Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Harry Cecil Witton was born at Balmain, Sydney NSW in 1892.

Father Edwin (Edward) Milton and Mother Nina Witton. 

Siblings:
Claude M Witton, born 1886
Harold Tracey Witton born 1888 
Rupert L Witton born 1890; and sister
Muriel T Witton born 1893.

In September 1915 Harry was 23 years and 8 months of age and an Engineer by trade having completed a 5-year apprenticeship with Halliday Brothers in Sydney.

He completed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ on 2 September at the Town Hall, Sydney, naming as his Next-of-Kin his mother Nina Witton of 56 Mort Street, Balmain.  A medical examination on the same day recorded that Harry was 5' 8½" tall and weighed 153 lbs.  He had a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair.  He was a Wesleyan by faith.

Harry signed the Attestation, and the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ on 17 September 1915 at Holdsworthy, NSW, and was appointed to No.4 Company of the newly formed Mining Corps at Casula.  In November 1915 while at the Casula Camp, Harry was included in a group portrait of Officers, Non-commissioned Officers and Sappers of No.1 Company of the 1st Australian Mining Corps.

After training at the Miners Casula camp Harry embarked on Ulysses for the European theatre.

At a civic parade in the Domain, Sydney on Saturday 19 February 1916, a large crowd of relations and friends of the departing Miners lined the four sides of the parade ground.  Sixty police and 100 Garrison Military Police were on hand to keep the crowds within bounds.  The scene was an inspiriting one. On the extreme right flank, facing the saluting base, were companies of the Rifle Club School; next came a detachment of the 4th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, then the bands of the Light Horse, Liverpool Depot, and the Miners’ on the left, rank upon rank, the Miners’ Battalion.

Following the farewell parade in the Domain, Sydney, the Australian Mining Corps embarked from Sydney, NSW on 20 February 1916 on board HMAT A38 Ulysses.

The Mining Corps comprised 1303 members at the time they embarked with a Headquarters of 40; No.1 Company – 390; No.2 Company – 380; No.3 Company – 392, and 101 members of the 1st Reinforcements.

Ulysses arrived in Melbourne, Victoria on 22 February and the Miners were camped at Broadmeadows while additional stores and equipment were loaded onto Ulysses.  Another parade was held at the Broadmeadows camp on March 1, the Miners’ Corps being inspected by the Governor-General, as Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth military forces.

Departing Melbourne on 1 March, Ulysses sailed to Fremantle, Western Australia where a further 53 members of the Corps were embarked.  The ship hit a reef when leaving Fremantle harbour, stripping the plates for 40 feet and, although there was a gap in the outside plate, the inner bilge plates were not punctured.  The men on board nicknamed her ‘Useless’.  The Miners were off-loaded and sent to the Blackboy Hill Camp where further training was conducted.  After a delay of about a month for repairs, The Mining Corps sailed for the European Theatre on 1 April 1916.

The ship arrived at Suez, Egypt on 22 April 1916, departing for Port Said the next day; then on to Alexandria.  The Captain of the ship was reluctant to take Ulysses out of the Suez Canal because he felt the weight of the ship made it impossible to manoeuvre in the situation of a submarine attack.  The Mining Corps was transhipped to B1 Ansonia for the final legs to Marseilles, France via Valetta, Malta.  Arriving at Marseilles on 5 May, most of the men entrained for Hazebrouck where they arrived to set up their first camp on 8 May 1916.

A ‘Mining Corps’ did not fit in the British Expeditionary Force, and the Corps was disbanded and three Australian Tunnelling Companies were formed.  The Technical Staff of the Corps Headquarters, plus some technically qualified men from the individual companies, was formed into the entirely new Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company (AEMMBC), better known as the ‘Alphabetical Company’.

Harry reported sick on15 July 1916 and was admitted to No.18 General Hospital at Camiers.  He was discharged to the 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot at Etaples on 17 August, rejoining his unit in the field on 29 August.

