Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The Story behind the Memoir

By Dennis Lock

Introduction

The 1911 Census showed John James Charles McLaren (Jock) living at 1 Marine Parade, Hove, (near Brighton) on the south coast of England. He was living with his mother, step-father, step-uncle and housekeeper. His step-father was listed as a retired surgeon – all of 42 years. It also states Jock was born at Barnet, a north east area of London. Throughout his life Jock was adamant he was born in Dunfermline (near Edinburgh, Scotland) and was a proud Scotsman.

In 1912 Jock (at the age of 16 years) travelled with his brother from England to Port Melbourne to work and live in Australia. He was part of a Boy Scout initiative to have young lads find work on farms. As his brother was not living with the family it is assumed he was older. It is believed his brother moved up to Queensland upon arrival.  Jock soon found work on a farm at Hamilton in the western district of Victoria.

In January 1915, at the age of 19, Jock joined the Australian Infantry Force (AIF) and was soon training at Broadmeadows in Melbourne. He was part of the 21st Battalion, 6th Brigade.

War records

The War records identifies Jock travelled to Egypt around May 1915 and after some training headed towards Gallipoli in August. His ship, the Southland, was torpedoed and 30 Australians lost their lives. He finally made Gallipoli around early September and remained there until the evacuation in December. He is recorded with having a couple of visits to the hospital ships through gassing and illnesses.

The evacuation of Gallipoli saw the troops heading back to Egypt and commence training for fighting in France. In March 2016 he entered France and headed north. His battalion was one of the first into Battle at Pozieres in early July. On 27 July he received shrapnel wounds to the abdomen and was evacuated to England for recuperation. After several months he returned to the front with his Battalion and suffered a couple more injuries (mustard gas) prior to the end of the war. In late 1918 due to lack of numbers his battalion joined with the 24th and was the last Australian battalion to leave France following victory. 

Whilst back in England it was noted he was AWOL several times and had his pay docked as a result. Possibly it was his chance to catch up with his mother. In March 1919 he returned to Australia.

Family Life

Jock returned to the farm at Hamilton and in 1924 married Margaret McFarlane. Norma (my mother) was born in 1925 followed by Ian and James over the next three years. Jock worked as a carpenter and in his later years lived in Mount Gambier until his death in his 70s. His wife Margaret lived until she was 94.

The Discovery

Miracles do happen in life, and without several of these, the ‘human side’ of the life of John James Charles McLaren may not have been known.

In January 2009 Norma Lock (nee McLaren) and now in her mid eighties travelled from Mt Gambier to Hamilton after being aware the town had an Historical Society. She requested help in researching the life of her father as she knew he had spent time on a farm there.

They found out which farm he was on; that he was the captain of the town debating team at seventeen years of age; and when he marched off to war it was from the Yulecart Town Hall, just out of Hamilton, and the whole township had assembled to send him off.

A miracle or coincidence but several weeks later in March 2009 Norma received a phone call from the Historical Society. She was told there was someone in England on a Genealogical website looking for the relatives of a John James Charles McLaren, a soldier from World War 1, and served with the 21st Battalion of the AIF. They advised her it could only be her father.

Norma emailed (second miracle that Norma knew how to email!) Carolyn (Cari) Green in Gloucestershire in England and advised her of her relationship to John James Charles McLaren. Cari told her she was searching the world on behalf of a friend in Ghent, Belgium.

Norma emailed Lawrence Lammens in Belgium who was overwhelmed in hearing from her -not that she was an elderly lady using the internet (he was also over 80) - but he had only asked his friend in England to help him search less than 24 hours earlier!

Lawrence tells Norma he has a book of 32 pages plus photos written by JJC McLaren during World War 1 telling of his adventures. Lawrence wanted to return the book to its rightful owners before he got too much older and it was too late. He told Norma the book had been kept in a black box in the attic by his mother and as children he and his sister Arlette were always told it was written by an Australian soldier and they could have been little Anzacs if things had been different. The book is in excellent condition, covered with brown Army shirt material, with a brass Anzac A in the middle of a red and black diamond (emblem of the 21st Battalion).

