Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

# 2485 LIVINGSTONE Stanley George                                                9th / 49th Battalions
 
In the second half of the 19th Century, the British Empire was at its zenith and one of the empire’s heroes was the missionary, explorer and medical practitioner, David Livingstone who had done much to open up central Africa. Famously, contact with Livingstone was lost in the 1870s and a Welsh journalist, Henry Stanley went to Africa to search for the missionary and upon meeting Livingstone allegedly proclaimed “Doctor Livingstone I presume.”
 
Stanley George Livingstone was born in the London Suburb of Islington on 18th June 1895 and with the story of David Livingstone still well known, he may have been given the name Stanley to link with his surname as a constant tribute to the empire’s hero. This connection is further strengthened by the fact that Stanley emigrated to Australia as a missionary, probably sponsored by the London Missionary Society of which his famous namesake was also a member.
 
There is no record of young Stanley’s arrival in Australia. He would appear to have been doing missionary work in the Wallumbilla district for a time, as his name appears on the war memorial there, as well as Crows Nest. In each case, the young man was probably taken in by a Methodist family. Stanley attended the Darling Downs Recruiting Office in Toowoomba on 4th May 1915, around the same time that the first newspaper reports of the Gallipoli landing appeared. He was one month shy of his 21st birthday and stated his occupation as missionary. After being accepted by a medical officer, Stanley made his way to Enoggera camp where he was taken on as part of the 7th reinforcements of the 9thBattalion. In spite of his youth, Stanley was appointed temporary corporal.
 
The 7th reinforcements proceeded to Sydney by train where they embarked on the “Shropshire” on 20th August 1915. Upon arrival in Egypt, the troops went into camp near Cairo. The 9th Battalion, which the reinforcements were destined to join, was at that time fighting at Gallipoli and had been so since dawn on the 25th April when the 9th was one of three battalions first ashore. After the failure of a series of assaults against the Turks in August, the Anzac Campaign developed into a stalemate with neither side able to dislodge the other. In November 1915, the 9th Battalion was moved from the Anzac position to the Greek island of Lemnos for a period of rest and recuperation. The battalion was down to about half strength due to battle casualties and sickness. Reinforcements from the camp in Egypt were sent to Lemnos to bring the battalion back to full strength. Stanley and a group of reinforcements joined the 9th Battalion in the rest camp at Lemnos on 18th November where Stanley reverted back to private. At about the same time, the British Secretary for War, Lord Kitchener, made a brief inspection of the situation at the Dardanelles and determined that the whole enterprise should be abandoned.
 
The weather turned bitterly cold and there was a shortage of suitable clothing in the camp as well as blankets. On Christmas Day, as the men of the 9th were enjoying their Christmas billies (billy cans prepared in Australia by various comfort funds that contained sweets, nuts and personal items such as socks and scarves), Stanley reported sick to one of the temporary camp hospitals on Lemnos with a case of influenza. He was evacuated to Cairo along with the rest of the 9th Battalion on 30th December. Stanley rejoined his battalion in camp at Serapeum on 22nd January. With the disbandment of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, the AIF underwent a major reorganization. The Light Horse would remain in Egypt while the infantry and artillery was expanded from two to four divisions. The original Gallipoli battalions were split to provide an experienced core which supplemented with reinforcements from the camps in Egypt created two new battalions. The 9th Battalion was split and a core or experienced men became the nucleus of a new battalion, the 49th, part of the 13th brigade of the 4th Division AIF. Stanley, regardless of the fact that he had no actual combat experience was included in the drafts that went off to make the 49th on 25th February 1916. One week later, Stanley was promoted to corporal and by April had been promoted to sergeant.
 
