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Australia

heodore was the son of James Joseph KELLY & Charlotte Mary ANDERSEN and was born on the 16th of October 1887 at 10 Ivy Street, Ottoway, Rosewater, Pt Adelaide, SA.

His parents were married on the 12th of April 1887 in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Collingwood, Melbourne, VIC as James’s parents were living there.
His mother was 3 months pregnant with Theodore when they married.

His father was the son of John KELLY & Bridget Brigidam MCDERMOTT and born in 1870 in Canongate, Midlothian, Scotland.
His mother was the daughter of Theodore ANDERSEN & Frances HUNT and was born on the 1st of March 1868 in Bright Street, Willaston, SA.

Theodore was the eldest child born into this family of 6 children.

His father had arrived in South Australia on the 9th of March 1879 on board the Loch Fyne from Greenoch with his parents and 4 siblings.
The family had been sponsored by Mr Thomas MCDERMOTT, of Rosewater, SA.

His father was a police constable and Theodore grew up at 10 Ivy Street, Ottoway.

Theodore was educated at Semaphore and joined the 77th Senior Cadets (Semaphore) and on completion of his schooling he gained employment as a labourer.

He also enjoyed playing football and joined the Portland Imperial Football Club.

His father died on the 23rd of September 1911 at Unley Oval whilst watching the football Grand final between Port Adelaide and West Adelaide. He was the President of the South Australian Football Association at the time.

Theodore became the sole supporter for his mother and then decided to enlist into the AIF to better support her.

At the age of 28, Theodore enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 7th of March 1916 in Adelaide and allotted the service number 1190 and posted to B Company, 2nd Depot Battalion in Exhibition Camp.

He was then posted to the newly formed 3rd Pioneer Battalion, D Company and entrained to Melbourne into Campbellfield Camp.
Theodore embarked from Melbourne on the 6th of June on board HMAT Wandilla and disembarked on the 26th of July at Devonport.

He trained at Lark Hill for the next 4 months and then proceeded to France on the 25th of November.
Theodore then spent most of his time in France in the Armentieres area before moving into the Nieppe area.

Here he was engaged in the preparation of communication trenches, trench mortar emplacements, road repairs, bridges, ramps and water supply for the upcoming Battle of Messines.
On the night of the 2nd of June they experienced their first heavy gas shell bombardment and it was early in the hours of the following morning that Theodore suffered from Gas Poisoning.

He was evacuated to England and on his recovery he suffered from Renal Calculus and was recommended for return to Australia.

Theodore embarked from England on the 21st of December 1917 on board HMAT Persic and after spending Christmas 1917 on board the transport, he disembarked in Adelaide on the 12th of February 1918.

Theodore was discharged, medically unfit, from the AIF on the 25th of March 1918 and granted a War Pension of £3 per fortnight.

Theodore moved home to live with his mother and gained employment as a labourer.
Theodore married Irene Charlotta BRYANT on the 20th of June 1930 in the Central Mission Manse, Largs Bay, SA.
Irene was the daughter of Alfred Ernest BRYANT & Fanny CHITTLEBOROUGH and was born on the 13th of July 1905 in Auburn, SA.

After their marriage they lived with his mother at 10 Ivy Street, Ottoway.

On the 17th of October 1934 Theodore was admitted into the Adelaide Hospital where he died 9 days later on the 26th of October.

Theodore was buried the following day in the Cheltenham Cemetery; Section D, Drive B, Path 16, Site Number 35.

KELLY—The Friends of the late Mr. THEODORE JOHN KELLY (late A.I.F) are respectfully informed that his Funeral will Leave his late Residence, 10 Ivy Street, Ottaway, on SATURDAY, at 3.30 p.m. for the Cheltenham Cemetery.
WALTER E. ROWLES, Undertaker, Semaphore.

Military

At the age of 28, Theodore enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 7th of March 1916 in Adelaide and allotted the service number 1190 and posted to B Company, 2nd Depot Battalion in Exhibition Camp.
He listed his mother, of 10 Ivy Street, Ottoway, Rosewater, as his next of kin.

On the 16th of March he was posted to the newly formed 3rd Pioneer Battalion, D Company.
The 3rd Pioneer Battalion consisted of the following:-
Headquarters & A Company (Victoria)
B Company (New South Wales)
C Company (Queensland)
D Company (1/2 from South Australian & ½ from Western Australia).

Theodore was equipped, inoculated and vaccinated before given just 3 weeks of recruit training.
He gained some final leave and then entrained to Melbourne on the 16th of April where they were taken to Campbellfield Camp.
The following day they were amalgamated with the Western Australian ½ of their Company who had arrived the day before the South Australians on board HMAT Beltana, from Perth.

Here they settled down to training and in the latter part of May they, as was the custom, marched through the streets of Melbourne and the Governor-General took the salute from the steps of Parliament House.

On the Sunday, 2 weeks before their embarkation, the whole Battalion marched to the Melbourne Cricket Ground where they were presented with their colours. After which they marched to St Paul’s Cathedral where the colours were consecrated by the Archbishop.

On the morning of the 6th of June Theodore embarked from Melbourne on board HMAT Wandilla for an unknown destination.
Many relations and friends were on the wharf to say goodbye and hundreds of long coloured paper steamers unfurled from the ship when they pulled away from the wharf.

