Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Captain 11th Field Artillery Brigade

Recommended Military Cross for more see link to AWM on left of page

From the book Fallen Saints

Geoffrey Erskine Wells of Collinswood, South Australia was born in Adelaide on 22 January 1891. While at St Peter’s College he served in the senior cadets and represented the collegel in intercollegiate tennis and football.

After leaving the School he completed further studies at Roseworthy Agricultural College and took up farming near Georgetown in the mid north of South Australia.

 G.E. Wells had one very well during the last year (1908) at Roseworthy Agricultural College. In the second year he won the College Second Prize, which is given for the aggregate in all subjects, the Viticultural Prize, and the College Prize for best outside work. [i]

Geoffrey enlisted on 19 August 1914 and was posted to B Squadron, 3rd Light Horse Regiment as a corporal in September then on 22 October sailed from Adelaide aboard HMAT Port Lincoln.

A and B Squadrons of the  3rd Light Horse Regiment were raised in Adelaide, South Australia on 17 August 1914 and C Squadron in Tasmania. The squadrons came together for the first time in Egypt and then in December joined the 1st and 2nd Light Horse Regiments to form the 1st Light Horse Brigade.

Corporal Wells was promoted and when he landed at Anzac on 12 May 1915, he did so as a troop sergeant with the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. He was appointed second lieutenant in mid October and commanded the Machine Gun Section until the evacuation in December.

During the reorganisation of the AIF in Egypt, Second Lieutenant Wells joined the Western Frontier Force and was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 March 1916.

With new artillery divisions then being formed, a general call went out for volunteers to transfer to artillery and as the 3rd Light Horse Regiment was over strength at that time several officers and about 150 other ranks took the opportunity to serve in France.

In April, Lieutenant Wells was attached to the School of Instruction at Zeitoun and later transferred to HQ, 111th Battery, 24th Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade, Serapeum Egypt; the 111th was reassigned to the 11th Field Artillery Brigade in July 1916.

He arrived in France in early June, was granted 10 days leave in England during October, was posted to 41st Battery, 11th Brigade in January 1917 and on 9 August was promoted to Captain. 

Captain Wells was wounded during the Battle of Broodseinde and succumbed to his wounds on 6 October 1917; he was 26 years of age.

In his recommendation for Captain Wells to receive a Military Cross the CO 11th Australian Field Artillery Brigade wrote:

For conspicuous gallantry at the 41st Battery position near WESTHOEK, East of YPRES.

About 8.30 am on the 26th September 1917, while the 41st Battery was under heavy 8’ and 5.9’ shell fire, one gun-pit was hit, camouflage and an adjacent ammunition dump were set alight and commenced to burn and explode. Regardless of the continued heavy shell fire and imminent danger from our own exploding ammunition, Captain Wells with another officer and N.C.O.’s immediately rushed to the spot and worked with buckets and tins of water until the several fires were extinguished. The gallant and timely action of this officer not only saved the guns and about one thousand rounds of 18-pr ammunition, but set a splendid example to all ranks of soldierly conduct and devotion to duty. [ii]

Under the Imperial awards system, if a man’s gallantry cost him his life, during or shortly after a battle, unless it merited the award of a posthumous Victoria Cross, he was mentioned in despatches.

This officer died of wounds on 6/10/17 and therefore this recommendation could not be forwarded on by 4th Australian Divisional Headquarters. (Signed) E.G. Sinclair-MacLagan Major General, Commanding 4th Australian Division.  [iii]

In a letter dated 6 August 1918, the Deputy Military Secretary of the British War Office Whitehall, England wrote to Captain Well’s father on behalf of the King.

 I have it in commanded from His Majesty the King to inform you, as the next-of-kin of the late Captain Geoffrey Erskine Wells, of the Australian Field Artillery, that this officer was mentioned in a despatch from Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, dated 7th April, 1918, and published in the Fourth Supplement to the ‘London Gazette’ of 24th, dated 28th May, 1918, for gallant and distinguished service in the field. I am to express to you the King’s high appreciation of these services, and to add that His Majesty trusts that their public acknowledgement may be some consolation in your bereavement. [iv]

A friend in Georgetown, South Australia later wrote that Geoffrey was one of the ‘most popular and capable young men’ of the district, and displayed ‘marked ability’ in all of his endeavours.

