MOLESWORTH, George Harrison
| Service Number: | 3350 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 35th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Cumberland, Sydney, 1885 |
| Home Town: | Hurlstone Park, Canterbury, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Fruit Merchant |
| Died: | 1980, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Aug 1917: | Involvement Private, 3350, 35th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Miltiades embarkation_ship_number: A28 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Aug 1917: | Embarked Private, 3350, 35th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Miltiades, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Greg Sharon
George Harrison Molesworth was born in 1885, in Sydney to James Molesworth and Elizabeth Ellen Molesworth he had 4 siblings including a brother Voltaire who as secretary of the Nepean Labor Council (1914-18) was a leading opponent of conscription and later became a NSW MLA in 1920.
In 1892, he travelled with his family to live in William Lane's New Australia settlement in Paraguay for about a year. He married his wife Sarah in about 1905.
George enlisted on the 13th of July 1917 and was part of the 8th Reinforcements for the 35th Battalion, at the time he was a fruit merchant. He embarked in Sydney on the 2nd of August 1917 aboard HMAT Miltiades A28. He disembarked at Glasgow on the 2nd of October 1917 and joined the 9th Training Battalion at Durrington in Wiltshire. Shortly before being taken on strength by the 35th Battalion on February 16th 1918 he lost track of time enjoying himself on leave and duly received the attention of the authorities.
After hostilities on 11/1/19 he was admitted to a military hospital at Cosham with “debility” and eventually returned to Australia in March 1919.
Like all soldiers George wrote letters home and these letters were referenced in the book “The Broken Years”, by Bill Gammage; Australian National University Press Canberra 1974. Quotes from his letters include:
Letter of 2/11/17 written at Durrington Camp (p210-11) give his views before seeing action:
“its bad we meet men here who have just come out of hospital and they vouch for things being bad. Fritz’s artillery is hell: I am going to work my nut and am trying all the time but I can’t see my way so far. There are plenty of fellows here at the same game.. but cheerio what’s the odds. I’ve lived and had a fair time as times go and if I go up well it will be bad luck that’s all”
Letter of 6/3/18 (P 155–56) he discusses a raid:
“our artillery opened into the Germans and belted hell and blazes into them – we sneaked up under the barrage and it was lovely shells bursting and lights shooting all over the sky ... all of a sudden it lifted back a couple of hundred yards and away we charged yelling like devils right into his trenches Fritzey bolted and we got after him I was directly after my officer and a couple dodged into a dugout. We fed them on bombs etc. and onto the next. Gee you should have been in the fun our boys got busy bayonets, bombs and rifle fire. We first bombed it and finished off a couple and took a couple of prisoners. Then we into it and got all the mail and so on. I got a bonzer coat ... also a fritz rifle ...its good fun and I hope to have a bit more of the raiding stunt it will do me.. I really enjoyed it.”
Letter of 7/3/18 to his brother Voltaire (p XV) provides his view in relation to diggers discussing politics at the front:
“Discussion on politics is not in the fashion here, we have a lot more serious subjects to juggle with, its mostly old Fritz and so on”