Hamilton Cuthbert MILTON MM

Badge Number: 86617, Sub Branch: Broken Hill, NSW
86617

MILTON, Hamilton Cuthbert

Service Numbers: 2454A, 2454
Enlisted: 9 April 1915
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: 10th Infantry Battalion
Born: Parkside, Adelaide, South Australia, 25 January 1886
Home Town: Adelaide, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Station Overseer.
Died: Train Accident , 13 April 1921, aged 35 years, place of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: West Terrace Cemetery (General) Adelaide, South Australia
Catholic Eastern Ground, Row A, Plot 53 – with his sister Nellie. As of 14.03.2024 his grave is unmarked. SAHP are aware
Memorials: Glenelg and District WW1 & WW2 Honour Board
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World War 1 Service

9 Apr 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private
23 Jun 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2454A, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Kanowna embarkation_ship_number: A61 public_note: ''
12 Sep 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2454A, 10th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, 7th Reinforcements
8 Oct 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 2454, 10th Infantry Battalion, Raid on Celtic Wood, Awarded Military Medal
19 Jul 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, 2454A, 10th Infantry Battalion

Help us honour Hamilton Cuthbert Milton's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Robert Kearney

Raid on Celtic Wood 

Another of the 19 unwounded men on the raid was 2454A Sergeant Hamilton Cuthbert Milton who had joined the 10th Battalion at Gallipoli in September 1915.

In May 1917, he was posted to the 3rd Training Battalion but rejoined the battalion on 5 October and came up with the reinforcements the night before raid.

Recommendation for Military Medal.

‘During a raid made by the 10th Battalion on CELTIC WOOD, east of YPRES on the morning of 9/10/17 Sgt. MILTON showed exceptional courage and determination. After the signal to return to the front line had been given, he endeavoured to carry in the dead body of the raid commander.[Lieutenant Frank Scott] Finding this impossible owing to heavy machine-gun fire he returned to his company in the front line. He then carried in a wounded comrade who was lying about 150 yds in front of our line and although continually sniped by the enemy he finally got the wounded man into safety. During the whole period of the raid Sgt. MILTON’S excellent work encouraged and inspired all those who witnessed it.’ [i]

He was wounded in 1918, and returned to Australia in April 1919.



[i] ibid, 2454A Sgt Hamilton Cuthbert Milton viewed 25 August 2008.

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Biography contributed by Paul Lemar

Hamilton was the son of George Edwin MILTON & Ellen (Nellie) Nugent O’REILLY and was born on the 25th of January 1886 at the home of his maternal grandparents “Foyle Cottage” in Fairford Street, Parkside, SA. (now Unley)

His parents were married on the 3rd of July 1882 in St Lukes Church, Adelaide, SA.

His father was the son of George MILTON & Joanna MCCARTHY and was born on the 7th of March 1859 in Adelaide, SA.

His mother was the daughter of Michael O’REILLY & Margaret Hamilton NUGENT and was born on the 20th of September 1860 in Park Lands, SA.

His father was a clerk and they lived at Scott Street, Parkside.

 

Hamilton was the second child to be born into this family. His sister Ivy had been born in 1883.

Hamilton was only 18 months old when his father died on the 3rd of September 1887 at their home in Scott Street, Parkside and they buried him in the West Terrace Cemetery; Plan Z, Path T, Aspect East, Plot 5.

After the death of his father they went to live with their grandmother; Mrs Margaret O’Reilly and his aunts in their home “Glenburnie” Young Street, Parkside.

They then moved in with his aunt Mrs Kathleen Carpenter, at Moseley Street, Glenelg and Hamilton and Ivy attended the Glenelg Primary School.

Hamilton was 12 years old when his mother died on the 11th of January 1899 at her sister’s home, Mrs Kathleen Carpenter, at Moseley Street, Glenelg.

After her death Hamilton and Ivy were cared for by their aunt until February of 1899 when then went to live with their youngest aunt; Edith Rode O’REILLY who was a school teacher.

She had been teaching at Shea Oak Log and then Sandergrove, but had been transferred to Bugle Ranges School, so they attended the Bugle Ranges School.

In 1901 Edith was transferred to White Horse Plains School and Hamilton and Ivy returned to live with their aunts in Parkside.

Another of Hamilton’s aunts; Marion, had married Lochlan McIntyre and they were managing Quinyambie Station in NSW.

The station was located 128 kms northwest of Broken Hill on the South Australian boarder and comprised of 3 million acres.

Hamilton became a very talented horseman and quickly became known as one of the best amateur jockey’s of the Western Darling District and rode all his aunts’ horses from Quinyambie Station in the picnic races and at the Broken Hill Racecourse.