 Prior to enlisting, he was farming in this locality in partnership with Mr. Welbourne. He was one of the leading local football and tennis players, and was also an able debater in the Literary Society. He took part in amateur theatricals, was warden in St. George’s Anglican Church, and was connected with all the social functions of the town and district.[v]

In late 1917, Sergeant Harry Muller (OS), 11th Field Artillery Brigade, wrote to his own family in Adelaide and specifically mentioned the impact the loss of Geoffrey Wells had on the unit.  

Two more of our officers who originally belonged to the 24th have gone; this time it is Barney Thompson (Lieut) and Geoff Wells (Captain). The later loss is particularly severe, as Geoff has endeared himself to all. His men worshipped him. His utter unselfishness for the men’s comfort before his own, quite apart from his fearlessness under fire, will always be remembered by those who had the privilege to know him. ... I am proud to have been acquainted with him in his glorious military career, and feel very sad to think that such a fine man should have met his end at this early age. If you should chance to meet Mrs Wells, I should like you to mention the few words I have written about her son. [vi]

Harry Muller returned to Australia in 1919.

In 2006, Mrs Eleanor Wells the widow of W.A.N. (Andrew) Wells described in a letter how her late husband remembered his grandparents, Alfred and Gertrude Wells during the 1920’s and early 30’s.

…rather grim, mirthless individuals, as he found also were his aunts Marjorie and Audrey, and his father Cuth. With the death of Geoff – such a bright promising young man – the light seemed to go out of their lives. [vii]

Geoffrey’s fellow officers later sent his parents a wooden cross that had stood over their son’s grave in the Reninghelst New Military Cemetery Belgium and after they both died it placed over their graves for a time; today it held at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. [viii]

[i] St Peter’s School Magazine - W K Thomas & Co, Adelaide May 1909, p. 59
[ii] Australian War Memorial, Honours and Awards (Recommendations: First World War) – Wells, Geoffrey Erskine, 1/213P3 - 4th Australian Division - 24/9/1917 to 30/9/1917 - Citation: AWM 28 1/213P3, p. 72
[iii] ibid
[iv] St Peter’s School Magazine - W K Thomas & Co, Adelaide Dec 1918, p. 62
[v] Wells, E C , Letter dated– 12 January 2006
[vi] ibid
[vii] ibid
[viii] ibid

BIOGRAPHICAL.
LATE CAPT. G. E. WELLS.
Capt. Geoffrey Erskine Wells, of the 4th Division Field Artillery; the news of whose death from wounds on October 6, has been received, was the second son of Mr. and Mrs.  Alfred Wells, of Collinswood. A thorough sportsman in every sense of the word, Capt. Wells lived as finely as he died. He was 28 years of age. Educated at St. Peter's and later at  Roseworthy, he represented both colleges at intercollegiate football and tennis. Having taken a first-class diploma at the latter college, Capt. Wells went on the land, and was  farming at Georgetown when war was declared. He enlisted immediately, and left Australia as a sergeant of the 3rd Light Horse on October 28, 1914. He fought unscathed  through the entire Galllpolli campaign, and received his commission some time before the evacuation.
Early in 1916 he was transferred from a machine gun section of the 3rd Light Horse to the 14th Howitzer Brigade, and left for France shortly after wards. From the time of his  departure until his death the deceased soldier had only 27 days' leave.
Our Georgetown . correspondent writes;-—Capt Wells was one of the most popular and capable young men of this district, and he displayed marked ability in all he undertook.  Prior to enlisting he was farming in this locality, in partnership with Mr. Welbourn. Capt Wells was one of the leading local football and tennis players, and was also an able debater in the Literary Society. He took part in amateur theatricals, and was warden in St George's Anglican Church, and connected with all the social functions of the town and district.