Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Born 20 August 1870 at Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Son of the late Samuel Hamilton, who was a Mine Surveyor by profession.

He was educated at the Auchinleck Public School and the Edinburgh Academy.

In 1892 he proceeded to South Africa and held various positions on the mines at Johannesburg, including Clerk, Storekeeper, Surface-Manager, and Assistant Under Ground Manager.

In 1894 he joined the Chartered Company Mounted Police and working his way through the non-commissioned ranks subsequently obtained a Lieutenancy. 

He participated in the 1st Jameson Raid of 31 December 1895; was captured by the Boers, but managed to escape en route to prison at Pretoria.

He participated in the Matabele War of 1896 and received a medal for same.

In 1897 he resigned his commission and returned to the Transvaal, and became employed on cyanidation works at Johannesburg.

In October 1899 he joined Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry, and served until the termination of the Boer War in 1902.

He took part in practically every important engagement from Colenzo to the Relief of Ladysmith.

In 1899 he married at Johannesburg – Miss Mary Elizabeth Martin, of Moonta, South Australia.  They had two children (one son and a married daughter).

For his services in the South African War he received the Queen’s Medal with seven clasps.

In 1902 he returned to Scotland for a nine months’ holiday and the next year arrived in Australia, proceeding to Broken Hill, where he became engaged sampling on the mines.

In 1903 he went to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, as a gold sampler on the Golden Mile, and later that year proceeded to Pine Creek in the Northern Territory, and took charge of a cyanide plant.  He remained in the Northern Territory until 1905, and then returned to Broken Hill, where he remained employed on the mines in various capacities until 1909.

In 1910 he qualified as an Assayer at the Broken Hill Technical College, becoming an assayer at the Zinc Corporation, where he was employed at the outbreak of the Great War.

He interested himself in military training, and on 16 December 1913 was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in the 81st (Wakefield) Infantry and on 1 July 1914 was transferred to the 82nd (Barrier) Infantry, holding this commission at the time of joining the AIF.

In May 1914 he completed and Officers’ Training Course at a school of instruction held at Keswick.  He was one of the first Broken Hill Officers to offer their services for overseas, and with Captain R B Jacob and Lieutenant A J Byrne proceeded to Adelaide, and was present at the opening of the Morphettville Training Camp. 

He was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in the 10th Infantry Battalion on 19 August 1914 and was posted to the original H Company.

He was promoted to rank of Lieutenant at Mea on 1 February 1915, although he had been recommended for this rank before embarking on the Ascanius on 20 October 1914. 

He landed with his platoon from the Prince of Wales at the historic landing on 25 April 1915, and remained on the Peninsula for the whole of the occupation by the 10th Battalion, with the exception of one week when he was invalided to Lemnos.

He was promoted to the rank of temporary Captain on 6 August 1915, and his Captaincy was confirmed on 20 February 1916.

Whilst at Anzac he was appointed Officer-in-Charge of a tunneling company, which consisted of experienced miners from the 11th Battalion (Western Australia) and 10th Battalion (Broken Hill).  This company executed important excavations at Quinn’s Post, Courtney’s Ridge, and Pope’s hill, and was engaged in this class of work for about three months. 

After the Battalion was withdrawn from Anzac he accompanied same to Egypt, and at Gebel Habieta received orders to transfer to the 50th Battalion, but at the last moment same were rescinded, and he remained on the strength of the 10th.

He proceeded with the Battalion to France, and served first in the Armentieres area and then in the Somme, where he took part in the Pozieres and Mouquet Farm attacks.

At Doullens in September 1916 he left the Battalion and proceeded to the Bull Ring at Etaples, and was subsequently invalided to England with bronchitis.  He was admitted to the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth; subsequently entered Lark Hill Camp on Salisbury Plain; was boarded and returned to France, where he rejoined the Battalion at Bancourt early in May 1917.  He participated in the Bullecourt operation, which was his last time in the line.

He was seconded for duty with the 3rd Training Battalion on 28 August 1917, and after another severe attack of bronchitis finally left the Battalion early in September 1917, when the 10th was moving forward for the Passchendaele Ridge (Polygon Wood) operation.  This was his farewell appearance with the Battalion, and much to his regret, he was invalided to England, where he was admitted to the 3rd London General Hospital in Wandsworth. 

Upon regaining convalescence he proceeded to the lark Hill Camp, where he was appointed 2nd in Command of the 3rd Training Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel R B Jacob. 

Upon the disbandment of this training battalion he was transferred to the 2nd Training Battalion at Sutton Veney under Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel John Newman, with Lieutenant E J C Stopp as Adjutant. 

In May 1918 he was transferred to Westham Camp at Weymouth, where he was appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Boat Company, his most important duty at Weymouth being to make arrangements for the embarkation of eight Australian Victoria Cross winners who were returning to the Commonwealth.  

He retained this position until January 1919, when he embarked on the Margha, and arrived back in Adelaide in March 1919, his services with the AIF terminating in April 1919.

During his absence from Australia he was promoted to the rank of Captain in his pre-war unit, but in 1920 he resigned his commission in the 82nd (Barrier) Infantry, and had not since associated himself with the Australian Military Forces.

In 1920 he returned to the Zinc Corporation at Broken Hill as an Assayer, but in June 1922 resigning this position, he proceeded to Adelaide, where he retired from Business.

His health at the time was none too robust, and on 16 January 1924 he was admitted to the Bedford Park Sanatorium, from which he was discharged on 9 August 1924. His wife died in 1933 and in 1935 he was residing at No.5 Fernleigh Street, Underdale.

He was the only original Officer of the Battalion who could claim the rare distinction of having served in three wars. He was affectionately known to his men as “Jock”, and noted for his ready wit – he was a particularly popular Officer.

Extract from “The Fighting 10th”, Adelaide, Webb & Son, 1936 by C.B.L. Lock; supplied courtesy of the 10th Bn AIF Association Committee, April 2015.