Private Arthur Singleton (Service No. 301) was one of the first young Australians to volunteer in WWI. He was a farmer’s son, from South Road, Ulverstone. Aged 20, he joined the Tasmanian 12th Battalion, sailing off to Egypt aboard the troopship Geelong on October 20 1914. He is standing at the back on the far left of the following photo, at a family gathering to say goodbye. His parents, John and Emma, are at left in the middle row.
Arthur was at the dawn landing at Gallipoli, and later fought at the bloody battle of Lone Pine.
Shortly after this action he was evacuated to Malta, suffering from enteritis and a septic hand. It was here he received the terrible news that his mother had died from diabetes, aged only 50. From Malta he returned to Egypt. After a further period in hospital recovering from a dislocated clavicle, his father was informed that Arthur would be returning home. Instead, he went on to fight in France. Presumably he volunteered, anxious to rejoin his mates.
While on leave in London at Christmas 1916 his clavicle dislocated again. He spent several months in a military hospital at Wandsworth, undergoing a reconstruction of his shoulder. During this stay in hospital Arthur apparently saw his name gazetted as being recommended for a medal. He understood it was for action around August 6 1915, at the height of the Lone Pine battle.
Now there is a slight discrepancy here, as Arthur’s family were seemingly aware of the decoration even before he entered hospital. In mid December 1916 a fundraising event was held at the tiny South Road school.
Arthur’s father John Singleton was chosen to unfurl an honour roll naming local boys at the front. This was because his son had been the first in the district to enlist, and had apparently received the Distinguished Conduct Medal. In reality, this decoration was only for officers.
Arthur returned to Tasmania in October 1917 after being discharged unfit for further action. Not surprisingly, he was welcomed as a hero. There was a party for him at the schoolhouse. Some years ago I was able to speak his niece Edna about this occasion. She was aged about six in 1917, but remembered waving a flag and being helped across the creek by her hero uncle on their way home. Edna is the little girl sitting in the middle of the front row in the Singleton family photo.
With three other soldiers, Arthur was also honoured at a reception held at the Ulverstone Town Hall. A report of the occasion in the local paper (The Advocate) read;
Pte Singleton was among the ANZACS who landed in Gallipoli on April 25 1915, and was wounded at Lone Pine. He received the D.C.M (Distinguished Conduct Medal) for services rendered to Major Brand. He went to France and was again wounded at the Battle of Armentieres. Now the major Battle of Armentieres took place in 1914, but the AIF, including Arthur’s 12th Battalion, were fighting there in 1916.
Major Brand was in command of the Australian contingent at Lone Pine, which adds substance to Arthur’s claim. I should also point out that Private Singleton had an unblemished service record. He was from a deeply religious Methodist family, where telling the truth was sacrosanct.
But oddly enough, nothing more was heard about the medal. On December 12 1918 an ex-officer friend called Ronald Smith wrote to the Military Base Records Office in Melbourne on Arthur’s behalf;
Smith received a letter back advising that there was no record of the medal being awarded. The humiliation Arthur must have felt exacerbated the post traumatic stress he was suffering (then known as shellshock). Could he have simply imagined being recommended for a decoration? I suppose it’s possible, but there is nothing to suggest he was delusional while a serving soldier. In fact, while he was in France he was able to assist the Red Cross in determining the fate of a fellow ANZAC, missing after the Gallipoli landing.
He married within months of returning home, and had two little girls. However, by 1922 he was becoming seriously disturbed. His condition worsened after he resorted to alcohol to blunt his memories. Sadly, the family disintegrated. Arthur’s wife left and the children were placed in an orphanage. Apart from brief periods when he was released or escaped, he spent the rest of his life in a mental asylum at New Norfolk in southern Tasmania.
In 1961 he underwent a fairly extensive case review. It was now nearly fifty years since Private Singleton scrambled ashore on the beach at Anzac Cove. Despite this, he was still falling in imaginary soldiers and marching them around the hospital’s airing yard. His reconstructed shoulder continued to cause him pain. Mental relief from shellhock only came with the onset of dementia. He died on May 29 1966.
A MEDAL AFTER ALL
Arthur Singleton was my great-uncle. When I started researching his life, the first thing family members told me was that he had won what they now referred to as the Military Medal. His niece Edna, who knew him well, was convinced it was true. How did this misinformation trickle down the generations? Did they just accept and believe it for Arthur’s sake? And then I stumbled across some information that at least partly explained things. On November 8, 1917, just days after he returned home, the following article appeared in The Advocate;
SOUTH ROAD
Sunday and Monday were the days set apart for the Methodist Sunday School anniversary….On Monday the usual games and tea took place, when everyone had an enjoyable time, and in the evening a concert and coffee supper were held. A large number of people was present. This large attendance was not only due to the exceedingly good entertainment provided, but also to the fact that Mr Arthur Singleton, who has lately returned from the war – to which he went at the very first call – was to be presented with a medal by his many friends in token of their admiration of his patriotism and bravery. Not only has he done the ordinary duty of a soldier, but, by special merit, he obtained the D.C.M. The concert opened with the National Anthem……..During the concert the presentation to Mr Singleton took place. He thanked his friends in a becoming manner and received repeated cheers from those present.
Well well, a medal! I have a horrible feeling that this kind gesture only made things worse for Arthur. The more he was feted as having been decorated by the military, the more humiliation he would have felt when nothing eventuated. I suspect this is the ‘party’ Edna remembered attending and that this is where confusion over the medals began.
