Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of John Wollard and Catherine PAYNE

Awarded the Military Cross (www.awm.gov.au) (www.awm.gov.au);

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.  He gallantly led a patrol forward under very heavy fire, and eventually when the patrol was driven back by a very strong opposition, he remained behind and carried in a badly wounded man."

From François Berthout

Lieutenant (474) Lancelot Joseph Wollard Payne
25th Australian Infantry Battalion, B Company, 7th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division

 
On the old battlefields of the Somme, under the rays of the sun, rest in peace and in serene silence, thousands of young men, a whole generation of men who are still standing behind the rows of their white graves between which grow the flowers of spring and the poppies which remind us, through their red petals, that more than a hundred years ago, here, on the grounds of the north of France, thousands of heroes fought and fell, men who came from the other side of the world and who, for their country, here, shed their blood and gave their today, their lives for our tomorrow and over whom we will always watch with the greatest care and respect to keep the story of their lives, of their courage strong and alive so that we never forget who they were and what they did for us and so that through us, beyond their names on their graves, they will live forever in our hearts and in our thoughts.

Today, it is with the greatest gratitude, with respect and with all my heart that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who fought and fell here in giving his life, his everything. I  would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Lieutenant number 474 Lancelot Joseph Wollard Payne who fought in the 25th Australian Infantry Battalion, B Company, 7th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division, and who died of his wounds 103 years ago, on May 30, 1918 at the age of 22 on the Somme front.

Lancelot Joseph Wollard Payne was born on February 21, 1896 in Latrobe, Tasmania, and was the son of John Wollard who was a doctor and Catherine Payne (née Giles) and initially lived in Hamilton Street, Latrobe, Tasmania then lived in West Devonport, Tasmania.Lancelot had two brothers, Kenrick and Charles and was educated first at Queen's College, Hobart, then at Hutchins State School, Hobart, Tasmania. On his arrival at the school in January 1913, at the age of 16, Lancelot was made a Prefect and a Boarder Prefect.Lancelot was a confirmed sportsman and won, between 1914 and 1915, several victories in swimming and athletics competitions, he was also a confirmed rower, Captain of football and a member of the first XI at cricket.As well as being a sportsman Lancelot continued to show an interest in the military. Coincidentally, it was in 1914 when he passed the NCO (Non Commisioned Officer) exams and became a Colour Sergeant in the School Cadet Force, the highest ranked student at the time.

Symbolically, Lancelot is credited with speaking in a debate on August 22,1914.The topic was “Does war, as carried on in our own days,entail a greater loss of human life than was formerly the case?" It is not clear which side Payne spoke for however,the debate was tied and the Chairman gave his casting vote to the negative.I n his third and final year at Hutchins in 1915, Lancelot demonstrated many skills that would have set him on a good path to be an effective soldier and he was appointed as Senior Prefect.The name given to School Captain at that time in the school’s history.

On leaving Hutchins, Lancelot went straight into the army and he enlisted on January 31, 1916 at Claremont, Tasmania, in the 40th Australian Infantry Battalion, B Company, he was the only leaver of his cohort to do so. His appointment was confirmed on May 1, 1916.He was originally posted to Claremont Camp on January 31, 1916, which was the second training camp to be established in Hobart.The original camp had been located at Brighton but it was moved as there was a shortage of water.

Claremont was a good location of the camp as it was close to the railway and the embarkation point of Hobart.It was also not too close to the city.At its peak the camp housed up to 2,200 soldiers and provided "realistic" training conditions with trenches and dugouts.it is unlikely that any training camp would be "realistic" given what the soldiers were being prepare for.The camp was referred to as "Tent City" and was effectively a small town. There were many facilities provided, including laundry, dentist,barber and post office.The camp now lies on land owned by the Cadbury Estate and is commemorated there.