On the 25th of February 1909 his sister Ivy died at their uncle’s residence, “Foyle Cottage”, Fairfield Street, Unley and they buried her in the West Terrace Cemetery.

Hamilton then gained employment as the storekeeper at middle camp, an-out station of Netley Station. Netley Station located about 70 kms south of Broken Hill.

In 1912 at the West Darling Picnic Club race meeting in Broken Hill, Hamilton rode 3 winners & 1 second for Netley Station.

It wasn’t long before Hamilton gained the position of overseer for the station.

At the age of 28, Hamilton enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 9th of April 1915 in Keswick and was allotted the service number 2454A and posted to C Company, Base Infantry in Mitcham Camp. He was then posted to the 10th Battalion, 7th Reinforcement and embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT A61 Kanowna on the 23rd of June 1915, disembarking in Egypt.

He served at Gallipoli and the Western Front. He received the Military Medal and was wounded in the thigh in France.

After 3 years of service, on the 4th of April he finally embarked for Australian on board Traz Os Montes, disembarking in Adelaide on the 20th of May 1919 and was discharged from the AIF on the 19th of July 1919.

On his return he found that his uncle and aunt had sold their cattle station and moved to Mt Pleasant, so Hamilton gained employment on Netley Station, about 70 kms south of Broken Hill.

Hamilton quickly became known as one of the best amateur jockey’s of the Western Darling District and rode all the Netley Station horses in the picnic races.

He became a member of the Broken Hill RSL Sub-Branch.

In June 1920 he was re educating a rouge racehorse named “United Allie” at the Broken Hill Racecourse when the stallion threw him to the ground and he suffered severe head injuries.

He was taken to the Broken Hill Hospital where he remained in an unconscious state for a fortnight.

“United Allie” was originally trained by rider/trainer, Norman Lancelot Goyder in Adelaide and in February 1920 it had thrown Norman during a training gallop at Victoria Park and killed him instantly. The stallion had been moved to Netley Station, as the Goyder family had been associated with this station for over half a century.

Hamilton had purchased the stallion from the Goyder estate.

After Hamilton recovered he moved to Adelaide to live with his aunt & uncle; James and Emma BUSHELL at 32 Althorpe Place, Glenelg. He had decided he needed the change as his health had not been good. James had played district cricket for Sturt and had become the Sturt Oval curator before they moved to Glenelg and he became the Glenelg Oval curator for more than 20 years.

 

Not long after his arrival in Adelaide he was admitted into the North Adelaide Hospital suffering from Shell Shock. He remained in the hospital for 2 months before being discharged on the 3rd of March 1921.

On the 13th of April 1921 Hamilton and Emma had been to Adelaide and they boarded the No.21 train back to Glenelg from North Terrace.

They arrived at Glenelg at 4:25pm and Emma needed to go to the butchers, so she got off the train on the south side. But Hamilton was in dire need of the Lavatory and told Emma that he “couldn’t wait” for her and he got off the train on the north side.

When Emma arrived home, Hamilton was not there and when she went out to look for him she heard there had been an accident with the train.

Emma rushed back to the train tracks to discover that Hamilton had been run over and killed by the very train they had just arrived on and he never made it home.

The train had left for Adelaide a few minutes after Hamilton and Emma had detrained and it appears that Hamilton had run between the fence and the train.

It is not known whether he tripped, stumbled, or didn’t hear the train, but he was lying face down and his neck was over the track and had been partly severed by the 2 rear carriages passing over him.

Hamilton was very short sighted and deaf, so this may have been a contributing factor to this accident.

All evidence in the inquest into his death appears to point to suicide, however the coroner deemed it as an accident.

Hamilton was buried 3 days later on the 16th of April 1921 in the West Terrace Cemetery; Catholic Eastern Ground, Row A, Plot 53, with his sister Nellie.

He never married, nor did he have children.

In September 1921 a horse bazaar was held in Blend Street, Broken Hill on account of Hamilton’s estate.

The thoroughbred stallion “United Allie” was sold to Mr. W. A. Bennetts, of Farmcote Station, for £26 5/. Two brood mares by Maelgwyn, from Misty Morn, brought £10 and £16. Mr. Bennetts also purchased a yearling colt by Cock of the North for £16 10/. A chestnut filly, also by Cock of the North, realised £21, the buyer being Mr. J. Maxton, South Broken Hill. A number of draught horses were submitted to auction and brought from £12 10/ to £20 15/.

Military

At the age of 28, Hamilton enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 9th of April 1915 in Keswick and was allotted the service number 2454A and posted to C Company, Base Infantry in Mitcham Camp.