He was officially transferred to the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company (1ATC) on 24 December 1916.

Harry again reported sick on 20 February 1918 and was admitted to an Aid Station with a septic right leg.  He was transferred to 53 Casualty Clearing Station on 22 February and from there by Ambulance Train 25 to the 7th Canadian General Hospital at Etaples.  He was transferred to No.5 Convalescent Depot at Cayeaux on 15 March and discharged to the Australian General Base Depot (AGBD) on 6 April 1918, rejoining his unit on 14 April.

Harry enjoyed some leave from 5 to 21 August 1918.  He marched out to the AGBD at Rouelles on 12 September and then marched in to the Australian Infantry Base Depot on 15 September.  He marched out to the 60th Infantry Battalion and was taken on strength on 29 September 1918.  He was transferred to the 59th Battalion on 25 September 1918 and taken on strength of that unit the same day.

He had been a member of 1ATC from May 1916 until his transfer to the Infantry in September 1918.  In that period he would most probably have worked at Hill 60 in the preparations for the Battle of Messines Ridge.  He also most likely worked on the digging of the Catacombs at Hill 63.

He may have been involved with the Easter Raid of April 1917 and the accidental explosion of 25 April 1917, which killed 10 members of his unit.  He was probably involved with the construction of the Hooge Crater dugouts.

He may have also been involved with operations on the Hindenberg Line in September 1918 when 20 members of 1 & 2ATCs where decorated.

Harrys’ records of his time with the 59th Battalion state he was ‘On Command Inland Water Transport Depot’ at Casier Aire-sur-la-Lys from 18 December until 13 February 1919 when he rejoined his Battalion. 
On 15 February 1919 Harry underwent a medical examination at Avesnes, France which recorded that he had no disabilities and his medical classification was A1.

Harry marched out of his Battalion on 6 March 1919 for return to Australia. 
He left France on 14 March and marched in to No.1 Command Depot on 15 March 1919.
He left London for repatriation and demobilisation on 13 May 1919 on board Devanha, spending 5 days in the Ship’s Hospital from 24 to 29 May with a cold (sore throat and stuffiness in the head), before disembarking at Sydney on 26 June 1919. 

He attended the Domain Anzac Buffet on the same day and a medical board recorded no wounds or sickness and it was confirmed that he had no incapacity for labour

Harry Cecil Witton was discharged from the AIF on 18 August 1919, entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

In 1927 Harry married Catherine McFadden at Balmain, Sydney, NSW.
A son, Cecil, was born on 1 October 1928.

Past members of the Australian Electrical & Mechanical Mining & Boring Company and the Australian Tunnelling Companies gathered on or about Anzac Day for a reunion luncheon.
Harry Witton first appears in their records in 1928, his address listed as c/o Timber Workers Association Trades Hall.

From 1930 to 1936 the Census for Balmain records the family living at 56 Mort Street.  Catherine and Nina performing ‘home duties’, while Harry Cecil is recorded as an Engineer.

The Tunnellers Reunion Roll for 1934 records Harry at the above address.

The 1943 and 1949 Census for Balmain records Catherine, ‘home duties’ and Harry Cecil, Engineer, living at 56 Mort Street.

The Census for Balmain for the years 1954 and 1958 record the address as 58 Mort Street where Catherine, ‘home duties’; Harry Cecil, Engineer and Cecil, Optical Mechanic, reside.

In 1963 Catherine and Harry Cecil (now a Labourer), are recorded at 30 Park Street, Rozelle, NSW.

Harry appears on the Reunion Roll for the years 1968 and 1970/71, his address recorded as 20 Park Street, Rozelle.

Harrys’ wife Catherine died at Rozelle on 11 July 1978, her parents recorded as Edward and Mary.

 21st November 1979 Harry passed away.

Submitted by Julianne T Ryan.  15/03/2017. Thank you to  Donna Baldey for her research.

LEST WE FORGET.