Lawrence sent the book out to Australia along with extracts of his mother’s diary describing how the book came to be in his possession and the relationship between Jock and his mother Enid Tredwell.

In 2011 Norma and some of her family travelled to northern France to visit some of the sites mentioned in the book and then to Belgium to thank Lawrence for his kindness and consideration in returning the book. Norma also visited Cari Green in Gloucestershire to thank her for the part she played. 

        Lawrence Lammens and the book                Lawrence showing Norma the book and black box

Micheline, Lawrence, Norma, Arlette outside the shop the family lived in since just after WW1.

With further research by Norma’s family further information came to light post war and during the depression years. This information has been combined with the book written during the war and the diary extracts of Enid Tredwell to paint a colourful story of Jock’s early life.

The Story Unfolds

In about 1911 Enid (real name Florence Enid Tredwell) was 13 years old and living down the road from Jock in Hove, England. Jock was 2 years older and would walk Enid to school each day. They were both from ‘difficult’ homes. Jock’s stepfather, the retired surgeon, was an alcoholic, although Enid describes his mother as an upright, religious person and admired Jock for the close bond he had with his mother. Enid’s family had previously been quite wealthy having made money in Russia. The money though had been squandered or lost and they were now in poverty. Her parents separated in 1912 about the time Jock went to work in London. From that time Enid described Jock as her boyfriend.

The following is an extract from her diary:

“I met him when I was a child, he went to school near mine and we went to school together and he fetched me in the evenings. He was a very high minded boy and very religious Chapel, he had quite a lot of influence on me for the good and I loved and revered him. He knew my home history and had a background like mine only I think his Father’s trouble had been drink. I never met his people but his Mother just once; she seemed a sweet woman and was very sweet to me when she wrote me, even after he had gone out of my life. He adored his Mother and that made me love him more. About the time my parents (+/- 1912) parted he was apprenticed to a trade in the City.  As I also went to London I could often see him. He was a Scoutmaster and fearfully proud of his job, with his movement he immigrated to Australia. From then on until he came back for the War, we naturally carried on a correspondence which was at least noble on his side, and I was deeply attached to him.” (Extract from Enid’s (1898-1983) memoirs written in 1946.)

It is obvious from the time Jock went to London to work they were now considered boyfriend and girlfriend or at least according to Enid. When Jock travelled to Australia with the Boy Scout movement Enid and Jock maintained correspondence at least until he returned to Europe as a soldier.

The War Years

We now know Jock McLaren joined the Light Horse Brigade when he first travelled to Broadmeadows in January 1915. He could not ride a horse when he left England however no doubt a couple of years on the farm had made a difference. Unfortunately in April 1915 his Brigade was, due to the invasion at Gallipoli, disbanded and made infantry. Jock had been given two stripes however these were lost after some AWOL. The only way he could get them back was to become a bugler. He had never played the bugle but that did not stop him. He mentions in the book he always woke the troops up laughing.

Jock was a keen photographer and when he landed in Egypt in about May 1915 he took several photographs of the local sites, the local people and his soldier mates. As previously mentioned when he sailed for Gallipoli his boat was torpedoed and he did not salvage his camera. He did mention in the book the Captain of the ship shot two of his own men (stokers) for jumping the queue to the lifeboats. That is certainly instant justice. Jock did take a couple of photographs of southern France when he entered that area but tells of how by that time of the war only war correspondents were allowed to take photos. He has no photos of battles.  

When Jock was injured on 27 July 1916 at the Battle of Pozieres he was eventually conveyed back to the United Kingdom where he was nursed at Whitchurch Hospital in Wales and eventually at Woodcote Park, Epsom, near London. Coincidently Enid was now a nurse and obviously caught up with Jock during his recuperation.   

Enid Tredwell around 1916  

Jock states in his book he had in mind to always write something down about his adventures but he did not keep a diary. It was during this period of convalescence Enid convinced Jock to write from memory and it is probable she typed – as he mentions he did not do the typing. The book finishes after several chapters and includes the photos. It mentions he would like to add more chapters should he survive the war, which is exactly what happened.