On July 1, 1916, Lancelot embarked with his unit from Hobart, Tasmania, on board HMAT A35 Berrima.The departure on July 1 was the first time that men from the 40th Australian Infantry Battalion left Australia for the war. The ship made three transport voyages from Australia between December 1914 and December 1916. It had a somewhat interesting time during the war. Most significantly it was torpedoed in the English Channel by a submarine and was badly damaged with four lives lost. It was eventually repaired in Portland Harbor before being scrapped in Osaka in 1930.
On arriving in England on August 23, 1916 the men of the 40th Australian Infantry Battalion, including Lancelot were encamped at Lark Hill, in Wiltshire on Salisbury Plain. Immediately upon arrival approximately 200 men were transferred from the battalion to other Australian units that were already in France.Lancelot remained with his original battalion but was transferred at a later date.From mid 1916 Lark Hill was occupied largely by Australians.The time spent at Lark Hill subjected the men to intense training to prepare them for life in the trenches. Lancelot was selected for Officer School in Oxford in September 1916.It was during this period of training that he must have impressed his senior officers and he was promoted to Second Lieutenant on November 7, 1916.

A little over two weeks later on the December 15, 1916,Lancelot,together with other members of the 40th Australian Infantry Battalion proceeded overseas to France.Originally, they were stationed at Etaples. This was the main infantry base of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) and had a population of up to 100,000. Aswell as being a training base there were a series of hospitals.It was also a detention centre.

The first serious action that the 40th Australian Infantry Battalion saw was in June 1917 when they fought at the Battle of Messines.By this time Lancelot Payne had farewelled a large number of his Tasmanian mates and had transferred to the 25thBattalion.on January 29, 1917 he was transferred to the 7th Brigade and on March 10, 1917 transferred to the 25th Battalion.

Almost immediately on his arrival with the 25th Australian Infantry Battalion he was involved in the thick of the action and on March 25, he took part in an operation which resulted in him being awarded his Military Cross and was promoted to Lieutenant. According to the records kept in the Hutchins School Archives and his war record, Lancelot took part in fighting around Lagnicourt, specifically in the village of Norieul. This action preceded the Battle of Lagnicourt which took place on April 15,1917. The patrol was driven back, and Lancelot volunteered to go out again with a stronger patrol, which he did, and pushed forward close to the village under heavy shell and machine gun fire. Eventually when the patrol was driven back by very strong opposition, he remained behind and carried in a badly wounded man.

The promotion and medal were formally recognised on April 4, 1917 and recorded in his war record on April 17.He also received a personal letter signed by General William Birdwood. The original citation, complete with Birdwood’s pencil signature, still exists and is stored in Ipswich, Queensland and is in a very fragile condition.Lancelot was then granted,what was probably a well-deserved break from action when he went to England for nearly a month for his investiture and to receive the medal.The award was mentioned in the London Gazette of May 25 and then appeared in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on November 11.

Lancelot’s specific movements from late 1917 to early 1918 are not recorded.The 25th Australian Infantry Battalion was involved in some significant battles including playing a supporting role at the Battle of Bullecourt in September and Broodseinde Wood in October.One source speculates that the winter of 1917/1918 was largely spent recovering and regrouping in Belgium.Lancelot was fortunate enough to travel on leave to England again in March 1918 for two weeks leave from the 9th until the 23rd.This proved to be his final trip away from the battlefields of France and Belgium. 

Unfortunately, shortly after, Lancelot was sent to the Somme and two months later, on May 30, 1918, he met his fate.

On May 29, 1918 Lancelot was involved in action around Morlancourt, Somme.It was here he received two gunshot wounds to his abdomen "in the early morning, just before day break" which ultimately resulted in his death.The exact circumstances of his death, like many events of war, are blurred by the eyewitness accounts.One report suggests he was shot in the head,but this can probably be discounted as most accounts describe wounds to the stomach and abdomen. Likewise, one account suggests he was killed by "a bomb" yet the majority describe two gunshots.

Sergeant Charles Raison suggested that Lancelot was shot during a gunfight, which, he believed to be, friendly fire, whilst he was stood at a listening post.This is confirmed by several other reports. He was conscious after the incident and stretchered away to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station at Vignacourt, Somme, where he died of his injuries the next day,on May 30, 1918, he was 22 years old and was described as "very popular with the boys".

Today Lieutenant Lancelot Joseph Wollard Payne rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Vignacourt British Cemetery, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "In the land of eternal sunshine we shall hear that song again ".

