Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Hugh Julian BOYD

Military Cross

Military Cross Recommendation-

'At Polygon Wood on 25/9/17 this officer was in charge of "A" Coy the right company in the line. He was on the extreme right of the 15 Bde Sector. At 5:30 AM his line was heavily attacked by the enemy. By the vigorous resistance of his Coy the enemy was beaten back and the front line held intact. The enemy penetrated the front & support lines of the 1st Middlesex and enfiladed him by Machine Gun fire. This officer formed a defensive flank & foiled repeated attempts by the enemy to roll up his line. His personal work was magnificent & his courage inspired his men to hold out in a desperate situation. Had he failed to hold his line the success of the attack on the following morning would have been in jeopardy. It was largely owing to his celerity in appreciating the situation that the Brigade front was held intact.'

 The above is taken from a handwritten recommendation marked ‘Immediate’ and dated 29 Sept 1917 and most likely refers to a major German attack at dawn four days earlier on Sept 25. The recommendation was signed by Acting Commanding Officer of the 58th Battalion, Major N. Freeman. Authorisation would then have gone to the Brig-General H.E (Pompey) Elliot, who led the famous 15th AIF Brigade.

Born in 1886 in Bendigo, Hugh Boyd was 28 years of age when he applied for a commission in the Australian Military Force in July 1915. He had studied Dentistry at the University of Melbourne following in his father’s medical footsteps who had been a renowned surgeon in the city of Bendigo.

Hugh enlisted on the 16th July 1915 just a few months after his father was tragically killed by his own motor vehicle while attending to a medical emergency at Kangaroo Gully on the outskirts of Bendigo. [1] Hugh had completed his studies and commenced practice in Bendigo with the local paper also informing he played football with the South Bendigo Football Club. [2]

Two months after enlisting he would embark from Australia landing in the Suez in late October. Upon landing the AIF was reforming and he would be allotted as a Second Lieutenant to the 58th Battalion. [3]  Hugh Boyd would travel with his battalion to France in June 1916 he would be seconded to spend a year in AIF training brigade in England. During this period in England he would play in the 28 October 1916 exhibition match against the Third Australian Divisional Team in London. (see photo) He would rejoin his unit back in France at the end of July 1917 just as the 15th Brigade are transferred north to the Ypres Offensive. Following his brave deed at Polygon Wood, Hugh Boyd would be given two week’s leave returning late January as the Brigade rested behind the front line in Northern France awaiting the German offensive in Spring. The Australian troops commenced raids on the German front line in order to capture prisoners to illicit information on the upcoming offensive. The 58th Battalion carried out one of these raids on the March 14, 1918 capturing 2 prisoners. However, Lte Hugh Boyd receives a ‘Gun Shot Wound’ to the left leg which will see him shipped to London for treatment and eventually home to Australia on August 24, 1918. 

SERVICE DETAILS: 

Born: Bendigo

Address on Enlistment: 76 McKenzie Street, Bendigo

Age at Enlistment: 28

School: University of Melbourne

Occupation: Dentist 

Served: Western Front.

Unit: 58th Battalion

Final Rank: Lieutenant, 4 April 1916

Fate: Returned to Australia 24 August, 1918

Died: 8th August 1960, Age 74

MC Medal Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 120  Date: 7 August 1918

PHOTO- Hugh Boyd takes part on 1916 London Exhibition Aussie Rules Football match. He is listed as coming from the University Football Club a member of the Victorian Football League. 

‘An Australian football match was played at Queen's Club, West Kensington, between teams of Anzac First League men. This is the Australian Training Units team which lost the match with a score of 4 goals and 12 behinds (36 points), and wearing a jersey with a kangaroo logo’.  AWM H16688

Lieutenant Hugh Julian Boyd is listed as a player however, his position in the photo is unknown.  However, he appears to be in 2nd row on far right.

 At Polygon Wood on 25/9/17. The battle of Polygon Wood proved a success for the badly depleted AIF Forces. British High Command somewhat reluctantly credited Elliot’s 15th Brigade consisting of Hugh Boyd’s 58th Battalion with saving the entire attack. Pompey Elliot wrote to his wife Kate on October 2 the following - “The Germans knew were going to attack soon, so they thought to disarrange our plans by attacking us, and after a fearful bombardment attacked at dawn of the 25th and then came on in thousands. My boys of the 58th were in the front line and despite dreadful casualties ….stood firm , but the British battalion , a Middlesex Battn, could not stand, and they broke and ran”  [3]

[1] Bendigonian (Bendigo, Vic. : 1914 - 1918) Thursday 9 March 1916 p 25 
[2] Bendigo Advertiser,  7th Oct 1918. P.2 (Trove)

[3] Pompey Elliot At War, ‘In his own words’, Ross McMullin, Scribe. Page 282