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War Memorial
Australia

William Thomas Pearson was born on 17 February, 1884, at Windsor, England. William’s father, Edward (1860 to 1935), was 35 while his mother, Alma Julia, nee Newman (1859 to 1946), was 25.

In 1907, William married Jane (surname unknown). No information has yet been located to find the reason why William was a 31-year-old farm hand in the Upper Murray, a long way off from Windsor in England. Nor is there any further information on his wife, Jane. We can only assume that because he marries again upon returning from overseas service, Jane passed away early in their marriage.

On the 10 August, 1915, William enlisted in the AIF (Australian Imperial Forces) at Melbourne in Victoria. He was given the service number 1440 and was put on strength with the 11th Reinforcements of the 8th Light Horse Regiment.

Upon enlistment, William was 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) and weighed 9 stone 4 lbs (59 kg). His complexion was given as dark, eyes blue and hair dark brown. William’s records show that he had the distinctive vaccination marks on his left arm, an operation scar on his stomach and a mole on the left of his back. It is interesting to note that there is a note indicating that “candidate passed subject to getting his teeth fixed”. William’s religious denomination was given as Church of England.

After some initial training at Seymour, William and his unit were transferred to the Broadmeadows camp for further training.

William embarked on HMAT A6 Clan McCorquodale on the 15 November, 1915, sailing from Melbourne, Victoria. The trip would take him across the Great Australian Bight to Fremantle, on to Colombo, in Ceylon, before finally disembarking at Suez, at the southern end of the Suez Canal, in Egypt on Boxing Day, 1915.

On 19 February, William reported sick to the Australian Casualty Clearing Station at Helouan before passing on to the No. 3 Australian Hospital at Heliopolis. While the official reason for him being in hospital was an injured arm, a note in his records stating that “mouth unfit” perhaps provides a clue that he may not have had his teeth properly attended to back in Australia. Finally, after a period of nearly two months in hospital, William was returned to his unit at Tel-el-Kebir.

Two months later, on the 6 July, 1916, William was transferred to the 11th Company of the Imperial Camel Corp, based at Abbassia. It was while he was with this unit that William received his first wound. Following the capture of a main Turkish outpost at Magdhaba late in 1916, it was decided to take the next post of Rafa. During the engagement, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and three battalions of the Imperial Camel Corp succeeded in over-running the positions allocated to them, which caused a total collapse of the Turkish forces. During this battle, William received a gunshot wound to the arm and would spend over a month at the No. 14 Australian General Hospital before being posted to the 3rd Battalion of the Imperial Camel Corp. It is very likely that he was transported from the battlefield on a camel as shown in the image below.

It wasn’t long before William found himself back in hospital. While the complaint that he suffered from is not specifically stated, various symptoms, including incontinence of urine, injury to abdominal muscles and another simply stated as “debility would see him in and out of various hospitals from February 1917 to June 1918.

On 19 June, 1918, William was temporarily detached to the 1st Camel Brigade Headquarters and then a month later transferred to the 15th Light Horse and redesignated as a driver.

On the 5 March, 1919, William Thomas Pearson embarked on the SS Port Sydney at Kantara, returning to Australia some weeks later for early repatriation. He was finally discharged from the AIF on the 9 June, 1919. For his service during the war, he was awarded the 1914/15 Star Medal, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Upon returning to Australia, William met, and married, Amelia Broadhurst (1899 to 1934). Their daughter, Ethel Grace (1924 to 2000) was born on the 23 February, 1924 at Ararat, Victoria.

Amelia passed away in 1934. William would outlive her by another 30 years passing away on the 12 March, 1964, at Diamond Creek, Victoria, aged 80.

Extract from "Light Horsemen of the Upper Murray", Year 5 and 6 Project, Corryong College.