Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From Donna Baldey, www.tunnellers.net

Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company

THEODORE PENLEIGH BOYD was a member of the important Australian Artistic family.

Theodore Penleigh Boyd (generally known as Penleigh) was born in Westbury, Wiltshire, England, the son of Arthur Merric Boyd and Emma Minnie, nee a’Beckett married 25-year-old Artist of Warrandyte, Victoria, he signed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ on 2 November 1915 and a medical examination of the same day found him to be ‘fit for active service’. He took the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ on 29 November at Ascot Vale, Victoria.

Penleigh was 5ft 8½ins tall, weighed 133lbs with a fair complexion, grey eyes and medium hair. He named as his Next of Kin his wife, Mrs. Edith Susan Gerard Boyd of Warrandyte, Victoria and allotted three-fifths of his pay for the support of his wife and children.Appointed to the No.2 Company of the newly formed Australian Mining Corps on 29 November 1915, he moved to the Miners Training Camp at Casula, New South Wales with the rank of Sapper and the Service Number 5. He was placed in the Mining Corps Headquarters with the Technical Staff and was promoted to Corporal rank on 28 December 1915. Following a farewell parade in the Domain, Sydney, the Australian Mining Corps embarked fromSydney, New South Wales on 20 February 1916 on board HMAT A38 Ulysses.

The Mining Corps comprised 1303 members at the time they embarked with a Headquarters of 40; No.1 Company –390; No.2 Company –380; No.3 Company –392, and 101 members of the 1st Reinforcements. Ulysses arrived in Melbourne, Victoria on 22 February and departed on 1 March; then to Fremantle, Western Australia where an incident with the ship delayed departure for the Front by a month. The ship arrived at Suez, Egypt on 22 April, departing for Port Said the next day; then on to Alexandria where the Corps transhipped to B1 Ansonia for the final legs to Marseilles, France via Valetta, Malta. Arriving at Marseilles on 5 May, most of the men entrained for Hazebrouck where they arrived to set up their first camp on 8 May 1916. A ‘Mining Corps’ did not fit in the British Expeditionary Force, and the Corps was disbanded and three Australian Tunnelling Companies were formed. The Technical Staff of the Corps Headquarters, plus some technically qualified men from the individual companies, was formed into the entirely new Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company (AEMMBC), named by themselves as the ‘Alphabeticals’.

This new unit had the responsibility of providing and maintaining the equipment required to light, ventilate and de-water the extensive tunnel and dug-out systems along the entire length of the Western front. It deservedly earned many plaudits from unit Commanders and G.O.C.s of Armies for the support it provided to all Imperial forces.

Penleigh’s ‘in country’ documents record that he was qualified as a Motor Driver.He spent 4 days in hospital from 6 to 10 August 1916. On 7 October he was officially transferred to the AEMMBC and was taken on strength same day. He was shortly promoted to Lance Sergeant.Wounded in action (gassed) on 6 September 1917, Penleigh was initially treated at the 1/2 East Lancashire Field Ambulance before being transferred to the 64th Casualty Clearing Station. He was invalided tothe 8th Red Cross Hospital at Le Tonquet on 7 September and on 14 September his Next of Kin was advised of his wounding. Penleigh was transferred to England on Hospital Ship Stad Antwerpenon 18 September 1917 (gassed) and admitted to Southall Military Hospital on same day.On 3 October he was transferred to the 2nd Auxiliary Hospital and on 4 October was discharged to furlough. A Medical Report of 3 October reads:“Gassed in France 7.9.17, gas shell. No ill effects for 2 days, then high temp; rapid pulse, sore throat, vomiting. Disch from V.A.D. Southall today. Feels well –slight shortness of breath after long bicycle ride (20 miles) probably due to want of condition. Heart clear –about 78.