After almost four months of intensive training in Egypt, the 49th was ready to rejoin the war on the Western Front. On the 5th June, the battalion boarded a transport in the Egyptian port of Alexandria; arriving in the French port of Marseilles one week later. The battalion then boarded a train for the long journey across France to the northern sector of the Western Front around the city of Armentieres. This part of the front was considered to be relatively quiet as the ground was so boggy that frontal assaults on a large scale were impossible. The 49thsettled into the routine of trench warfare. For those veterans of Gallipoli in the battalion, this period of the war was seen as almost a holiday. Battalions routinely rotated in and out of the line with comfortable billets in the rear areas. Hot food from the battalion cook wagons was delivered to the frontline daily and there was even fresh water delivered via a system of pipes. There was time for recreation when not in the line with sports and games organised as well as the ability to frequent the numerous cafes in the villages where “Vin Rouge” (Red wine) eggs and chips could be had for a few francs. At the front, contact with the enemy was limited to trench raids and artillery barrages. The situation would not last.
 
On 1st July 1916, General Haig, supreme British commander of the Western Front, launched what he hoped would be the grand offensive to end the war. He chose as his battleground the area which separated the British and French armies, the valley of the River Somme. Haig was trusting in the sheer weight of numbers of his army. (The British government had introduced conscription in late 1915 and the increased force was often referred to as Kitchener’s New Army). History records that the British suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day. It was apparent that barbed wire and machine guns were more than a match for straight lines of soldiers marching with bayonets fixed towards heavily defended positions.
In spite of the enormous cost in manpower, Haig had no choice but to push on.
 
By the middle of the month, little ground had been taken and Haig called up three AIF divisions, the 1st, 2nd and 4thAustralian Divisions to move south from the Armentieres sector to Albert to take part in the Somme offensive.  The village of Pozieres half way between Albert and Bapaume, sat on the highest point of that part of the battlefield and occupied a commanding position. Pozieres was taken by the 1st Division on 26th July. The second division’s objective was to take a blockhouse which had been built on the site of a windmill above the village of Pozieres. The windmill was behind two lines of trenches, and provided a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. With the village and the windmill in British (Australian) hands, the 4th Division, including the 49th, moved into the front line trenches to hold the line against a ferocious counterattack. There was no plan to attack; the 4th Division simply had to occupy the trenches and endure what many veterans described as the heaviest artillery barrages of the war. The 49th, like most of the battalions, suffered heavy casualties. With Pozieres ridge secured attention turned towards a ruined farm which the Germans had heavily fortified by extending the cellars and creating a line of three defensive trenches. The farm, a little over one kilometre from Pozieres ,was depicted on the maps as “La Ferme du Mouquet” but the Australians referred to it as “Moo Cow Farm” or “Mucky Farm.”  The assault on the farm had to be conducted up a shallow gulley on an ever narrowing front that was enfiladed by German artillery and machine guns on three sides. The ground was so churned up by high explosive shells that advancing troops could not recognise a trench line when they reached it. Attempts to dig new trenches were unsuccessful due to the loose ground caving in. The three AIF divisions that had taken and held Pozieres were put back into the battle for Mouquet Farm. Throughout August, the British command continued to waste Australian lives in futile frontal assaults. A final assault was planned for the 3rd September by three battalions of the 13th Brigade, one of which was the 49th which was placed on the right flank for the attack. At first things went well but the German defenders with an overwhelming advantage as far as defence was concerned eventually drove the attack back to the start line. The 49th was withdrawn from the battle for Mouquet Farm on 4th September without the objective being reached, but at considerable cost. Amongst the casualties was Sergeant Stanley Livingstone killed.
 
Stanley’s body, like many other casualties, was unable to be recovered. His remains were found and buried by a working party in July 1917 after the front had moved on. A parcel of Stanley’s possessions was sent to his father, including books, scarf, pipe and fountain pen.
Stanley’s remains were exhumed from the battlefield at the end of the war and reinterred in the Courcelette British Cemetery just over the ridge from where he fell. Stanley’s father, Alexander, was granted a war pension of £2 per fortnight but strangely chose not to have a personal inscription placed on his son’s headstone.