WHITTY, Henry
| Service Numbers: | 2170, 2170A |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 1 May 1916, Wangaratta, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 37th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Oxley, Victoria, Australia, 2 April 1894 |
| Home Town: | Whitfield, Wangaratta, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Whitfield, Victoria, Australia, 28 November 1972, aged 78 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Whitefield Cemetery King Valley, Victoria |
| Memorials: | Meadow Creek Pictorial Honour Board, Oxley War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 1 May 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2170, Wangaratta, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Sep 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2170, 37th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Shropshire embarkation_ship_number: A9 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Sep 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2170, 37th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Shropshire, Melbourne | |
| 4 Oct 1917: | Wounded Private, 2170, 37th Infantry Battalion, Broodseinde Ridge, GSW (arm) | |
| 14 Aug 1918: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 2170A, 37th Infantry Battalion |
Over the hill
Harry Whitty was a favourite nephew of my great grandmother Eleanor (Ellen) Evans (see letters) and a friend of my great uncle Capt Gerald Evans MC (see link). Although I never knew him well personally, I have it on repute that he lead a relatively quite and unassuming life after the war. This is perhaps not surprising given the experiences endured in France. His farm was on the way into Whitfield so I would have passed it many times. He married June Kneebone and had four children including Shirley Hennessy, Keta Small and John Whitty, some of whom still live in the district. In recent times, this memorial has facilitated contact between myself and his granddaughter Helen Hennessy-Davidson.
Submitted 20 June 2017 by Evan Evans
The valiant know
In what many literary critics consider to be Australia’s rival to Erich Maria Lemarque’s “All quite on the Western Front”, Frederic Manning paraphrased William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act II, Scene II for the title of his book (see below), “The middle parts of fortune (1929).” In many ways, the book and its title summarise the significant contribution made by privates such as Harry Whitty and all the rest who fought valiantly but were never singled out for distinction. The satisfactory completion of WWI from the Allies perspective would not have been possible without their roles both during the war and their enduring of the consequences of that contribution after the war was finished.
William Shakespeare, “Hamlet”, (Act II, Scene II).
Hamlet: My excellent good friends! How dost thou, Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do you both? Rosencrantz: As the indifferent children of the earth. Guildenstern: Happy, in that we are not overhappy. On Fortune’s cap we are not the very button. Hamlet: Nor the soles of her shoes? Rosencrantz: Neither, my lord. Hamlet: Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of her favors? Guildenstern: Faith, her privates we. Hamlet: In the secret parts of Fortune? Oh, most true. She is a strumpet. What news? Rosencrantz: None, my lord, but that the world’s grown honest. Hamlet: Then is doomsday near?…..
Submitted 20 June 2017 by Evan Evans
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