Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Address at the time of enlistment was 'Hearelwood', Yalangar, Toowoomba, QLD

Son of James and Annie Picot of Garstang, Lancashire later of Kings Road, St Peters Port, Guernsey. Brother of Henri Mignot Picot who returned to Australia on 21 January 1919 having served with the 41st Battalion

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

# 1536 PICOT Frank                            15th Battalion
 
Frank Picot reported he had been born in Llanelly in Wales in 1895 to parents Reverend James Picot and Annie Picot. Frank’s father was a Methodist minister and the family moved quite often. This itinerant existence meant that children often had their education disrupted. The founder of methodism, John Wesley, established a boarding school for the sons of Methodist clergy and Frank Picot attended the Kingswood School in Bath.
 
At the age of 16, Frank emigrated to Australia. There is no record of Frank in the Queensland immigration records so it more likely that he landed in Sydney before making his way to Yalangur near Goombungee where he worked on a large farm named “Heerelwood”. It is possible that his younger brother, Henri, aged then about 14 emigrated at the same time.
 
Frank presented himself to the Darling Downs Recruiting Office in Toowoomba on 15th December 1914. He stated his age as 20 years and gave his occupation as labourer.
Frank named his father, Reverend James Picot of Garstang, Lancashire, as next of kin. He passed the medical examination and was given a travel warrant to travel by train to the Enoggera Camp where he was drafted into the 3rd reinforcements of the 15th Infantry Battalion. The original 15th Battalion which had been raised in October 1914 had departed for Melbourne before Frank arrived in camp. He would spend two months in training at Enoggera before boarding the "Seang Choon” in Brisbane on 13th February. The reinforcements arrived in Egypt in late March 1915 where Frank was taken on by the 15th Battalion at the Aerodrome Camp outside Cairo. The 15th battalion was one of four battalions which made up the 4th brigade of the Australian and New Zealand Division. The Brigade commander was Colonel John Monash.
On 14th April 1915, the 15th boarded two troop ships, the “Australind” and the “Seang Bee” for the voyage to the Greek island of Lemnos where the invasion force of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was being assembled at Mudros Harbour in preparation for the assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula. There was insufficient room for all of the Australian and New Zealand force to be billeted on shore and so the late arrivals, such as the 15th Battalion, remained on board the transports while practicing boat and landing drills.
 
At dawn on the 25th April, the 15th Battalion set sail for the beaches of Gallipoli. Those on board the “Australind” stood off the beach at Cape Helles and observed the British landings there before sailing north to Gaba Tepe where the “Seang Bee” was waiting. The entire battalion was disembarked at Anzac during the night of the 25th/26th April and bivouacked in a gully, soon known as Monash Gully, until dawn when the troops moved up the steep slope to relieve the exhausted men who had been holding the precarious position at Pope’s Hill since the previous morning. For the next few days, companies of the 15th Battalion were moved up to reinforce various positions that were coming under attack by the Turkish defenders. During May, the 15th Battalion continued to hold the line at Popes Hill and Quinn’s Post (named after the commander of “C” Company, 15th Battalion).
 
During the early weeks of the campaign, both the Turks and the Australians attempted to take ground from each other. In most cases the attacks were easily repelled and the line remained where it had been since the 25th April. On 19th May, during one such Turkish attack at Courtney’s Post in the 4th Brigade defensive line, Albert Jacka of the 14th Battalion fought off and killed seven Turks who had captured part of the trench that Jacka was defending. Jacka was awarded the Victoria Cross for this action, the first VC awarded to an Australian during WW1. On 24th May, a brief armistice was agreed to so that the dead which littered the ground between the Turkish and Australian positions could be taken in by both sides. Fighting resumed at 5:00 that afternoon. On 29th May, a Turkish mine was exploded under the front line at Quinn’s post, blowing in the trench and giving the Turks access to the position. The 15th battalion, which had been resting in Monash Gulley was ordered to move up to Quinn’s and retake the position.
 
Frantic fighting involving bomb throwing and hand to hand fighting eventually won the day but at the cost of 10 men killed; including Major Quinn (after whom the post was named). Among the wounded from this encounter was Frank Picot. He had received a severe wound to his thigh and was eventually carried down from Quinn’s to the beach at Anzac Cove. Medical staff assessed Frank’s wound as requiring surgery and he was loaded onto the “Gascon”, one of only two hospital ships that operated off the Anzac beach head. The “Gascon” conveyed Frank to the Government Hospital in Alexandria where he was admitted on 7thJune. Frank died from his wound the next day and was buried in the Chatby War Cemetery, Alexandria, with the Reverend Bartlett in attendance. Frank was 21 years old when he died.
 
Frank’s personal effects were conveyed to his father who was by that time living in Saint Peter Port on the island of Guernsey. In January 1916, Franks’s younger brother Henry (Henri) enlisted in the AIF. Henry gave his address as “Heerelwood”, Yalangur.
 
Henry returned to Australia in 1919 and lived for a time in the Pikedale Soldier Settlement community at Stanthorpe before relocating to Goomburra near Hendon.