He listed his aunt, Mrs Emma Bridget BUSHELL, of 81 Edmund Avenue, Unley, as his next of kin.

He was then transferred to the 10th Battalion, 7th Reinforcement and embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT A61 Kanowna on the 23rd of June 1915, disembarking in Egypt at the end of July.

Following further training Hamilton proceeded to Gallipoli on the 11th of September 1915 and was taken on strength with the 10th Battalion, from the reinforcements 6 days later.

He spent 3 months on the Peninsula in the trenches before the ANZACS were ordered to evacuate.

He boarded HMAT Seang Bee, disembarking in Alexandria on the 19th of December.

The 10th Battalion was then split to form the nucleus of two battalions, the 10th and the 50th, but Hamilton remained with the 10th and was promoted to Lance Corporal on the 15th of March.

On the 27th of March 1916 Hamilton and his Battalion embarked from Alexandria for Marceilles, disembarking on the 3rd of April, and from then until 1918, the battalion took part in bitter trench warfare.

They undertook training at Strazeele before moving by train to Godewaersvelde and then Sailly-sur-la-Lys.
In mid-May, they occupied billets in the Petillon Sector and on the 19th of May the billets were shelled resulting in losses amounting to three killed and seven wounded.
On the 6th of June, they entered the front line for the first time on the Western Front, occupying positions around Fleurbaix.

Their first significant action on the Western Front came in late July 1916 when they were involved in the Battle of Pozieres, an effort to secure the village of Pozières and the high ground beyond it as part of the wider Battle of the Somme; their casualties during this battle were around 350.

A month later, they took part in the fighting around Mouquet Farm, incurring over 100 more casualties. Later, they fought around Ypres, in Belgium, in front of Hill 60, before being transferred back to the Somme trenches in the winter, during which time they occupied positions around Guedecourt, Cardonette and Bazentin.

On the 9th of October they began a 4 day march, stopping at Steenvoorde, Oosthouck, Mouille and Tournehem respectively, and after 3 days rest and training at Tournehem, they entrained at Audruicq, detraining at Pont Remy, near Abbeville.

Hamilton was promoted to Temporary Corporal on the 16th of October 1916.

Up to now the weather, which had been fairly fine, began to break and as they moved up into areas only too familiar, they found that the rain and constant traffic had turned the churned earth into a bog.

They moved into the boggy collapsing trenches at Gueudecourt on the 6th of November where the mud and water was knee deep.

There was not a dry place and when they sank into the mud they couldn’t release themselves and had to be pulled out by others. Men who were fortunate enough to have gumboots had to leave them in the mud and wander in their socks across the mud and mire.

After a week of this, it tried the hearts of even the strongest! In this week over 150 men ere evacuated for feet trouble alone.

They had made it to Cardonette by Christmas Day where parcels were distributed and they finally received a hot meal.

They then moved onto Albert and Hamilton was promoted to Corporal on the 21st of January 1917.

Most of February was spent at Albert in training until they moved onto Dernancourt where Hamilton was promoted to Sergeant on the 1st of March.

They then made an attack at Lourverval on the 8th & 9th of April, before undertaking a defensive role during the German attack on Lagnicourt on the 15th of April.
This was followed in early May by the Second Battle of Bullecourt.

On the 6th of May Hamilton was transferred to 3rd Training Battalion, back in  Durrington, England.

After 4 months he proceeded back to France on the 25th of September and rejoined his Battalion at Ploygon Wood, just in time for the 3rd Battle of Ypres.

They finally gained a week of rest at Steenvorde, but were back at Zonnebeke by the 4th of October.

On the whole front there were but two or three main roads over which it was possible to take traffic, and these, the enemy knew just as well and they shelled them night and day.

Whole teams of wagons were killed and they had to drag them out of the way and push them into the mud to be able to pass.

Horses, dead and mangled, lay many to the yard in places along the track of three miles and gun wagons, limbers and ambulances by the hundred lay still in the bog.

To gain information, to create a diversion and draw fire and to deceive the enemy into thinking the attack was to be made at one point, Celtic Wood, near Passchendale, while the real attack was to be made at another location, a raiding party with 7 officers and 78 other ranks was quickly organised and Hamilton was amongst this raid.

The plan was for them to charge the woods, blow up German dugouts and retire on a flare signal.

Supported by shell fire and led by Lieutenant Frank SCOTT, Hamilton and this party went over the top on the 9th of October at 5:20am and made for Celtic Wood.

