Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edward Vivian Timms (1895-1960) author, was born on 7 April 1895 in Queensland. His father was William Henry Timms, a chemist from Worcester, England, and his mother was Victorian-born Bertha Bawden. His mother moved to Western Australia where she married a Presbyterian minister, Angus King, who served at Coolgardie and Fremantle before coming back to Sydney in 1906. Timms attended public schools in Sydney and then studied electrical engineering. Using his stepfather's surname, he signed up and joined the 1st Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force, on 27 August 1914 and was then promoted lieutenant on 15 March 1915 (Australian Military Forces, Application for a commission in the Australian Imperial Forces, https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/person/362594). His Battalion took part in the landing on Gallipoli on 25 April but he was wounded later and discharged and so he came home early.

After returning home Timms married Alma McRobert in St David's, Haberfield, on 19 August 1916. After marrying, they took up a piece of land the government gave to soldiers on the Richmond River, but due to their inexperience in drought they were forced to leave. Returning to Sydney, Timms published his first ever novel, The Hills of Hate, in 1925; which was follwed by a humor novel (James! Don't be a Fool) and Lawrence, Prince of Mecca (1927) was written under the false name of David Roseler, The Cripple in Black (1930), set in the seventeenth century, was the first of his many historical romances novels(University of Queensland, Edward Vivian Timms Collection, https://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer-library/ms/uqfl380.pdf).

 On top of twenty-two novels, Timms wrote lots of short stories and countless plays, serials, scripts and adaptations of popular novels for the cinema and radio. He wrote a script for The Hills of Hate novel adpation film in 1926, he alse wrote the scripts for movies, The Grey Glove (1928) and The Squatter's Daughter (1933) and Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940). Timms began working on a Tv program called 'The diggers' session' on January 1938 for the Australian Broadcasting Commission and wrote a serial for it until 1940 (University of Queensland, Edward Vivian Timms Collection, https://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer-library/ms/uqfl380.pdf).

During World War II he was called upon by his country to fight so he joined the Australian Garrison battalions from June 1940. He had the rank of temporary major and from October 1943 Timms oversaw the Italian’s POWs of C Camp, No.12 Prisoner of War Compound in Cowra. On the night of the mass Japanese break-out (5 August 1944), he led his C company in defending from a rear attack by the Japanese prisoners and gave the order to fire. He later testified at the military court of the Japan attack and published a description in his book ‘As You Were’(1946) called  'Bloodbath at Cowra'. In 1945-46 he was demoted to inspection officer for POW camps.

Timms was a tall and strongly built man, with brown hair, Timms was essentially an Australian family man. He had no illusions in his novels and considered himself a good story-teller not a good artist. (Australian Military Forces, Application for a commission in the Australian Imperial Forces, https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/person/362594). His novels were quite popular and some were translated into other languages such as Spanish, Dutch, German, French and Norwegian; Forever to Remain was even turned into a stage musical.

After the war Timms started his 'Australian saga', a twelve book sequence of historical novels that began with the novel Forever to Remain (1948) and was about the lives of an English immigrant family, the Gubbys. In 1954 he went into retirement and settled in Budgewoi, near Gosford, where he enjoyed fishing, leisure walking and gardening. He was cared for by his wife, two sons and daughter until he died on 14 June 1960 of heart disease and was buried in Northern Suburbs cemetery in Sydney (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._V._Timms). His widow completed his unfinished novel The Big Country(1962) and wrote the final novel of the 'Australian saga', Time and Chance (1971).

 Daniel Yu

Sydney Technical High School

Biography

https://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer-library/ms/uqfl380.pdf                              

https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/person/362594

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._V._Timms

Edward Vivian Timms (King) was born on the 7th April 1895 at Charters Towers, Queensland. His parents, William Timms and Bertha Timms, were both of British descent. Timms’ father was a chemist who worked in Worcester, England, however no public information is available about his mother. Upon enlistment in the army Edward Timms stood almost 1.8m and weighed approximately 65kg.[i]

When Edward was only three  years old, his father passed away. Edward’s mother Bertha Timms remarried a Presbyterian Reverend named Angus King and the family moved to Coolgardie, Western Australia.[ii] In his early years, Edward Timms attended Fremantle Boys’ School and was educated by Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert. In 1906, his family relocated to Haberfield in Sydney, and Edward Timms attended Sydney Technical College (STHS) specialising in electrical engineering.[iii] Even before the Great War, Timms would provide support for the Australian military, spending two years as a Senior Cadet, seven months being a part of the 29th Infantry (Australian Rifles), as well as the Citizens Force.[iv] He was a commissioned officer for the Senior Cadets and the Citizens Force.

