Sydney Theodore APPLEFORD

APPLEFORD, Sydney Theodore

Service Numbers: Officer, V83531, Lieutenant Colonel
Enlisted: 12 April 1940, Place of enlistment - Caulfield, Mebourne Victoria
Last Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Last Unit: HQ Southern Command
Born: Geelong, Victoria, 29 August 1891
Home Town: Geelong, Greater Geelong, Victoria
Schooling: The Geelong College, Melbourne University (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery)
Occupation: Medical Practitioner
Died: Essendon, Melbourne Victoria, 20 September 1959, aged 68 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery, Victoria
Presbyterian Section (4501)
Memorials: Geelong College WW1 Roll of Honour, Geelong Shenton Methodist Church Honor Roll, Lang Lang Honor Board WW2
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World War 1 Service

11 Oct 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Captain, Officer, Embarked on HMAT 'A71' Nestor from Melbourne on 11th October 1915, disembarking Suez, Egypt on 5th November 1915.
16 Jan 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance
19 Aug 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Captain, 3rd Australian General Hospital - WW1
31 Aug 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Captain, Officer, AIF Headquarters (Egypt), Embarked as Senior Medical Officer on transport duty to Australia on HMAT 'A11' Ascanius on 31st August 1916.
23 Dec 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Captain, Officer, Medical Officers, Embarked on RMS Orontes from Melbourne on 23rd December 1916, disembarking at Plymouth, England on 20th February 1917.
16 Aug 1917: Embarked AIF WW1, Captain, Officer, Medical Officers, Proceeded to France from England.
24 Aug 1917: Transferred AIF WW1, Captain, 5th Australian General Hospital, at Rouen, France
30 Sep 1917: Transferred AIF WW1, Captain, 3rd Field Ambulance
17 Oct 1917: Transferred AIF WW1, Captain, 15th Field Ambulance, Attended Medical Officers School for Instruction from 31st January 1918 to 7th February 1918.
24 Mar 1918: Transferred AIF WW1, Captain, 59th Infantry Battalion, Detached to Battalion as Regimental Medical Officer.
5 Apr 1918: Transferred AIF WW1, Captain, 15th Field Ambulance, Rejoined 15th Field Ambulance from detachment to 59th Infantry Battalion.
1 Jul 1918: Promoted AIF WW1, Major, 15th Field Ambulance
18 Aug 1918: Transferred AIF WW1, Major, 5th Divisional Train, Posted to 5th Divisional Train as Regimental Medical Officer.
2 Dec 1918: Transferred AIF WW1, Major, 28th Australian Army Service Corps.
14 Jan 1919: Embarked AIF WW1, Major, Officer, Australian Army Service Corps, Embarked for return to Australia as Senior Medical Officer on HMT City of York from England on 14th January 1919, disembarking Melbourne on 27th February 1919.
21 Apr 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Major, Officer

World War 2 Service

12 Apr 1940: Enlisted Lieutenant Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, HQ Southern Command, Place of enlistment - Caulfield, Mebourne Victoria
12 Apr 1940: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Lieutenant Colonel, V83531
5 Jan 1949: Discharged Lieutenant Colonel, Officer, HQ Southern Command

Help us honour Sydney Theodore Appleford's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Daryl Jones

APPLEFORD, Dr Sydney Theodore (1891-1959)

Medical Practitioner, Sydney Appleford, served in both World War I and World War II as well as operating his own hospital between the wars.

Born on 29 August, 1891, the son of works contractor, John Appleford (1858-1943) and Mary Louisa nee Knight (1862-1944), he was recorded at enrolment at Verner Street, Geelong. He was the second of four chidren, the others being: Leslie Oswald Appleford (1889-1990); Effie Mabel Appleford (1893-1972) and Sylvia Grace Appleford (1897-?).

He was admitted to Geelong College from 1904 to 1908 where he distinguished himself as Dux in 1907 and a member of the 1st Cricket XI in 1908. His academic performance had been outstanding. In 1904, he had been 1st in the Upper 4th Form in Arithmetic, Euclid (Middle 4th Form), Geography and History. In 1905, in the University Form A he had been 2nd in English and again 1st in History. In 1907, he was 1st in Algebra, 2nd in Geometry, 2nd in Chemistry, 2nd in Physics, and 1st in Triginometry in his respective classes and in 1908, 1st in Chemistry and Physics in the Honour 6th Form. He entered Ormond College after having been awarded the Old Geelong Collegians' Association (OGCA) exit scholarship. At the University of Melbourne, he graduated MBBS, with Exhibitions in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy.

He enlisted as Captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps, AIF on 23 December 1916, embarking that day on RMS Orontes. He served in Egypt and France, in the 2nd Australian General Hospital (AGH), 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance, No 1 AGH, 15th Field Ambulance and 5th Divisional Train. According to his enlistment papers he had previous service in the AIF from October 1915.

