HUXLEY, Cyril Douglas
| Service Number: | 2243 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 2 March 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 52nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | King Island, Tasmania, 10 February 1897 |
| Home Town: | King Island, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Currie State School, Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupation: | Grocer |
| Died: | Rosebud, Victoria, Australia , 11 November 1987, aged 90 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Williamstown (General) Cemetery, Victoria, Australia Left his remains to science |
| Memorials: | Currie State School Great War Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2243, 12th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 2243, 12th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wandilla, Fremantle | |
| 25 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 2243, 12th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Wandilla embarkation_ship_number: A62 public_note: '' | |
| 5 Jun 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2243, 52nd Infantry Battalion, embarked Alexandria for Marseilles | |
| 15 Oct 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Corporal, 2243, 52nd Infantry Battalion, WiA France; multi SWs left side, severe | |
| 11 Dec 1918: | Embarked AIF WW1, Corporal, 2243, 52nd Infantry Battalion, embarked England for RTA on board HT Saxon | |
| 11 Apr 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Corporal, 2243, 52nd Infantry Battalion, 6th MD |
Cyril Douglas Huxley
My Pop was born on King Island , Tasmania - son of the third Currie lighthouse keeper, Mr. George Huxley.
Isolation meant there was a discrepancy in the registration of his birth.
His date of birth was recorded as 31.1 1898 however, family stories say he was born on the 29th February , 1898 - leap year!
He was in fact only 16 when he enlisted in Claremont, Tasmania.
His brothers also enlisted, Frederick George Huxley R.A.F, and Ivor Huxley Warrant Officer.
We are not certain of where he went from here for training, as like so many, he did not speak much at all of those days.
He was wounded in Gallipoli , Simpson and his donkey took him down to the beach where he was put on a ship and taken to Lemnos.
After recuperating, in England, he was sent to France where he was wounded again by exploding shells.
He was hospitalised in England with trench feet and after several months was eventually sent home.
We believe he travelled by train back from Perth, his kit bag and souvenirs mislaid along the way.
After four years, three months of service, he was discharged in Melbourne.
His papers signed by Albert Jacka VC.
The shrapnel stayed in his body, surfacing now and again to be removed by my grandmother.
When I was growing up, my sisters and I would ask about the war and all he would tell us was how the soldiers had to pee on their feet to toughen them up!
Submitted 19 April 2015 by Belinda Wright
Biography contributed by Evan Evans
From Luke Agati
King Island’s Finest Semaphore Signaller
Cpl Cyril Douglas Huxley was born on King Island on 10 February 1897. The son of a Currie lighthouse keeper named George Patrick Huxley, who served the lighthouse between 1889 and 1911. Cyril naturally grew up getting to know the work of his father to include shipping and signalling. Following his father’s footsteps, Cyril was employed with the lighthouse service throughout his adult life. During his youth however, he joined the Boy Scouts, and in 1910 displayed outstanding skill in semaphore signalling. During a Currie State School exhibition that year, a number of Boy Scouts were put through various exercises in semaphore signalling, with Cyril Huxley even giving an excellent demonstration in morse code.
For Huxley, the skill would bring him to Broadmeadow military camp in Victoria following the outbreak of World War I in 1914. As an enlistee, with the 12th Battalion, early on in the war he was given further training and in a very short time he established a record in semaphore flag signalling within the forces. A large photographic portrait of “Sergeant Cyril Huxley” was displayed in full view in the Drapery Window of his proud father’s General Store. Huxley married a King Island girl named Bernice Jackson. His friend and fellow King Islander Roy Russell, also a war veteran became Cyril’s brother-in-law when the latter married Bernice’s sister Madge Jackson. After serving the King Island lighthouses he was transferred to others in Tasmania for a while before joining the Victorian lighthouse service at Cape Schank, Cape Otway, and Cape Nelson, among other areas. He died in Victoria aged 88 in March 1985, leaving his remains to science. The museum has several original semaphore flags preserved, which were used at the Currie Lighthouse.
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