Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Samuel was the son of James BLIGHT & Mary Ann MARKS and was born on the 7th of February 1877 in Callington, SA.

His parents were married on the 31st of October 1874 in the Primitive Methodist Parsonage in Mt Barker, SA.

His father was the son of William BLIGHT & Mary Ray ROBERT and was born on the 18th of October 1850 in Guernsey, Bailiwick of Guernsey.
His mother was the daughter of Henry MARKS & Mary Ann REYNOLDS and was born on the 7th of March 1855 in Adelaide, SA.

Samuel was the second child born into this family of 10 children.

His father was a miner and the family first lived in Callington when Samuel was born.
In 1880 his father then took over the license of the Tavistock Hotel in Callington for 12 months and then they moved to Kanmantoo where his father took over the license of the Kanmantoo Hotel and the billiard licence for 2 years.

Then in September 1883 his father relinquished to license and too over the District Hotel in Nairne, so the family moved there.
Samuel attended School at Nairne and then in March 1887 Samuel was found guilty of breaking into Mr James Millar’s home in Nairne. He was confined for 12 hours and whipped.

In 1887 they moved to Broken Hill, NSW and his father took over the licence of the Prince Consort Hotel in South Broken Hill.
This hotel was located on the corner of Wilson and Bonanza Streets and was made of corrugated iron and timber.

Samuel was 12 years old when his father died on the 2nd of January 1890 in Broken Hill and they buried him in the Broken Hill Cemetery.

After his father died his mother kept the hotel for 6 months and the family moved to Lane Street, Broken Hill.
After completing his schooling Samuel gained employment as a miner and joined the Volunteer Rifle Club.

His mother remarried to Frances Clarence BRAY in 1895 in Broken Hill and they moved to Wolfram Street, Broken Hill.

Samuel married Augusta Amelia BAUM on the 29th of March 1902 at the residence of Mr J.C Bray, Wolfram Street, Broken Hill.
Augusta was the daughter of August Wilhelm Philip BAUM & Johanna Dorothea THIELE and was born on the 14th of September 1869 in Paringa Flat, SA.

They made their first home in Jamieson Street, South Broken Hill and welcomed their first child; Alma Amelia, on the 28th of August 1902.
Adelaide Annie was then born in 1904 and they then moved to Sulphide Street where twins; Mabel & James were born in 1906.

Sadly, Augusta died from whooping cough on the 8th of November 1906 and Samuel buried her the following day in the Broken Hill Cemetery; General O, Plot 150.

Tragically, within 8 months, Samuel was to lose his youngest 3 children to the same disease that killed his wife.
Mabel died on the 30th of January 1907, followed by Adelaide on the 27th of July and then James.

He met Miss Clara Rose SYMONS in Broken Hill and they welcomed their first child; Phyllis Irene Sylvia, on the 6th of April 1910 in Crystal Street, Broken Hill.

Samuel and Clara married on the 13th of December 1911 in Christ Church, 83 Chloride Street, Broken Hill, NSW.
Clara was the daughter of Herbert SYMONS & Clara HOLDER and was born on the 31st of October 1892 in Broken Hill, NSW.

They welcomed their first child; Phyllis Irene Sylvia on the 6th of April 1910, followed by Hilda May on the 27th of July 1912.
Two year later they welcomed twin boys, Herbert and Samuel in May 1914. However, Herbert died on the 2nd of November 1914 followed by little Samuel 2 days later.

On the 2nd of September 1915 Samuel and 34 other recruits were given a heartily send off by the residence and they left Broken Hill by train to enlist into the 1st AIF.

At the age of 38, Samuel successfully enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 28th of October 1915 in Adelaide, SA and allotted the service number 495 and posted to the Miners Corps Depot as a sapper.

He was then transferred to the Australian Mining Corps, No.2 Company in Casula Camp, Liverpool, NSW and promoted to Corporal.

Samuel embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A38 Ulysses on the 20th of February 1916 and sailed for Fremantle, but here they were held for a month at Black Boy Camp as the Ulysses ran onto a rock when they had sailed.

He arrived in Alexandria on the 25th of April and immediately re embarked on board HMAT Ansonia for France.
Samuel served in France until the 30th of March 1919 when he marched out with the 1st quota, embarked for England on the 4th of April and marched into No.2 Group in Weymouth.

Samuel embarked from England on board HT Aeneas on the 31st of May 1919 and disembarked in Adelaide on the 12th of July.

Samuel returned home to his wife and children in Broken Hill and was discharged from the AIF on the 6th of September 1919.

By 1925 they had moved to Adelaide and were living at 20 Dudley Street, Semaphore, Samuel was employed as a labourer and he joined the Semaphore RSL Sub-Branch.

In March 1935 Samuel filed for a divorce from Clara on the grounds of her misconduct and at the time she was living at King Street, Alberton.

Samuel and Clara divorced on the 20th of September 1935 and 3 months later Samuel married Charlotte WALLIS nee AMBER on the 21st of December 1935 in the Registry Office in Adelaide.
Charlotte was the daughter of David Malcolm James AMBER & Hanna Maria Harriett HALL and was born on the 19th of February 1879 in Athelstone, SA. Charlotte was previously married to William WALLIS and had 3 adult children.

Samuel retired in 1942 and they moved to 238 Military Road, Semaphore.

Charlotte died on the 25th of November 1948 and Samuel buried her in the Cheltenham Cemetery; Section E, Drive B, Path 31, Site Number 291S.

