Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Contributed by the great great granddaughter of Bray who attends St Joseph's School, Clare

Archibald Dayman Bray was born in 1891, Devonshire, England, the eldest of nine children. He grew up in England and when 19 years of age he came to Australia by boat. Bray first went to Kulpara, SA where he became a farmhand. A couple of years later he moved to Bute SA, where he continued to work in this occupation. It was in Bute where he met his future wife, Linda Mary Axford (Linda), whose family also farmed in the area.

Just before the war began, Bray’s father moved to Cootamundra NSW, where he began to build a life for his family in Australia, as a hay and chaff merchant. Bray’s mother and eight siblings were unable to come to Australia due to the restrictions of travel with WW1 commencing.

On the 5th of August 1915, Archibald Dayman Bray enlisted for the First World War, and officially joined on the 20th of August 1915. Bray was part of the 10th Battalion which was a South Australian regiment and one of the first infantry units raised for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Together with the 9th (Queensland), 11th (Western Australia) and 12th (Tasmania) Battalions, they formed the 3rd Brigade. Within weeks of the war being declared, the 10th Battalion was raised, and just two months later embarked overseas and arrived in Egypt in early December that same year, for army training (Lawrie, 2023).

During WW1, the AIF were distinguished by different colour patches which represented individual units. The different shapes and colours on the patches correlated with the structure of the AIF. The rectangle shape indicated that the unit was from the First Division. The colour patch for the 10th Battalion, which Bray would have worn, had a bottom light blue bar that signified that it was a unit from the third Brigade and the top bar was navy blue, indicating that it was the 10th Battalion of that Brigade.

Archibald Dayman Bray held the rank of Lance Corporal (Lawrie, 2023). A Lance Corporal is a rank of a non-commissioned officer in the British armies. The rank is above a Private and below a Corporal. It is in between the two ranks as it is a period in which a soldier’s potential can be recognised before they then can be promoted to a Corporal (Australian War Memorial, 2023).

Archibald Bray was sent over with troops to join the 10th Battalion and embarked to Egypt on the 12th of January 1916. From Egypt, the Australians, including Bray, commenced to France to join the Western Front. It was from then on, the Battalion took part in trench warfare. It was during this time that Bray went on a little adventure on his own. According to Bray’s daughter, Neata Alice Lawrie, his mother’s birthday was approaching, and Bray wanted to visit her in England. The day before he planned to visit his mother, Bray asked his mates to do his roll call for him. He snuck off that night. Bray’s daughter was unsure as to how he managed to go from France to England and back again, but his mates did his roll call for him and he never got caught (Lawrie, 2023).

During the trench warfare period Bray sustained trench foot. Trench foot occurs when the feet are wet and in freezing conditions for prolonged periods of time. The condition can ultimately cause the skin and tissue to break down and increase the risk of getting an infection. During WW1, trench foot was treated by putting the soldier on bed rest. The soldiers would have been treated with regular foot washes which were made with a combination of lead and opium. As the condition of the soldier improved massages with plant-based oils, such as olive oil, were applied (Cherney, 2019). These same treatments would have been applied to Bray. Bray did however continue to struggle with this disease and had many hospitalisations because of it. Trench feet

eventually lead to Bray’s discharge on the 20th of February 1918. Bray returned to Bute, South Australia. Once returned he married Linda Mary Axford not long after. Upon his return to Bute, he established the Bute RSL (Returned Soldier League) of which he was the inaugural President. The two moved to Jamestown and with a bit of financial help from Bray’s brother-in-law they were able to buy a small farm, which they named Fairvale and later bought the neighbouring farmland, Louden Brae. Bray mainly used his farmland for cropping and sheep. He also ran a small pig stud and had a few jersey cattle for milking (Lawrie, 2023). Bray’s family was soon allowed to come to Australia and join his father in Cootamundra, NSW, although two of his siblings remained in England because of engagements.

Bray and Axford had three children named Lydia Nancy, Neata Alice, and Peter Dayman. They all attended the Louden Brae Primary School. Lydia then attended the Methodist Ladies College in Adelaide and the other two children attended Jamestown High School (Lawrie, 2023). Bray was a very community-minded person who involved himself in various committees including the local council and the Jamestown Show Society.

Even though the war was over, and he was back on the farm, Bray was very careful with his feet. Neata recalls witnessing him every night before bed soaking his feet in boric acid and he made sure to wear clean socks every day post-war, due to his traumatic experience of trench foot (Lawrie, 2023).

He continued to farm for many years; however, he battled with a heart condition. Neata recalled her and her mother having to often go out and help carry him in after a heart turn, stopping many times to lay him down in the dirt to recover before they could keep going. One night Bray went out to hunt foxes and he didn’t return home. Linda (his wife) and his daughter Neata began to worry. They called his son Peter but were unable to contact him. So, they called Gordon Henry Crawford, his son in law, who then went out to look for him and found him lifeless in the paddock (Lawrie, 2023).

Bibliography
 

Australian War Memorial 2023, | the Australian War Memorial, www.awm.gov.au, viewed 31 May 2023, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51450>.

Australian War Memorial 2023, Rank | Australian War Memorial, www.awm.gov.au, viewed 30 May 2023, <https://www.awm.gov.au/learn/understanding-military-structure/rank>.

Carswell, B 2023, Research Guides: Australians in World War 1: Colour Patches, guides.slv.vic.gov.au, viewed 1 June 2023, <https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/wwone_soldiers/patches>.

Cherney, K 2019, Trench Foot: Symptoms, Causes, Pictures, and Treatment, Healthline, viewed 1 June 2023, <https://www.healthline.com/health/trench-foot#treatment>.

Family Search 2021, FamilySearch.org, ancestors.familysearch.org, viewed 30 May 2023,

<https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L2XY-5LD/archibald-dayman-bray-1892-1952>.

NAA 1914, Bray Archibald Dayman : SERN 3461A : POB Holsworthy England : POE Adelaide SA : NOK M Bray Lydia, National Archives of Australia, viewed 31 May 2023,

<https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3114090&S=1>.

Savvas, MX 2020, Louden Brae, The Adelaide Review, viewed 1 June 2023,

<https://www.adelaidereview.com.au/latest/travel/2020/09/10/good-country-whispers-of-wealth- in-jamestown/>.

The Advertiser 1953, ‘OBITUARY’, Advertiser, 26 May, Adelaide, South Australia, viewed 30 May 2023,

<https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48284518?searchTerm=Archibald%20Dayman%20Bray

>.