Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"SIX BROTHERS VOLUNTEER FOR SERVICE. FIVE OF THEM ACCEPTED. PARENTS PROUD RECORD. 

Not long since the, story was told in these columns of a lady whose five sons had volunteered for active service. It was a great record, and South Australia was as proud of the mother as the mother was proud of her sons. But these are great times and now a new record has been made. Mr. and Mrs. R.G. Douglas, of Shipster road, Kensington, have seven sons, and six of tlem have volunteered for service at the front. Unfortunately one of the six has a defect in the sight of his right eye, which incapacitates him for military service, and although he offered himself and was fit in every other respect, the impaired sight was a bar, and he was passed out. The seventh son is 43 year of age, and has wife and eight children, so he did not feel called upon to offer himself nor was it up to him to do so. This is a a fine record for any parents to rejoice over, but Mr. and Mrs. Douglas can claim even more, for they have two grandsons (Privates D. G. T. Woods and C. J. T. Woods), children of their eldest daughter, in the trench at Gallipoli. They are in the famous Third Brigade, of the 10th Battalion, of the First Australian Expeditionary Force, which won imperishable glory at the landing at Gaba Tepe. Both got through that terrible experience without anything worse than scratch and are still manning their trenches. Both Mr. and Mrs. Douglas are native born South Australians and all their children have been bom in this State. Mr. Douglas, who is 75 years of age, is the son of a well known tent maker who was in business in Pirie street for many years. Mrs. Douglas is the eldest daughter of Mr. Edward Bromley, a butcher in Adelaide, one of the earliest colonists of the State. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas have passed the greater portion of their lives in South Australia, though they have at different periods been residents of Broken Hill. The sons who have volunteered are follows; 

Albert E. Douglas, aged 37; rejected, account defective eyesight.
Archie W. Douglas, aged. 35; private, third reinforcements.
Harry R. Douglas, aged 30; lance-corporal, third renforcements.
Hugh N. Douglas, aged 26; private, Army Medical Service Corps.
Wallace Gordon Douglas, aged 23; private, seventh reinforcements.
Tom E. Douglas, aged 20; trooper, Light Horse

The grandsons who have volunteered are;

Private D. G. T. Woods, Third Division, First Expeditionary Force.
Private E. J. T. Woods, Third Division, First Expeditionary Force.

Lance-Corporal H. R. Douglas was slightly wounded at Gallipoli by shrapnel but has recovered and is again in the trenches." - from the Adelaide Daily News 17 Aug 1915 (nla.gov.au)

Archie William Douglas was born on the 21st of September 1880, in Maryvale, near Streaky Bay, South Australia. He was a soldier who served in World War I, service numbers 1737 and 1737A. He was born to Eliza Hannah Bromley and Robert George Douglas and had 9 siblings, including 5 brothers and 3 sisters. In fact, five of his brothers and one of his cousins also enlisted, although one brother was rejected due to defective eyesight in his right eye, and the seventh brother was 45 and had a wife and eight children, so he did not enlist. He also had two nephews enlist. Both his parents were born in South Australia, and his mother, Eliza Hannah Bromley, was closely related to some of the earliest colonisers of the state. Sometime before 1900, Douglas, his parents, and most of his siblings moved to Broken Hill, NSW, looking for work.

It was in Broken Hill that he met and married his first wife, Alma (or Elma) Victoria Rook. They married when Douglas was 20 and Elma was 16; she was the next of kin written on his attestation papers He had five children with Alma, which included three sons and two girls. Albert Stuart Douglas and Gladys Mabel Douglas were twins, and Douglas’ last children with Alma were 4 when he enlisted. Douglas was employed as a trucker/miner in the BHP, a silver, lead, and zinc mine in Broken Hill, on February 16, 1902, and quit on December 2, 1913 (he then enlisted around a year later).

In his enlistment records, he says he had done service before, but it was never specified where or what he did. Sometime between December 1913 and October 1914, he went back to South Australia, and his children and wife stayed in Broken Hill.