Samuel died on the 26th of April 1958 in the Ravenbrook Private Hospital, Hall Street, Semaphore from Myocardial degeneration and was buried 2 days later in the Cheltenham Cemetery; Section E, Drive B, Path 31, Site Number 291S, with Charlotte.

Military

At the age of 38, Samuel enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 28th of October 1915 in Adelaide, SA and allotted the service number 495 and posted to the Miners Corps Depot as a sapper.
He listed his wife, of Wolfram Street, Broken Hill, NSW, as his next of kin.

On the 5th of December he was transferred to the Australian Mining Corps, No.2 Company in Casula Camp, Liverpool, NSW and promoted to Corporal.

Samuel and his Corps were farewelled with a fine parade in the Domain, Sydney.
They embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A38 Ulysses on the 20th of February 1916 and sailed to Port Melbourne to pick up the Victorian Company who had been training in Broadmeadows Camp.
They continued their voyage on the 1st of March and arrived in Fremantle 6 days later. The following day a ceremonial parade was held on shore and the Kalgoorlie Mining Fraternity presented them with their Corps flag.

That afternoon they re embarked but at the entrance to the channel the Ulysses rano onto a rock and remained aground all night.
Now stranded in Perth due to the hole in the ship, they were transferred by tugs ashore and then proceeded to Blackboy Hill Camp.
They trained here for a month before again setting sail for the European theatre on the 2nd of April.

They arrived in Port Said on the 24th of April and arrived in Alexandria the following day where they disembarked and then re embarked on board HMAT Ansonia.
Two days later they sailed from Alexandria for France and arrived at Malta on the 30th of April.
They disembarked in Marseilles on the 5th of May and entrained to Hazebrouck.

On arrival in France, the Australian Mining Corps was disbanded and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Australian Tunnelling Companies were raised from the original 3 Companies and Samuel was allocated to the 2nd Tunnelling Company.

After a fairly short training period with British and Canadian Tunnelling Companies already in France, the Australian Companies were allotted to different Armies and assigned separate areas of responsibility. Their tasks were allocated by the General Officer Commanding the British Expeditionary Force through the Controller of Mines.
Primary tasks of the Tunnelling Companies were the construction of tunnels and mines for offensive action against the enemy, detection and interruption of the enemy’s counter-mining efforts, and the construction of underground dugouts to accommodate large groups of men, in many cases whole battalions of 1,000 men including Battalion Headquarters.

In January 1917, they relieved the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company at The Bluff in the Ypres Salient. They then moved to Nieuport in the same month, to construct subways as part of Operation Hush.
On the 10th of May they took over the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company's workings at the Lock Hospital position.
The Canadian unit had used a Whittaker tunnel boring machine for their work, but tunnelling by machine in the Belgian blue clay was problematic and their War Diary lists numerous stoppages for repairs.

The Lock Hospital position was located at Lock 6 on the Ypres-Comines canal, and the tunnel extended from there to a point beneath the British lines some 400 metres away. The final approach gallery beneath no-man's land to the German trenches was to be completed by the silent clay-kicking method. In the end, problems with the machinery and the geology led to this project being abandoned.

As part of the preparations for the Battle of Messines in June, the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company began work on deep dugouts in the Ypres Salient.

The Battle of Messines was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres (31 July – 10 November 1917). The underground building activities of the Royal Engineer units consisted of a series of deep mines dug by the British 171st, 175th, 250th, 1st Canadian, 3rd Canadian and 1st Australian Tunnelling companies to be fired at the start of the Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917), while the British 183rd, 2nd Canadian and Samuel and his tunnelling company built underground shelters in the Second Army area.

The mines at Messines were detonated on the 7th of June, creating 19 large craters.

In the coastal sector at Nieuport/Nieuwpoort, the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company was involved in repelling a German spoiling attack – Operation Strandfest – in July.
The British 256th and 257th Tunnelling Companies were also involved.
Afterwards the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company constructed deep dugouts in the sand dunes of Nieuport Bains to assist the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Divisional Engineers in strengthening the defences.

By the 14th of November Samuel and his Company was still engaged in the Nieuport Bains/Nieuwpoort-Bad sector.

They spent May, June & July 1918 constructing Machine Gun positions and artillery dugouts near Allonville Wood.
By the 4th of August when they left for Cagny they had completed 50 machine gun positions, dugouts of every description and Divisional, Brigade & Battalion Headquarters.
They also built dugouts for artillery and infantry, Regimental Aid Posts, Advanced Dressing Stations and several Observation Posts.

In the Cagny area they were tasked with maintenance and road repairs and on the 1st of October Samuel was promoted to Company Quartermaster Sergeant.
By the 1st of November they were resting at Friville-Escarbotin and were still here when the Armistice was signed on the 11th of November 1918.

On the 10th of December Samuel was granted 2 weeks leave to England and then they moved to Charleroi where they spent Christmas 1918.
On the 16th of February 1919 they moved to Marchienne-au-Pont and all their work ceased.
On the 30th of March Samuel marched out with the 1st quota, embarked for England on the 4th of April and marched into No.2 Group in Weymouth.

Samuel embarked from England on board HT Aeneas on the 31st of May 1919 and disembarked in Adelaide on the 12th of July.

Samuel was discharged from the AIF on the 6th of September 1919 and awarded the British War & Victory Medals.