I did my level best to find out whether he really was recommended for a ‘proper’ war medal. Staff at The Australian War Memorial made a thorough search through the 12th Battalion’s records (free of charge), but found nothing . They did say that in those chaotic times following Lone Pine, it is quite possible that Arthur’s name was mentioned. I guess the mystery will never be solved. Never mind, he was a hero in my eyes, as he clearly was in the eyes of his family and community.
POSTSCRIPT – When I first came across The Advocate’s report of Arthur’s homecoming there was one word (underlined) that I simply could not decipher.
I studied it again when I began writing this piece and suddenly the blurred, distorted letters made sense…. ‘He went to France and was again wounded at the battle of ARMENTIERES.’ It reminded me of the old song, Madamoiselle From Armentieres. Some of the latter verses are very poignant, especially in relation to the thousands of men like Arthur, who gave so much but were never formally recognized; ‘The Colonel got the Croix de Guerre, Parley-voo, the son-of-a-gun was never there, Parley-voo…..’
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Oh what a poignant story! A lovely young man, doing his duty for King and country, and to end up losing his wife and children, and spending the remainder of his life in an asylum. No-one is a winner in a war. And this story and others like it will continue until humankind comes to its senses and embraces peace.
His story has haunted me for years, Christine. One day I will write his full story.
Wow. The sadness he must of felt amongst so many other emotions would have been unbearable. Then to be in the new Norfolk asylum as well. May he be in perfect peace now.
Yes Angela, the poor fellow experienced the horror of the war virtually all his life. My father was born the year Arthur came home, and was named after him.
I enjoy reading about the past, especially about the heroism of our young Australian men who gave so much for their country. My uncle returned ‘shell-shocked’ from World War 2. As children, we often giggled behind his back when his face would twitch, his eyebrows move up and down, and his mouth twist awkwardly in different directions. Now, I know the new term for his ailment is P.T.S.D. He lost many mates in that war including his brother who was also in the Airforce. He won some medals and my uncle did although, posthumously. What a brave man Arthur was to continue to fight in spite of his injuries. They say that the voyage to the war front was almost as cruel and unpleasant as the conditions in the trenches.
My father was named after Arthur Singleton because he was born just as Arthur returned home. However, Dad was always called Robin, because the family were so ashamed of Arthur’s ‘madness’. No-one ever visited him at the asylum. So dreadful, although it was a fair distance away and the family had no means of transport I guess.
Loved this story.
Thanks Heather, the story has had a huge impact on me. I was shocked to think that he was still alive and in the asylum when I was a teenager.
What a terribly sad story! What a living hell that man went through from the time he left for war until he died. Thankyou for posting.
As I mentioned to someone else, Josie…my Dad was named Arthur in honour of his uncle, but always called Robin after poor Arthur became so ill. Arthur was brought home to Ulverstone to be buried.
So terribly sad, Pauline – I feel a connection because of my great-uncle who was also one of the first to sign up in Melbourne, and must have sailed for Egypt in the same convoy as Arthur, although not on the same ship. And having worked (briefly) in a mental hospital, I can envisage poor Arthur’s situation. Very tragic – and the mess-up of the medal must, as you say, have made his state of mind so much worse. God bless him.
Thanks for your message, Ann. It’s such a tragedy to think that the only peace Arthur managed to get in the end was from dementia. One of his daughters had a fulfilling life and contributed a lot to society. The other one died at nineteen in very sad circumstances.
Thank you Pauline for sharing this very sad and tragic story of Arthur Singleton’s life during the War and how his experiences there affected him for the rest of his life – How Sad!
Arthur Singleton grew up in the house where the Ralphs lived, Eileen.
Heartbreaking to see what these young men and their families endured. My step father served and I still remember being woken in the night with him trying to stab the toilet mat as he was sure it was someone coming to kill his mates. He would never talk about what had happened. Tragically he was killed returning from the vets hospital in Brisbane when a truck ran into his vehicle. A wonderful father, I deeply loved and respected.
Thanks for taking the trouble to leave a message, Ruth. Your poor stepfather, we will never really be able to understand the horrors they went through, both during and after the war.
My late Grandfather came from Tasmania and was with the 9th Battery and left for the war onboard the Geelong, I have a photo of the ship which is surrounded with signatures of men from both the 9th Bty and the 12th Bat. My grandfather would have met lots of the men onboard and who knows maybe he met Arthur, my Grandfather was at the landings and witnessed the men of the 11th, 12th and 8th fighting among the hills and gullies but he didn’t get ashore until 3 days after the landings as there was no place to put the guns till the. He fought during the Lone Pine fighting firing his guns on the Turkish Olive Grove guns stopping them from firing on the men fighting in the trenches of the Pine. My Grandfather was wounded in the neck on 7 August and was 2 days later shipped off to Egypt and hospital. After the end of Gallipoli he went on to serve in France and Belgium and being wounded in 1917, he survived the war and later married a Scottish girl before returning home to Tasmania.
Thanks for taking the trouble to leave this Jefferson. I do hope your grandfather had a happy life when he returned to Tasmania.
He is my relative too. Coincidentally another relative George Vaughan from Ulverstone was at first landing at gallipoli.
Oh, that’s interesting Barbara, how are you connected to the Singletons?