Rather than the "rolling curtain of death" expected to shield the attack, the barrage was light and scattered when they advanced across the 180 metres (200 yd) separating Celtic Wood from the Australian trenches. The terrain to be crossed consisted of tree stumps, bomb craters metres wide and due to heavy rain over the preceding days, mud that in some places was knee-deep. Compounding this, the 10th Battalion had raided Celtic Wood twice the previous week, leading the Germans to reinforce the position and install more machine-guns.

Lieutenant Scott ordered a frontal attack on the German trench, while he led a group around the flank to attack from behind. Despite being outnumbered, they were successful and the German troops began a retreat as soon as they were fired on from the rear.

German reinforcements quickly arrived and engaged the Australians in hand-to-hand combat, pushing them back while at the same time German artillery opened fire, barraging no man's land, making a retreat impossible. Within a short time all the officers were dead or wounded and Sergeant William Cole tried to fire the flare signalling the withdrawal but was killed as he was firing the flare and Hamilton and the survivors were left to find their own way back.

On seeing Lieutenant SCOTT dead, Hamilton tried to carry him back to the trenches, but finding this impossible owing to heavy machine gun fire he returned to his Company in the front line.

He then spotted a wounded comrade lying about 150 yards in front of their line and although continually sniped by the enemy he finally got the wounded man into safety. Thirty seven men in this raid never returned nor were heard from since.

For his gallantry, exceptional courage, determination and excellent work, which inspired all those who witnessed this, Hamilton was awarded to Military Medal (MM).

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* This raid is now known as the “Mystery of Celtic Wood” and it has always been believed that the 37 missing soldiers from this raid were massacred by the Germans and buried in a mass grave.

The incident is known as the greatest mystery of Australia's Great War.

In 2008, after extensive research, it was claimed that the mystery was solved. By analysing after action reports, wartime diaries and witness statements that could be verified, the researches now claimed that they have accounted for the fate of the missing men beyond a reasonable doubt, attributing the mystery to the fog of war, clerical errors and misreporting.

Study of the remaining records led researchers to believe that a massacre was unlikely as the British had begun an artillery barrage on the position, preventing German troops from pursuing the retreating Australians. At the same time the German artillery barrage continued, preventing the Australians from retreating. Caught in the barrages, the 37 missing soldiers were likely killed by the shelling and along with the bodies of those previously killed in the attack, left no recognisable remains to be recovered*.

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Hamilton was then granted 2 weeks leave in Paris on the 19th of December and rejoined his Battalion on the 3rd of January 1918 at Aldershot Camp. He was then granted a further 2 weeks leave in England and returned to his Battalion on the 27th of March.

In early 1918, following the collapse of Russia, the Germans were able to transfer many troops to the Western Front. In March, they launched the Spring Offensive, attacking the southern part of the British sector in the Somme. As the Allies were pushed back towards Amiens, the Australian divisions were brought south to help blunt the attack.
Throughout late March and into April 1918, Hamilton and his Battalion took part in a series of defensive actions, including fighting around Hazebrouck, as the German offensive was halted, before joining in the preliminary operations before the Allied Hundred Days Offensive that ultimately brought about an end to the war.

On the 17th of April, whist at Hazebrouk, Hamilton suffered a gun shot wound to his right thigh and was admitted into the field ambulance and taken to the 13th Casualty Clearing Station at Arneke the following day. 

He was then admitted into the 54th General Hospital in Wimereux on the 22nd and then evacuated to England 4 days later and admitted into the Croyden War Hospital on the 26th.

He remained here for 4 weeks and was then transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford.

After a week here he was discharged to No.3 Command Depot in Hurdcott on the 3rd of June and then transferred to No.1 Command Depot at Perham Downs on the 6th of July.

Whilst here he was admitted into hospital again as he was having trouble with his leg wound.

He was then transferred to the Oversees Training Battalion and on the 29th of August he proceeded back to France to join his Battalion at their billets in the Cerisy area.

They then moved onto billets at Brucamps and whilst here Hamilton was admitted into the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance suffering from Otitis Media and a Perforated Eardrum and was transferred to the 3rd Australian General Hospital in Abbeville.

He was then transferred to the 24th General Hospital in Etaples on the 6th of October and after 3 days was transferred to No.6 Convalescent Depot.

He remained here for 2 weeks before being transferred to the Base Depot in Le Havre on the 23rd of October.

He rejoined his Battalion on the 4th of November who was still located at Brucamps.

When the Armistice was declared on the 11th of November 1918, they were moving by train from Brucamps to Ephey to return to the front.

Hamilton was then awarded extended leave to Paris on the 31st of December and then embarked for England on the 4th of February 1919.

On the 4th of April he finally embarked for Australian on board Traz OsMontes, disembarking in Adelaide on the 20th of May 1919 and was discharged from the AIF on the 19th of July 1919.

 

 

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