Douglas enlisted first on the 10th of October 1914 but was sent back; he then enlisted again two months later, on the 9th of December 1914. He enlisted in Oaklands, South Australia. Douglas trained in Adelaide before leaving for Egypt and training there until March 1915. On March 19, 1915, he joined the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces with Division 4 base deport. Egypt was in a conflicting area at that time because the Ottoman Empire was trying to breach British defences using the Suez Canal.

In May 1915, he contracted an illness and was sent back on HMAT Ceramic from Port Suez to Melbourne, where he was treated. Douglas was back in Australia for roughly two months. On July 22nd, 1915, he returned to duty on the Ceramic, where he and the rest of the 4th military district manned defences along the Suez Canal. Two days after rejoining Egypt, he was in a field ambulance with problems with pyorrhoea (Riggs disease), a genetic disease affecting the teeth and gums. He continued to visit the hospital for this throughout the war. Later, he returned to Adelaide, and on February 28th, 1916, he was re-allotted his regimental number (because he was sent back), from 1737 to 1737A. Douglas then embarked again to France with the rest of the 10th Battalion. On May 10th, 1916, he transferred to the 50th battalion, which was made out of the 10th battalion but split off into separate ones after Gallipoli, when the army expanded.

He stayed in France for roughly four more months, fighting on the Western Front. While there are no records of him being wounded in battle, he did visit the hospital several times for pyorrhoea. On the 28th of July 1916, he went to New Zealand State Hospital in Amiens, France, and stayed there for two days before rejoining his battalion. Sometime in the next month, he was in the hospital again but was out on the 30th of September. On the 6th of October, it is recorded that he was ‘evacuated to the hospital “in the field” with pyorrhoea, suggesting that his pyorrhoea had affected him whilst in a battle and he had to be ‘evacuated’ quite urgently. 8 days after this, he was on the H.S. ‘St Denis’ to England, where he was admitted to Edinburgh War Hospital. He then transferred from Edinburgh to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital, was discharged, and was back in service on December 27th, 1916. That was his last recorded visit to the hospital after spending more than 54 days sick.

Two days after being discharged from the hospital, he was given a strict warning for misconduct but he did not receive a field punishment. He transferred battalions again next year, on the 29th of March 1917, from the 50th to the 70th, but stayed in England. On the 31st of March 1917, Douglas was in trouble again, out of bounds, and awarded one day of field punishment no. 2.

He stayed in England for the next 6 months before going back to France to fight on the Western Front. He took the St. Hamton to France, and the journey was two days long. After being in France for 3 days, Douglas’ wife, Alma Victoria Douglas, passed away in Broken Hill, NSW, at the age of 34. It seems that when Douglas heard of this, he requested to return to Australia and he did so a month later, on the 30th of October 1917, missing the official funeral held for Alma on the 19th of September 1917. Five months later, on March 19th, 1918, Archie William Douglas was officially discharged from the army. His records stated it was because of family reasons; this was probably in relation to the recent deaths of his wife and the mother of his five children. Douglas was awarded three different medals for his service to Australia: the 1914–1915 Star Medal, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.

After the death of his wife and discharge, he moved back to Adelaide, where he met his second wife, Elizabeth Jane Gilbert. He married her on March 11th, 1918, in Norwood, Adelaide, South Australia. She died on September 15th, 1920, in a Hospital in Adelaide at 48 years old. Her last residence was in Beulah Park, where Douglas likely lived too. His third and final wife was Rachel Daw Summers, whom he married on March 15th, 1923, in a registry office in Adelaide. When they were married, Douglas was 43 and Racheal was 34; she died after Douglas around 1967. He had seven children, five with his first wife, Alma, and two with his third wife, Rachel Daw Summers. Two of his grandchildren also volunteered for the army.

Archie William Douglas died on July 2nd, 1936, at age 55 in Magill, Adelaide, and he was buried in the AIF cemetery in Light Oval, row 4s, West, grave 43. He was buried near other soldiers, including three of his brothers and other relatives.