At the outbreak of WW1, Edward Vivian Timms signed up to be a part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He recorded his name as “Edward Vivian King”, which was his step-father’s family name. Edward Vivian ‘King’ joined the 1st Infantry Battalion of the AIF on the 27th of August 1914. His service number was B2455 and he would be placed under the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.[v] On the 18th of October 1914 in Sydney, King would embark on the HMAT A19 Afric to Egypt for training and preparation of the war.[vi] Edward trained for approximately two months before leaving Egypt to travel to Gallipoli, where one of the most significant battles in Australian history would happen. He was promoted to the position of Lieutenant on the 15th March 1915.[vii] On the 25th of April 1915, King, as well as his battalion and the rest of the ANZAC forces, would land at Gapa Tepe on the Gallipoli Peninsula, later to be re-named as Anzac Cove. On the first day of landing, Edward King was struck by a shell explosion, wounding him and killing several others. On the 30th of April, he was taken out of combat and moved to the 19th General Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt.[viii] According to his medical records he was suffering with “shock and deafness”. He was once again moved on the 11th of May, this time to the United Kingdom to convalesce staying to the 18th of May.[ix]

In mid-March 1916, Edward Vivian would be discharged from the 1st Infantry Battalion, ending his service in the Great War. In 1918 and 1919, he was awarded the 1914-15 Star medal, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his participation in World War One. He was engaged to Alma McRoberts and married her in his stepfather’s church on the 19th of August 1916.[x] In the years following the war Edward King changed his name to Edward Timms and in his spare time began writing, successfully having his first book published in 1925, “The Hills of Hate”.[xi] He would write more novels, as well as other stories and plays. His books were featured in many radio shows and cinemas, which helped him gain popularity as a novelist and scriptwriter.

When the Second World War came he enlisted on the 7th of June 1940 in the Australian Garrison battalion. He was promoted to a Major and was placed in control of Cowra Prison.[xii] Inside the P.O.W. camp, thousands of Axis military forces and civilians consisting of Italians, Koreans, Japanese and Indonesians were kept prisoners. Edward Timms would be assigned to the No. 12 Compound where Italian prisoners were held. During the Cowra breakout, he would defend against the Japanese escapees, giving orders to his group of men. Subsequently, Timms discovered a bugle on the ground which was used by a Japanese escape leader Toyoshima Hajime, who was also known to be the first Prisoner of War to have been put into the Cowra Camp. Timms retrieved the bugle and brought it home.[xiii] After this significant event, Major Timms would be an inspection officer for P.O.W camps until the 21st of June 1946.

After the end of World War Two he went back to his career as a writer and would continue producing books until he semi-retired in 1954. The first novel in a series, he wrote titled “Australian saga”, would be “Forever to Remain”. The series was based on a fictional English family who moved to Australia, hoping to start a new life. However, near the end of the volume, he was unable to continue writing “The Big Country”, which was the 11th book of the 12 volume. He passed away in Budgewoi, NSW on the 14th of June 1960 due to heart disease.[xiv] He was buried in the Northern Suburbs cemetery, Sydney. His wife, Alma Timms, would finish writing his 12 volume ‘Australian Saga’ with the concluding book “Time and Chance” being completed by 1971.[xv]

Thien Pham
Year 9 - Sydney Technical High School

References

Adb.anu.edu.au. (1990). Biography - Edward Vivian Timms - Australian Dictionary of Biography. [online] Available at: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/timms-edward-vivian-8818 [Accessed 9 Jul. 2018].

Google Docs. (1916). king 1916 name change to TIMMS.pdf. [online] Available at: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CBkwEYP1F1xH2JS4IrEeeI8T6GJ8VGYG [Accessed 13 Jul. 2018].

Google Docs. (2018). KING Edward Vivian.docx. [online] Available at: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ICwbR9I8MO1l9-kkcUvmlvOq6YsMg73w [Accessed 14 Jul. 2018].

National Archives of Australia. (2006). NAA: B2455, TIMMS EDWARD VIVIAN. [online] Available at: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8391372 [Accessed 9 Jul. 2018].

Ww2roll.gov.au. (2018). WW2 Nominal Roll - Certificate for EDWARD VIVIAN TIMMS. [online] Available at: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/VeteranCertificate.aspx?VeteranID=249264 [Accessed 17 Jul. 2018].

Memorial, T. (2018). Bugle used to signal the start of Japanese POW breakout at Cowra: Toyoshima Hajime. [online] Awm.gov.au. Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C115060 [Accessed 23 Jul. 2018].

[i] “TIMMS Edward Vivian: [AKA KING Edward Vivian]” in NAA: B2455, TIMMS EDWARD VIVIAN”, National Archives of Australia, Australia, 1914-1920, p. 1.
[ii] Anthony Barker, 'Timms, Edward Vivian (1895–1960)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 1990.
[iii]ibid.
[iv] ‘LT Edward Vivian King’, Australian Commonwealth Military Forces, Australia.
[v] op. cit, National Archives of Australia, p. 1.
[vi] op. cit, Australian Commonwealth Military.
[vii] ibid.
[viii] op. cit, National Archives of Australia, p. 3.
[ix] ibid.
[x]Anthony Barker, op. cit, Australian Dictionary of Biography.
[xi] ibid.
[xii] ibid.
[xiii] “Bugle used to signal the start of Japanese POW breakout at Cowra: Toyoshima Hajime”, Australian War Memorial, Australia.
[xiv] Anthony Barker, op. cit, Australian Dictionary of Biography.
[xv] ibid.