At sea, their first job was to gain their “sea legs” which took them about a week and upon arrival at Fremantle they welcomed the reprieve from sea sickness.
Here they were granted general leave and motor launches conveyed them ashore, where trains took them to Perth.
The following day they sailed for Durban and on the voyage across the Indian Ocean they had an outbreak of Meningitis and they reached the port of Durban with their yellow flag flying.
They berthed at the coal wharves and whilst the coal was being loaded they went for a long march around the coast, stopping at whaling stations and watching the various process fro extracting the oil and whale bone.
On their march back to the ship they crossed the hills through the scrub where monkeys hung from trees.

Not long after they reached Cape Town and unfortunately were still under the same quarantine restrictions so they went on a route march up the hills to the Cecil Rhodes Memorial on the 3rd of July.
Theodore decided to go AWOL this day for 6 hours and was awarded 1 days forfeited pay.

They then steamed north from the Cape through the tropics and reached St Vincent in the Cape Verde Islands.
It was here that the first real precautions for anti-submarine defence was undertaken and as they anchored in the bay, they were surrounded by dozens of boats full of natives, who dived for coins and tried to sell fruit.
At sundown the ship started to coal, stopping after an hour or so with the evident intention of resuming in the morning.
A little after midnight, however, they silently stole out of the harbour with all lights out, to cover the last stage of the journey.

The trip through the Cape Vere Island had been the prettiest part of their voyage and now they came to the most dangerous part.
Fortunately, thanks to Providence and the British Navy, it was negotiated without incident, except for a submarine alarm, and the picking up of a destroyer off the coast of Sprain, which escorted them up the channel to their final port.

Steaming up the Channel in the heavy mist, the Eddysone Light was sighted and the ship swept around off Devonport Harbour early on the morning of the 26th of July.
Shortly after they disembarked and entrained for Lark Hill and they were all glad to be on dry land once again.
Their route lay through the Devon countryside, across the moors and up into Wiltshire until they reached Amesbury, detrained and marched to Lark Hill.
They were all then granted 4 days leave to London before settling into training on the Salisbury Plain. The training included digging schemes, dugout contraction and mine craters blown and consolidated.

Towards the end of training the entire Battalion marched 15 miles out on a billeting scheme to Middle Wallop and then returned the following day.

On the morning of the 25th of November they marched to Amesbury and entrained to Southampton, and after spending some time on the wharf they embarked on board Caesarea, sailing at dusk with all light out and an escort of destroyers.
The passage was not rough but Theodore never slept due to the uncertainty of his immediate future.
They disembarked at Le Havre and marched in the rain through slush, mud and slime to No.1 Rest Camp for the night. However, within a few hours they were ordered back to Le Havre to entrain for the front.

They were loaded into horse carriages and for 39 hours their train crawled though the north of France until they detrained at Bailleul and were conveyed by motor lorries to Armentieres.
Here they were engaged in the construction of trench mortar emplacements, trench drainage and improvements, repairing communication trenches and building a bomb store. They also took over the construction and maintenance of the light tramways in their area.

Throughout one of the most bitter winters experienced in France for a generation, the work on defensive trench warfare continued and although the cold was so intense, hard and constant frosts made it preferable to the mud and rain.

All December was spent on these tasks and Christmas 1916 was spent here and they were still here on the 18th of January 1917 when Theodore suffered from Mumps and was admitted into the 10th Australian Field Ambulance and then transferred to the 7th General Hospital in St-Omer.

After a few weeks here recovering he was discharged to Base Details and rejoined his Battalion on the 8th of February at Armentieres.
They spent another 3 months in this area and Theodore’s Company motor bussed and worked in the L’Epinette sector and then the Le Touquet area, which was bounded by Ploegsteert Wood and the River Lys.

On the 31st of May they marched to new billets at Nieppe and were engaged in the preparation of communication trenches, trench mortar emplacements, road repairs, bridges, ramps and water supply for the upcoming Battle of Messines.
On the night of the 2nd of June they experienced their first heavy gas shell bombardment and it was early in the hours of the following morning that Theodore suffered from Gas Poisoning.

Theodore was admitted into the 3/2 West Lancers Field Ambulance and transferred to the 54th Casualty Clearing Station at Hazebrouck the following day.
Three days later he was transferred to the 35th General Hospital in Calais and then on the 7th of June he was evacuated to England on board HS Newhaven and admitted into the 1st Southern General Hospital in Birmingham.

After nearly 3 months here Theodore was transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Harefield on the 23rd of August and 6 days later he was discharged to 2 weeks furlo before reporting to No.4 Command Depot in Codford on the 13th of September.
Three days later he suffered from Renal Colic and was admitted into the 3rd New Zealand General Hospital in Codford.
After a further 2 weeks he was transferred to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Harefield on the 1st of October and then after spending the remainder of October he Theodore was discharged to No.2 Command Depot in Weymouth and medically classified C3 (Permanently unfit for service) and recommended for return to Australia.

Theodore embarked from England on the 21st of December 1917 on board HMAT Persic and after spending Christmas 1917 on board the transport, he disembarked in Adelaide on the 12th of February 1918.

Theodore was discharged, medically unfit, from the AIF on the 25th of March 1918 and granted a War Pension of £3 per fortnight.

He was awarded the British War & Victory Medals.