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Arthur John Knight SN 318 

Arthur Knight was born in 1892 in White Hills, a small gold mining hamlet north of Bendigo in northern Victoria. On enlistment he stated he lived with his parents, father Jonathan who was married to Annie Elizabeth Knight (nee Waldock) and they lived at 96 Raglan street, White Hills.

Arthur's occupation was a market gardener, which was quite common for the area at this time as the alluvial soils of the Bendigo creek that had been turned over in the gold rush provided valuable arable land for a growing city of Bendigo. He was 23 years of age and recorded that he had spent two years in the local 67th Infantry training regiment.

Arthur presented for enlistment on March 3, 1916 at the Bendigo Town Hall along with 22 other young men from the region. The next day, the Bendigo Independent newspaper reported, thirteen passed the medical including Arthur, seven were rejected and two were pending. (source – Bendigo Independent March 7, 1916)

Two weeks later the Bendigo Independent reported on March 15 that the average number of recruits accepted in Bendigo was being fully maintained and that since the announcement of the Governments requirements Bendigo has almost invariably led the provincial and country centres in the supply of men, present conditions promise a continuance. ( source - Bendigo Independent March 15, 1916)

A file note on his enlistment paper says he is sent to the Bendigo Camp on March 20, 1916. The camp at the Bendigo Race course was not far from the family home in White Hills and all new recruits were initially designated for the Training company known as, A company.  At the end of March 1916 The Bendigo Independent reported the camp numbered 1600 in training. Arthur enlisted in the newly formed 38th Battalion made up of local men and led by officers from the Bendigo region. This was a response to relatively disappointing enlistment number following the dreadful Gallipoli campaign.  

Just three months later on June 20, 1916 Arthur and fellow reinforcements as they were known would embark from Port Melbourne on board HMAT Runic. They would eventually reach England at the port of Weymouth on the south coast on July 10. A further two months of training with other reinforcements of the third division awaited them in the AIF camps on the Salisbury Plain. In August, Arthur is still allocated to the 38th Battalion, however whether willingly or unwillingly this would soon change. 

On September 9, Arthur along with other reinforcements are transported to France where Arthur is reallocated to the 6th Battalion at the AIF Base camp in Estaples in Northern France.  Arthur soon learns that military life is regimented and infringements do not go undisciplined. Whilst details are not recorded, whilst in camp at Estaples, on September 28, he is found ‘Out of Bounds’ from his camp and awarded 8 days ‘Forfeiture of pay’. At this stage of the war, Arthur would not have been alone in the AIF in being disciplined for infringements such as this.  

Just two weeks later on October 8, Arthur is ‘Taken on Strength’ (TOS) into the 58th Battalion. The 58th Battalion was raised in Egypt on 17 February 1916 as part of the expansion of the AIF. Roughly half of its recruits were Gallipoli veterans from the 6th Battalion, and the other half, fresh reinforcements from Australia. Reflecting the composition of the 6th, the 58th was predominantly composed of men from Victoria. The battalion became part of the 15th Brigade of the 5th Australian Division. Early disastrous French campaigns saw the 58th Battalion suffer terrible looses at Fromelles in July 1916, losing almost a third of it’s strength.  (source AWM website -58th Battalion)

Arthur would serve in the 58th from October 1916 and through the 1916/17 winter in Northern France. At his welcome home event in White Hills they presented him with a medal engraved ‘Flers’ which is obviously where Arthur would spend a considerable amount of his time over that dreadfully cold and dangerous winter.

The Australian War memorial website describes the Battle of Flers -

The village of Flers, in the Somme valley in France, gave its name to a series of attacks launched by 1 ANZAC in November 1916. By this time the Somme battlefield had been deluged with rain and the attacks were made in atrocious conditions. The attacking waves of troops were sucked down by the cloying mud and thus, unable to keep up with their creeping artillery barrage, became easy targets for German machine-gunners and riflemen. 

