Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of John and Mary HINTON; husband of Mabel HINTON, Brighton, Sandgate, Queensland

Served with A.MG 1st Contingent in South African War. Also as Lieut in Harrens M.I. and S.A.L.H.

Herbert Hinton was born in Brisbane in February 1879. He attended Central Boys School up to year six (probably equivalent to the Scholarship examination). In November 1899, aged 20, Herbert volunteered for the Queensland Mounted Infantry contingent which sailed to Cape Colony, South Africa during the Boer War. Details of his service in South Africa are sparse but it is recorded that he was for a time evacuated to England. Herbert also advised that he had been commissioned as a Lieutenant in Warrens Mounted Infantry and the South African Light Horse during the South African campaigns.

When Herbert applied for an officer’s commission in September 1914, he was 34 years old, married to Mabel Cecilia Hinton and had 4 children. He stated his occupation as commercial traveller and named his wife Mabel of “Wanelta” Graceville as his next of kin.

Herbert was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 2nd Light Horse Regiment on 8th September 1914 and embarked on the “Star of England” in Brisbane just two weeks later.

The 2nd Light Horse arrived in Egypt on 9th December 1914 and proceeded to camp at Mena for extensive training. Herbert was promoted to Lieutenant in February 1915. The original plan for the Gallipoli campaign was for the infantry to land and close off the peninsula to reinforcements while the more mobile light horse brigades would range north along the peninsula towards Constantinople (Istanbul). When the original plan was thwarted by stronger than anticipated Turkish resistance, the decision was made to land the light horsemen as infantry at Anzac. The 2nd Light Horse; minus their horses, landed at Anzac  on 12th May. On the 19th May, Herbert was wounded slightly in the eye but he returned to duty the same day.

The hottest spot at Anzac was Quinn’s post at the head of Monash Gully. Quinn’s Post was the farthest point inland on the Anzac line, situated on the edge of an escarpment, with the Turkish trenches only metres away. The Post was named after Major Harold Quinn of the 15th Battalion, whose company held the position from the first day. In late May, the Turks exploded an underground mine at Quinn’s Post, followed by an infantry assault which captured the Australian positions and allowed the Turks to enfilade down Monash Gully to the beach.

The 2nd Light Horse was charged with recapturing the positions at Quinn’s Post through an all out charge on the 7th August. During this assault, Lieutenant Hinton was killed. He was buried at the cemetery at Shrapnel Gully, the same cemetery in which Major Quinn was laid to rest one week earlier.

Communications between Gallipoli and Australia were slow and tortuous in 1915. Signals were sent from Anzac to Lemnos, then on to Cairo before being communicated to London for despatch by cable to Melbourne. Such difficulties meant it took considerable time for the Australian authorities to be able to provide death certificates. Herbert’s wife Mabel had four children to support and although her husband had allotted 9 shillings of his daily pay to her, this of course ceased once he had died. Herbert’s file contains a number of letters from Mabel and a firm of solicitors requesting a death certificate so that a life assurance policy with AMP could be redeemed as well as bank balances transferred. Mabel was finally granted a war widow’s pension of 91 pounds a year, as well as 13 pounds a year for each child.

Mabel also received the personal effects of her late husband, which included a full set of mess dress and his Boer War medals. Mabel and the children left Chelmer to live near relatives in Sandgate in 1916.

Courtesy of Ian Lang

Mango Hill