Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Director of Public Health; of Rabaul, New Britain.

Son of Edward Champion and Edith Mary Hosking; husband of Lorna Ellen Hosking.

Mrs. H. C. Hosking, of Glen Osmond, has received advice that her husband, Dr. H Champion Hosking, previously reported interned at Rabaul, was on board the Monte-video Maru. Dr. Hosking had been a medical officer in the Administration of the Territory of New Guinea for 17 years, and was Acting Director of Public Health when the Japanese invasion took place.

Commemorated at Payneham Cemetery

From Gallipoli, 1915

Lieutenant Herbert Champion Hosking, 10th Battalion Australian Infantry, wrote the following letter to Martha Karney on 1st August 1915 with the news of her son's death earlier that day.

“I greatly regret to have to inform you that during the action last night your son, Private William James Karney, gave up his life for the cause for which he was fighting. Your son was in my platoon, under my charge, and in losing him I have lost a true soldier of his Majesty, and no man can say more for another. I understand the feeling of those whom we have to leave behind, but we are fighting for the right – the triumph of civilisation over decadence, and in a great struggle such as this great sacrifices are demanded. Your son died a soldier, giving his life cheerfully, and it behoves those left behind to give as bravely.” 

Lieutenant Hosking left the peninsula on 20th August 1915. Later diagnosed with having suffered a nervous breakdown, he returned to Australia and was discharged as unfit for further service. Re-enlisting, he embarked for England on 12th August 1916, arriving on 30th September 1916; landing in France on 7th November 1916, rejoining the 10th Battalion on 20th December. However, he was admitted to hospital on 4th January 1917 suffering from shell shock. Sent home again, he was discharged for the second and final time on 6th August 1917.

Hosking became the Director of Public Health at Rabaul, New Britain. Interned by the Japanese, he was killed when the ship he had been placed aboard, the S.S. Montevideo Maru, was torpedoed and sunk by an American submarine on 1st July 1942. He was the 47 year-old son of Edward Champion and Edith Mary Hosking; husband of Lorna Ellen Hosking.

[1] Pte. William James Karney, 10th Battalion Australian Infantry, was killed in action on 1st August 1915. He is buried in Lone Pine Cemetery, Anzac. Born in Bowden, South Australia, the former labourer enlisted at Oaklands on 26th November 1914. He was the 22 year-old son of Martha Karney, of 2nd Street, Bowden.
[2] 'The Express and Telegraph' (Adelaide, South Australia), 30th September 1915.

Private William James Karney
https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/236802

Herbert Champion Hosking (1895 - 1942)

Herbert was born in Murtoa, Victoria in 1895, the son of Edward Champion Hosking, a grocer, and his wife, Edith Mary, nee Walsh.

In about 1900 the family moved to South Australia, living in Ward Street North Adelaide. In 1906 Edward Hosking opened a Grocery shop at 7 Magill Road Stepney. He traded here until his death in 1924 (S&M Directories).

Hosking applied for a Commission in the 10th Infantry Battalion of the  Australian Infantry Force on 14 Aug 1914 in Adelaide. A clerk in the State Public Service, he had already served in the Senior Cadets and 79th Infantry for around 4 years, including as a 2nd Lieutenant & Lieutenant.

After leaving with the first contingent he was at Meena, Egypt from 10 Dec 1914,  Lemnos from 05 Mar 1915 and landed at Gallipoli on the first day, 25 Apr 1915. At Gallipoli he was hospitalised with "influenza" (actually shell shock) on 20 Aug 1915 and sent to England. He returned to Australia on "Ascanius" in Mar 1916, fit for home service.

After being re-assessed as  fit for overseas service on 01 Jun 1916, Hosking  joined reinforcements for 10th Battalion and left Adelaide on the "Ballarat" on 12 August 1916, disembarking at Plymouth on 30 Sep 1916.

In November he proceeded to France but was later sent  to hospital in Rouen in January 1917 with shell shock, and from there to England, returning to Australia on "Themistocles", disembarking in Melbourne on 02 July 1917.

His appointment was terminated on 06 Aug 1917.

Following his discharge, he passed his Matriculation exams at the University of Adelaide and in 1919 began the first year of a medical degree. He graduated with an MBBS Degree in December 1923. Herbert Hosking was an outstanding student and in his final year was awarded the Everard Prize and the Dr Charles Gosse Medal.

From about 1924 he worked as a Medical Officer in Rabaul, New Guinea until the Japanese invasion of January 1942, when he was interned.

He married Lorna Ellen Bayly in Adelaide in 1927 at the Kent Town Methodist Church. They had 2 daughters, Margaret Lorna, b. about 1932 and Elizabeth Mary, b. about 1936.

Herbert Hosking completed an Enlistment Attestation Form at Royal Park Victoria on 3rd January 1941 and was allocated Service Number VX39219. He was 45 years of age. Back in Rabaul, New Guinea where he was a Medical Officer and Radiologist, he was given the rank of Honorary Captain in May 1941. It does not appear that he was called up to serve in WW2.

When the Japanese attacked in January 1942 he was captured at Kokopo and interned by the Japanese. He died on board the Montevideo Maru when she was torpedoed by the US submarine USS Sturgeon and sunk off the coast of the Philippines on 01 July 1942. It is believed that a total of 1,054 prisoners (178 non-commissioned officers, 667 soldiers and 209 civilians) died on the Montevideo Maru.

Lorna Ellen Hosking died in September 1994 in South Australia.

Sources

Birth - Victoria BDM Birth index - Event: births; Registration number: 14609 / 1895; Family name: HOSKING; Given name(s): Herbt Champion; Place of event: MURTOA, Australia; Personal detail Mother's name: Edith Mary Ann; Mother's family name at birth: WALSH; Father's Name: Edw Champion.

Marriage - genealogysa.org.au marriage index - 1927; 312/534; HOSKING Herbert Champion; BAYLY Lorna Ellen; Norwood

WW1 AIF Service record - National Archives of Australia - HOSKING Herbert Champion : Service Number - Lieutenant : Place of Birth - Murtoa Vic : Place of Enlistment - N/A : Next of Kin - (Father) HOSKING E C - http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=5821876

Death Form - National Archives of Australia - Defence - General - Information of deaths for persons lost on the MONTEVIDEO MARU - https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=102239&S=95
University of Adelaide Academic Record – 1918-1923 `https://connect.adelaide.edu.au/nodes/view/24509?keywords=hosking&type=all&highlights=WyJob3NraW5nIl0%3D

Montevideo Maru.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montevideo_Maru

WikiTree Genealogy  profile https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hosking-712

David Cree 30 Jan 2024