Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"...1645 Private Elijah Horton Elliott, 49th Battalion. A farmer from Queensland prior to enlistment, Pte Ellliot embarked with the 2nd Reinforcements from Sydney aboard SS Hawkes Bay on 20 April 1916. He was killed in action in France on 5 April 1917, aged 21." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

Elijah Horton Elliott  #1645  49th Battalion
 
Elijah Elliott was born at Comet in Central Queensland around 1895, the son of Edward and Emma Elliott. Emma Elliott reported in official documents that her husband had abandoned her and Elliott in 1904. Consequently, she and her son moved to Washpool Farm in the Fassifern Valley where Elijah attended school at Engelsburg (renamed Kalbar around 1914).
 
Elijah presented himself for enlistment at Brisbane on 1st November 1915. He was 20 years old and his mother signed the parental consent form. The space for his father’s name was left blank.
 
Elijah marched into camp at Enoggera a fortnight later where he was placed into a depot battalion. At about this time, Emma Elliott moved to live with her sister and brother-in-law at Maroon. The Slatter name features prominently in the stories of many of the young men whose names appear on the Maroon Memorial. While still in camp, Elijah had a studio photographic portrait taken. This hand tinted portrait is now part of the Australian War Memorial’s collection.
 
Elijah was drafted as a reinforcement for the 49th Battalion and embarked for overseas on the “Hawkes Bay” in Sydney on 20th April 1916. He had allocated 4/- of his 5/- daily pay to his mother. The reinforcements landed briefly in Egypt before sailing on to Plymouth. A period in the transit camps at Rolleston and then Etaples in France led to Elijah finally joining his battalion on 20th August 1916 on the Somme.
 
Elijah joined his battalion in the reserve trenches at Pozieres. The 49th would spend the last week of August and most of September in a series of futile attempts to capture the fortified remains of Mouquet Farm, some 500 metres from Pozieres along the ridge line.
 
In October of 1916, the 49th had a brief interlude in the Ypres salient in Belgian Flanders before being sent once again to the Somme where the battalion rotated in and out of the front line. The pattern of rotation continued during the bitter winter months. In March of 1917, the entire brigade was withdrawn from the front areas for extensive training.
 
During the winter of 1916/17, the Germans had been building an extensively reinforced line some miles to the rear. With the coming of spring, the German forces began a controlled withdrawal to their new defensive positions. To prevent the forces being overrun, a number of villages were chosen to delay the pursuing British and Australians. The 49th Battalion and the 13th brigade came upon one such redoubt at Noreuil. Over a number of days commencing on 2nd April, the brigade attempted to dislodge the German defenders. Elijah Elliott’s file records him killed in action at Noreuil on 5th April 1917. There is no official mention of a burial.
 
Elijah’s mother, Emma sought further information through the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Service but no information was forthcoming. Emma must have received word from Elijah’s company commander regarding his fate as she recorded that he had been buried on the edge of a sunken road with two other 49th Battalion men, Sgt Tom Scott and L/Cpl Henry Banham. It is reasonable to assume that all three were killed around the same time, perhaps by artillery shell. The three are now commemorated on the tablets at the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux.
 
With the death of Elijah, Emma Elliott would appear to have relied on the support of a relative, Mr Sheppard who worked for Queensland Railways. She was granted a pension of 30 shillings a fortnight. Emma followed Mr Sheppard to Kilkivan and then Howard. The constant change of address made it difficult for the authorities to send her Elijah’s medals and memorial scroll.