorded on the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli.  RIP  Private John Quamby.

The efforts by the Red Cross  to determine the fate of the dead was surely very painful for the surviving Anzacs, yet provided at least some comfort and closure for loved ones. I’m sure  John Quamby’s  mates considered it the only decent thing to do.

UPDATE – ANZAC Day 2017 – This article was posted on the Facebook group Tasmanian – The Great War 1914 – 1918. One comment was from Private Quamby’s  great-niece. She said that he has a memorial tree in Soldier’s Walk, Hobart, and that his two brothers also served. Her understanding was that her great-uncle had been shot through the cheek.

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