The book leaves out some name places (possibly due to war time requirements) and several have handwritten names, no doubt entered after the war. Jock describes his experiences of war as jaunts and does not reflect on the horrors although towards the end of the book the mood becomes darker. The book is only 32 pages long and takes about an hour to read.

Post War

When Jock returns to England from the battlefront in October 1918 he completes the new chapters of the book and proposes marriage to Enid. Enid of course accepts. This possibly explains some of the AWOL he is occasionally charged with!  In March 1919 Jock returns to Australia but Enid remained in England and retained the book. There is nothing written to explain why Jock did not take his book with him so only assumptions can be made but naturally it is probable they would be together before long. They continue to correspond until September 1919 when Jock informs Enid he has found someone else. The following are two extracts from Enid’s diary:

“I had a boy friend from when I was fourteen until I was 21. In the meantime he had been to Australia and back and to the Western front as well as the Eastern one. Of course I went out with other boys for Company and for Sport, but they all knew I was fixed until the day he went back to Australia and wrote he liked the girl there best……”

“When he came back for the War things changed. Up to then my love was very deep rooted but it was more the love of a sister. Now things changed and he was much more real to me. So when at last the blow came I was broken hearted as they say, anyway I had a complete collapse.”

Jock met his wife Margaret in 1923 and married her in 1924. Due to time frames it is highly unlikely Margaret was the woman he preferred to Enid. Interestingly Norma was born 6 and a half months after they were married.

In 1922 Enid married a Belgium flying officer (Armand Lammens) and moved to live in Ghent in his home country. They operated a shoe shop in the centre of town.

         Enid and Armand are married in 1922                      Jock, Margaret and Norma in 1928

Depression Years

In December 1928 the relationship between Jock and Margaret became strained and Jock left the family. At the time they were living on a farm in Western Victoria and life was now difficult for Margaret raising three small children including a new born. Jock travelled to St George in outback Queensland and met up with his brother. He did write to Margaret and possibly sent her some money. He opened a photography shop in one of the streets of St George.

In late 1931 Jock, using the name of James McNicol (his mother’s maiden name) married Elizabeth Susan Pearce. It is not known why Jock committed bigamy. It is not recorded whether Ms Pearce was pregnant. It was however only a matter of months before his first wife Margaret found out.

Margaret had Jock arrested and she travelled to St George from Western Victoria with the priest that married them in 1924 in Mt Gambier. They travelled over 3,000 miles to give evidence of the first marriage. Elizabeth Susan Pearce did not wait around and it is not known where she went. (Her maiden name was Flanagan and her father a drover. In 1973 her brother put a notice in a NSW newspaper asking for assistance to find her as he had not seen her since 1939. It is still unknown if she did have a child to Jock as finding records have been difficult.)

The Roma Magistrate found Jock guilty and sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment. This was suspended pending good behaviour. It is assumed this means he had to travel back to Western Victoria to look after his family. Jock thanked the Magistrate and stated “I think you have treated me wonderfully well”. Jock did that and resumed his role as husband and father and took up carpentry living on a property near Mount Gambier.

Later life

In 1936 Jock and Margaret had another son, Duncan. In 1952 at the age of 16 Duncan fell from his horse causing his death. Several years later, as the family was now grown up Jock and Margaret left rural life and moved into the city of Mt Gambier to live a happy and peaceful life together.

Jock giving away the bride Norma in 1952

Enid Tredwell

When Enid moved to Belgium in 1922 she worked tirelessly with the British community within Belgium and the restoration and support of the Anglican Church (Saint John’s). Her children speak English fluently along with French, German and Flemish. For her work with the British Community she was made a Dame of the British Empire.

Enid’s husband passed away in 1946 however she lived on until 1983. From her photos Lawrence found she had visited Mount Gambier in 1972 with some friends. The below photos found depict the blue lake and Enid and her friends outside the Mt Gambier Town Hall and library. It is assumed she was searching for Jock or it is mere coincidence she has travelled from Belgium and happened to be travelling through his town. It is possible she had the book to return to him before it was too late. Unfortunately it was too late as he passed away four years earlier. She did not contact any of his family and it is unknown if she visited his grave.