Discharged for Furlough to Sutton Veny.”He reported to No.1 Com. Depot at Sutton Veny on 19 October and on 25 October he was sent to the Overseas Training Brigade at Deverill in preparation for his return to the Front. On 23 November at the Longbridge-Deverill Station, Penleigh was assessed as having cardiac debility, suffering shortness of breath on exertion and palpitation –caused by active service. He was returned to No.1 Com. Depot on 26 November where a Medical Board on 29 November found him to be ‘Temporarily unfit for general service for more than six months. Temporarily unfit for home service’. It was deemed that his capacity for earning a full livelihood in the general labour market had been lessened by one quarter. He marched in to No.2 Com. Depot, Weymouth on 29 December for repatriation to Australia.Informal photo of Penleigh Boyd in France –sent to the Warrandyte newspaper by Christian Clement who had found it amongst his mother-in-law's letters. He said the photo was not inscribed and asked if it could be of Penleigh Boyd -the Australian soldier who had been billeted with his mother-in-law's family in France when she was a young girl. Penleigh Boyd, grandson of Theodore Penleigh Boyd, was able to confirm that it was indeed a photo of Penleigh, making reference to a drawn self-portrait of Penleigh owned by his mother (see right).

Penleigh returned to Australia on board Euripides, leaving London on 30 January 1918 and disembarking in Australia 21 March 1918. The P.M.O of the 3rdMilitary District confirmed the diagnosis of cardiac debility at No.11 Australian General Hospital on 13 April 1918.He was Discharged in Melbourne on 27 April 1918 as medically unfit due to cardiac debility. He received his British War Medal (37008) on 25 April 1922.In August 1923 he wrote to Base Records and asked that his Victory Medal (36685) be forwarded to him C/o Royal Bank of Australia, Collins Street, Melbourne. He signed as having received the Medal on 6 September.Theodore Penleigh Boyd died on 28 November 1923 and is buried in the Brighton Cemetery, Victoria.

One of Penleigh’s brothers, Martin a’Beckett Boyd, born in Lucerne, Switzerland 10 June 1893, was a 22 year - old architectural Student when he completed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ and underwent a medical examination to join the A.I.F . in Melbourne on 21 July 1915, naming his father Arthur M Boyd as his Next of Kin. Although found to be ‘fit for active service’, he was not assigned a Service Number or Unit and did not sign the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’. He does not appear on the Nominal or Embarkation Rolls held by the Australian War Memorial.

A note on his Australian file states that his mother was born in Melbourne and his father was born in New Zealand.

In his article ‘Words across the world’, which appeared in the Warrandyte Diary in April 2000, Cliff Green records that Martin was serving as a subaltern in the Royal Flying Corps and had recently returned from active service in France when he met Penleigh at Sutton Veny after Penleigh had been released from hospital.
Martin later became well known as an Australian novelist, his first novels, such as The Montforts (1928), appeared under one of the two pseudonyms he used: Martin Mills and Walter Beckett.

Martin a’Beckett Boyd died in 1972. Another brother also served in WW1. 2161 William Merric Boyd (known as Merric), born in St Kilda, Victoria, was nearly 29 years old when he enlisted in Melbourne on 2 July 1917. An Artist by trade, he named as his Next of Kin his wife, Doris L. E. B. Boyd. He embarked with the 13th (July) Reinforcements to the Australian Flying Corps from Melbourne on 30 October 1917 on board Aeneas and served as a 2nd Aircraftsman with the No.1 and No2. Two Sqn AFC. In March 1918 he was attached to the 6th Training Squadron AFC at Minchinhampton. It is not clear whether he served in France. Merric was granted leave to attend Non-Military - Employment from 18 February to 20 May 1919 to undertake a Course in Art Pottery at the Central School of Science & Technology, Stoke–on-Trent. He returned to Australia on 20 October 1919 per Euripides and was discharged from the Australian Imperial Force on 19 November 1919.

Penleigh’s two sons served during World War 2: VX138171 (V40621) Private Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd; b. 3 January 1919; enlisted 1 April 1943; discharged 20 September 1945; Next of Kin: Dorothea Boyd; last unit - 3 Field Survey Company

400691 Flight Lieutenant John a’Beckett Penleigh Boyd - 31 Squadron, RAAF; b. 1 February 1915; enlisted 13 October 1940; discharged 4 July 1946; Next of Kin: Edith Boyd.
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross – 15 August 1944
- Attack on target at Mace-Mere 16 July 1944
- Bar to DFC – 27 November 1944 – sweep on Timor on 29 October 1944 and
- Mentioned in Dispatches – 28th October 1944 – Gallant & distinguished service North Western area.