The first Flers attack was launched on 5 November with the 1st Brigade advancing against trenches north of Gueudecourt, and the 7th against a complex of trenches known as "the Maze". Both attacks managed to capture some of their objectives, but were eventually forced to withdraw. Another attack was launched against the Maze by the 5th and 7th Brigades on the morning of 17 November, it also succeeded in capturing a portion of the German trenches, but a surprise attack two days later returned this to the enemy.  AWM- https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E124

On January 26, 1917 Arthur would be treated for Trench feet at Rouen in Northern France. Trench foot is a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure of the feet to damp, unsanitary, and cold conditions. The condition has plagued soldiers forever, however it took it’s name from the trench warfare that assailed the western front in 1916 and 1917. It was not necessarily associated with frost bite although this would have compounded Arthur’s feet trouble through this dreadfully cold winter. 

His condition does not improve whilst in France and on January 31 he is transferred by HMHS Lanfranc back to England. HMHS Lanfranc was an ocean liner requisitioned as a hospital ship in the First World War. Just two and half months later on April 17, 1917 she was torpedoed by the German U-boat. (source – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMHS_Lanfranc )

Arthur is admitted to the Second Southern General Hospital at Harefield on February 3, 1917 with his parents back in White Hills being cabled on February 12 from the Base Records office in Melbourne that their eldest son is ‘wounded dangerous’.

Receiving this dreadful and scant information on their eldest son prompts Arthur’s father Jonathan to write two days later requesting more details on the nature of his wounding and the location of their son. This news comes at the worst possible time for the Knight family as they have previously received news in July 1916 that their younger son Oliver has been wounded in battle and then later after returning to the front Oliver is also suffering Trench feet and has been repatriated back to England for treatment.   (source – Bendigoian newspaper August 24, 1916)

Arthur’s parents would receive more encouraging news on February 24, 1917 when they hear Arthur is ‘Progressing Favourably’. They would however, become terribly confused when they receive a cable from a A.W Knight stating that he is a different hospital in Gloucester suffering trench feet and losing toes, please send ten pounds to that hospital’. This matter is sorted out and is not correspondence from their son. 

Arthur would lose all his toes to Trench feet during this stay. Despite this terrible state, he has survived and in July 1917 is transferred to Harefield Hospital for further treatment with his parents being advised he is now a ‘ Convalescent’.

In early August he is given 14 days furlough however, even in his invalid state he manages to overstay his leave entitlement by 7 days until he is apprehended by Military Police at the Weymouth train station. It is not known whether Arthur was on his way back to the camp or not. Perhaps one explanation of this AWL episode is referenced in his military records when he returns to Australia and applies to the Military Authorities in June 1918 for an ‘indulgence passage’ to bring to Australia his fiancée.

Regardless, for this AWL infringement or crime as it is recorded, he is docked 8 days pay and is confined to his barracks for 7 days.  Again, the level of AWL in the Australian forces at this period was quite high.

Two months later on October 24, 1917 Arthur would begin the long slow passage back to Australia on HMAT Beltana A72 arriving back in Melbourne on December 12, 1917.

At a welcome home event hosted in White Hills on a stifling hot December evening on December 20 a packed White Hills Public Hall would give Private Arthur John Knight a standing ovation as he entered the hall.

The Bendigo Independent reported that Mr Fred Morris, who is a former resident of White Hills, and has known Pte Knight from boyhood, on being called upon to speak received great ovation. He delivered a high - toned speech on the value of such men to the nation, and said ‘that it was not the number of days that one lived, but the amount accomplished in those days that counted.’                ( source - Bendigo Independent December 22, 1917)

Private Arthur John Knight is remembered by the people of White Hills. The names of the local lads who sacrificed their lives and those that were fortunate to return from the Great War are shown on the embossed copper plaques on the White Hills Arch of Triumph, at the entrance to the White Hills Botanic Gardens.