Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Born in 1883.

At the outbreak of the Great War he resided at Broken Hill, where he was a miner by occupation, and had not previously served with any Australian Military Force unit prior to joining the AIF.

He was one of the first men at Broken Hill to offer his services for overseas, and proceeding to Morphettville enlisted in the 10th Battalion as a Private on 24 August 1914.

He was allotted to the original H Company. His regimental number being '514'.

Prior to embarking on HMAT A11 Ascanius on 20 October 1914 he had attained the rank of Lance-Corporal and during the voyage to Egypt, on 23 October 1914 he was promoted to rank of Corporal, and on 16 November 1914 was raised to the rank of Acting-Sergeant.

At Mena, Egypt, in January 1915 when original H Company merged with original B Company and became the new C Company, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in same.

He landed with this platoon from the Prince of Wales at the historic landing on 25 April 1915 and in the early stages of the Gallipoli campaign was wounded, but not seriously enough to cause him to be away from the Battalion for very long. 

Returning to Anzac, he was subsequently appointed senior non-commissioned officer in a special tunnelling company under the command of Captain J Hamilton.  This company of experienced miners moved to various sectors of the Anzac area, and performed important excavations at Quinn's Post, Pope's Hill, Courtney's Ridge, and was engaged in this class of work for several months.

For an individual act of bravery performed by him at Anzac he was awarded the Military Medal, which was gazetted in November 1915, he being the second 10th Battalion recipient of this decoration.

He served with the Battalion in France, and on 9 August 1916 was promoted from rank of Sergeant to 2nd Lieutenant.  He was subsequently transferred to the 3rd LTM Battery, and for his conspicuous gallantry at “Hill 60”, Ypres, on 24-25 September 1916, was awarded the Military Cross (MC) which was promulgated in the London Gazette on 12 December 1916, he being the third officer of the 10th Battalion to receive this decoration, whilst he was the only member of the 10th who could claim the distinction of having won both the MC and MM.

He was eventually wounded, and left the Battalion on 18 October 1916 and subsequently returned to Australia, his services with the AIF terminating on 8 August 1917.

Shortly after he was appointed a Recruiting Officer, and in this capacity visited many South Australian country centres, where he distinguished himself in making eloquent appeals and obtaining large quotas of reinforcements for the AIF.

After the Armistice (11 November 1918) he was appointed an Organising Officer of the AIF Volunteer Reserve Scheme, which was introduced to perpetuate the AIF, consisting chiefly of four day’s mobilisation and reunion each year with senior cadets rates of pay.   In connection with the activities of this system he was at first stationed at Keswick Headquarters, and subsequently at Dalgety’s Building, Currie Street, Adelaide.  The scheme was ultimately abandoned, when he returned to Broken Hill, and unsuccessfully contested the District of Willyama seat in the New South Wales State elections.

After making a trip to Rabaul he returned to Adelaide, where on 4 April 1927, he was appointed Manager of the Returned Soldiers’ Club, Angas Street, Adelaide, and retained this position until 1 May 1928.

He then managed several hotels, and in 1935 was Manager of the South African War Veterans’ Club in Melbourne.

He last visited Adelaide in 1934, during the visit of H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester, and unfortunately had ill health since.

He was always affectionately known to all men of the 10th as “Big Bill” or “Monty”, and was especially popular amongst the Broken Hill members of the Battalion.

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