Robin Corfield’s Hold Hard, Cobbers quoted Tom Kerr’s diary of June 1918:
'Syd Appleford and J Pearce came to dinner. Tom pretty blotto. MacRoberts, J P (Pearce) and SA (Appleford) and self played Bridge. Major T and Web called, both pretty who’s this! 9 June (Sunday) Church parade in morning. Col on parade. Bde affair. Pomp there. Col, Adj and self fixed up Nucleus in afternoon. Good Boxing on Stadium at night. 10 June. Bde Sports at wood near Allonville. 60 marched over from Cardonette. 59 from Frechencourt. 60th won cup 27 pts, 59th second 21pts, 58th 3rd and 57th last. J T Burns won Platoon competition. Hibbert 440 and mile. Good day. Gen. Stewart, Col. Marshall, Cameron and others there. Keith Doig and I had dinner with 15 Field Ambulance with Jim Pearce and Syd Appleford. Raining.'

Theodore returned to Australia on 14 January 1919, disembarking in April 1919. Shortly after his return he married Alice (Alys) Ross-King (c1887-1968) on 20 (21?) August 1919 at Wesley Church, Melbourne. Alice is believed to have been born at Ballarat on 5 August, 1887 though there seems some debate about her birth date and her father, the phantom, Archibald Ross. There does not seem to be any evidence that her mother married an Archibald Ross. Her birth registration lists her birth name as Alice Ross Ward (Reg 16681) after her mother, Henrietta Christina Ward. There is a suggestion that she was baptised 'Alys' rather than Alice and her first name seems to have often been interchanged. Alice trained as a nurse in Melbourne and served with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) during World War I. She was depicted as the lead character in the ABC television series 'The Anzacs' . Theodore and Alice had four children and they operated a private hospital at Lang Lang, South Gippsland between the wars.

About six months after the outbreak of the Second World War, Sydney Theodore again enlisted (No V83531) on 12 April 1940, to serve as Lt-Col S T Appleford at Headquarters Southern Command. He was discharged on 5 January 1949.

They moved to 255 Buckley St, Moonee Ponds by about 1940 where they lived until Sydney's death on 20 September 1959. Alice later moved to Sydney, NSW and died at Cronulla NSW on 17 August 1968. Both Sydney, listed as age 69, and Alice, listed as Alys Ross Appleford, age 78, were interred at Fawkner Cemetery Presbyterian Section (4501), Melbourne. There is also a Memorial Listing in Sydney, NSW for Alys Ross Appleford, age 81 years.

During World War II, Alice had rejoined the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) which later became the Australian Army Women's Medical Service (AAWMS). She was commissioned a Major in the AAWMS.

'The Victorian Honour Roll of Women 2008' described Alice (Alys) and Sydney's service before and during the Second World War: ‘(On returning home, she and Sydney Appleford) settled in South Gippsland. During this time, they established a medical practice and Major (Alice) Appleford trained Volunteer Aid Detachments (VAD), who were medically trained but not fully qualified nurses. By 1940, the family had moved back to Melbourne where Major Appleford's husband enlisted for the Army at the outbreak of World War II. Alys (Alice) undertook full time duties with the VAD and was commissioned as a Major in 1945. Once again she was recognised for her outstanding work, being awarded the Royal Red Cross and the Florence Nightingale Medals. After World War II, Alys (Alice) remained devoted to community service through her committment to the Australian Red Cross and war service charities, support for war widows and children, and through her concern for the wellbeing of the Australian Army Women's Medical Service (AAWMS) members. Major Appleford died on 17 August 1968, but her memory lives on in the Alice Appleford Memorial Award, presented annually to an outstanding member of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps.’

Alice '(Alys) King was educated first at the Academy of Mary Immaculate (Convent of Mercy) Fitzroy, and later at Presbyterian Ladies' College. Before World War I, Alice King was a theatre sister and had been in charge of a private hospital in Collins Street. She enlisted as a staff nurse in the AANS, AIF, on 5 November 1914; her surname was hyphenated to Ross-King to distinguish her from another Alice King in the AANS. She embarked from Brisbane on 21 November, 1914 with the 1st Australian General Hospital, bound for Egypt. Her appointment as sister, AANS, was effective from that date.

Sister, Alice Ross King had previously been engaged in 1916 to a 53rd Battalion soldier, Lt Harry Lowry Moffitt, the son of George Lowry and Rebecca Moffitt, of Gisborne. Alice had nursed him during the Gallipoli campaign, and they met again in France where they became engaged; he was killed at Fromelles on 19 July 1916, however, and buried by the Germans in the mass grave at Fromelles which was excavated in 2009.

The Australian War Memorial holds in its collection, diaries, letters and photographs relating to Alys Ross-King.'

Source : The Geelong College - https://gnet.geelongcollege.vic.edu.au/wiki/APPLEFORD-Sydney-Theodore-1891-1959.ashx?HL=appleford

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