Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Rufus Philip Ford was born in March 1887, in the town of Sandown in the Isle of Wight, to his parents Alice and Thomas Ford. At the time of his enlistment, he had a wife named Grace Marion Ford, who was marked as his next of kin and they had no children. He was 5 foot 11, he weighed 164lbs (74kg) and he had brown eyes, a medium complexion and dark brown hair. Before World War 1 Rufus had a little bit of a history in fighting as he spent 2 years in the 5th Isle of Wight V.B. The Hampshire Regiment. This was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which stayed stable for about 111 years and served in many wars. He also served for 2 years in the British South Africa Police. The British South Africa Police was, for most of the time the police force of Rhodesia, later named Zimbabwe, which is where it got its name. He also was part of the British Red Cross for 8 months. This was a charity organisation that started in 1870 and they were committed to helping people no matter what. Rufus was an orchardist, someone who keeps or supervises an orchard. This has become less common. He was a member of the Church of England.

Rufus Philip Ford enlisted to be an Australian soldier on the 9th of August 1915 at the Keswick Barracks in Adelaide, at the age of 28. When he went off to real war, on the 25th of March 1916 Rufus Philip Ford embarked from Adelaide on the A.9.H.M.A.T Shropshire to Alexandria for training.  In Egypt, there would have been terrible conditions there as the sand would’ve gotten everywhere and the heat would have been extreme. Luckily for Rufus, it doesn’t seem like he had to spend much time there. He was one of the men who didn’t go to Gallipoli and was a part of the new reinforcements.

On the 20th of May 1916, Rufus left from Alexandria to France and the Western Front which started his 2 years, at the First World War. His head would have been going crazy with all of the mixed feelings and the noise of all the other men on board. 9 days later on the 29th, Rufus marched into Etaples. On the 2nd of July 1916, Rufus proceeded to a Machine Gun position at Bade Depot, which is a camp where he stayed until he was ready to join a unit. On the 12th of September 1916, Rufus was chosen to join a unit and that unit was the 10th Battalion which he stayed with for the duration of the war. On 2nd of December 1916, Rufus Ford was chosen to be a Lieutenant which meant that he was the commanding officer of a platoon. This was a very high role, but none of the men ever wanted to become high in position because it meant that you would probably get killed sooner. 

On the 9th of March 1917, Rufus embarked for England for the hospital as he was sick. He left from Havre, France via an ambulance train to Etaples and then went across to England to go to the hospital. On the 11th of March 1917, Rufus was admitted to 3rd London General Hospital in Wandsworth with psoriasis. Psoriasis is a common skin illness that speeds up the life-cycle of cells which causes a rash that is itchy and painful. Stress can cause psoriasis or make it worse, and being at war would be very stressful. Other things that can cause psoriasis are infections, medication and climate and Rufus would likely have been exposed to these things.

By the 14th of May 1917, Rufus had been in the hospital for 8 weeks and his rash had almost disappeared. He was dismissed from the 3rd London General Hospital and could go back to the war and a week later he embarked from France. It took 5 days to get back to France and then he started fighting again and rejoined his battalion. On the 28th of July 1917, Rufus went to 1st Anzac Corps School. This was a training camp that offered advanced training for soldiers which would make them better troops. On the 1st of September 1917, Rufus re-joined his unit from Anzac Corps School.

On the 7th of October 1917, at age 32 Rufus Philip Ford was killed in action. The battle he died in was the Battle of Broodseinde (part of The Third Battle of Ypres). He died near Sanctuary Wood near Ypres, Belgium. He was buried by the 1st Anzac Corps which he would’ve met at the camp. His burial site is B.O G5936. Sheet 28 N.E. Square J.4.b.7.5. Rufus was rewarded with two medals during his time fighting: British War Medal and Victory Medal, which were received by Grace after Rufus’ death.

What examples show that Rufus Philip Ford had Anzac Spirit?

There are many things that Rufus did to show that he had Anzac Spirit such as going in the war when he had a wife at home, dying for his country and getting sick and then coming back to fight.

Signing up for the war when he had a wife showed real courage as it is a scary thing going to war when you are single especially if they have a family at home because they are leaving them behind. This is a hard choice as if they died they will never see their family or life back at home again and they didn’t know this at the time, but even if they didn’t die they would be affected by the war for life and never get to live normally again.

Dying for his country shows a great deal of patriotism and courage as he could have not gone to the war and died peacefully at home, but he wanted to fight for his country and for his people which is amazing. Just fighting and getting affected by war is a massive sacrifice, but going and fighting and then dying shows a lot of patriotism.

Getting sick and then coming back shows determination. This shows determination as Rufus was in the hospital for 8 weeks which is 2 months which is the length of term 4! So, he stayed in the hospital for 2 months with a horrible disease called psoriasis (which causes a rash all over your body) and then once that was done went to France and then to the Western Front, back to fight again. Talk about determination, nothing could get in his way, all he wanted to do was fight for his country.

Bibliography:

https://www.psoriasis.org/advance/war-their-skin

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/ww1/1aif/1div/03bde/10th_battalion_aif.htm

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-asstd/abbreviations.htm

https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/OrderOfBattle/index.html

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orchardist

http://www.anzacsinfrance.com/ranks/

https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/governments_parliaments_and_parties_australia

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/923553/

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/rslvwm/comfy/cms/files/files/000/001/498/original/VWMA_ResearchProfile_WWI.pdf

https://vwma.org.au/explore/projects/27034/edit?wizard-page-index=0

https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/150150

https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=101177

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4024176

https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/search

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au

https://www.awm.gov.au/people/roll-search