Lancelot, you who were in the prime of your life and who, for freedom, for Australia and France gave your life, I would like today, from the bottom of my heart and with respect to say thank you for all that you and your brothers in arms did for us and for our country on which gathered and fought, in comradeship and in unity, a whole generation of exceptional men who shed their blood in the trenches and the poppy fields of the Somme, today sacred land, land of Remembrance on which rest in peace, row after row, young men who came from so far and who here gave their today to offer us our tomorrow.They were young and over a hundred years ago volunteered to answer the call to duty so they left their fields, their farms, the warmth of their homes and the love of their families who were heartbroken when they saw their sons, their fathers, their husbands, left for the front, for the war and who, after heartbreaking farewells, tears in their eyes but with in their hearts the pride of serving their country, enlisted and wearing the uniform with honor to make their country proud and marched through the streets, parading with smiles on their faces and incredible determination to the ports and to embark on boats that would soon take them across the ocean and to war to join their comrades and brothers in arms.Side by side, united in the mateship and in the friendship that united them, they marched in close ranks behind their officers on the roads of Belgium and northern France, singing to the rhythm of their footsteps which led them to the trenches and devastated battlefields that were mud and blood all over what were once peaceful and calm landscapes that were crushed under tons of shells leaving nothing but holes in which so much blood flowed and fell thousands of men and horses.In this hell on earth, these young men lost their innocence and gave their youth in the barbed wire and under the number of dead who lay lifeless a few meters from them on no man's land and who fell day after day under the fire of the machine guns against which the bayonets and the rifles were powerless and which, at an infernal rate, mowed down a whole generation of men in courageous but terribly murderous assaults which ended in bloodbaths, in the mud of the Somme.In the mud, under artillery fire, under clouds of poisonous gas, these young men stood with admirable bravery and despite the horrors they endured and crossed, they held the line and defended more than our lands of France, they fought shoulder to shoulder for freedom and justice, they fought with conviction, with the determination to put an end to all wars and for that, they paid the supreme sacrifice, they put their energy and their heart in the battle, they fought with the greatest courage alongside their friends with whom they shared the joys and sufferings of a world at war, they had as only youth, war and death and gave their all in knowing that on their courage and their lives depended the future of humanity and stand with honor in facing the death of the battlefields.Each of them were heroes, exceptional men who, without fear and without hesitation, followed their friends and went over the top under the fire of thousands of cannons and the crackling of enemy machine guns which destroyed thousands of lives, young men who charged with confidence and resolution, bayonets forward and who, one by one, fell, wounded, dead, they fought and shed their blood together and today, in the peace in which they rest, they stand still united and young.Gone but not and never forgotten, they have never left our hearts and our thoughts and still live by our side, silent but eternal, they walk in peace with their comrades through the white cities and the poppy fields of the Somme where I would always watch over them with the highest respect to bring them back to life and keep their history and their memory alive, to maintain strong the bond that unites our countries and our families around the Remembrance of these heroes, of these men that I will carry forever in my heart and will be forever, here in France, our sons, my boys of the Somme.Thank you so much Lancelot,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
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John JasperWE WILL REMEMBER THEM
REST IN PEACE

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Richard Mundy
3h  · 
 
Field Service Postcard posted on 3rd December 1916 by 'Stanley to a 'Miss' can't quite work out the name and address.(??)
From my collection: Uncle David's Postcards
As you may know, Field Service Postcards were used during WW1 by soldiers on active service to send speedy messages home without any need for censoring by their officers. Their purpose was to reassure their loved ones that they were alive and well and to confirm that letters and parcels from home were getting t…See More

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

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David WhithornAdmin
Sadly, it wasn't to be for Stanley and 'F'...The recipient of this Field Service postcard looks to have been a Florence Isobel Pape of Wigton, Cumberland, but she married a William Hellings in 1921. The Pape family of Wigton, Cumberland on the 1911 Cen… See More
 

 
 

 
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Jérémy Bourdon

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Arras,
Return of British troops after an offensive at Bullecourt on May 30, 1917.
St-Aubert street (St-Jean Hospital)

 
 

 
 
 

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Gérard Devred

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TROUBLE. BATTLE OF THE MARINE (51).
 
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