HUNTER, Herbert Humphreys
| Service Numbers: | Not yet discovered |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 August 1914, Commissioned as Captain |
| Last Rank: | Captain |
| Last Unit: | 7th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, 18 November 1881 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Melbourne C of E Grammar School; Trinity College; Melbourne University; University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation: | Dentist |
| Died: | Killed In Action, Krithia, Gallipoli, 8 May 1915, aged 33 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Bendigo Great War Roll of Honor, Bendigo Sandhurst Club Roll of Honour, Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, Melbourne Grammar School WW1 Fallen Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Captain, 7th Infantry Battalion, Commissioned as Captain | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct 1914: | Involvement Captain, 7th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 19 Oct 1914: | Embarked Captain, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne | |
| 25 Apr 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Captain, 7th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 8 May 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Captain, 7th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, Krithia |
Help us honour Herbert Humphreys Hunter's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Robert Wight
Correction:
Herbert Hunter was commissioned as a Captain in the 7th Battalion AIF (not 8th Btn).
Addition:
Hunter also played football with Essendon FC in the Victorian Football League (the pre-eminent league of the day).
Biography contributed by Sharyn Roberts
HERBERT HUMPHREYS HUNTER who was killed near Krithia on Gallipoli on 15th May 1915 was the son of Mr. G. F. Hunter of Bendigo. He was born in 1881 and came to the School in 1900, having already made a name for himself as an athlete.
He was in the football and athletic teams of 1900, and at a special sports meeting in Sydney in 1901 created a world's record for a schoolboy's long jump (21 ft. 11 in.).
After leaving School in 1901 he won the long jump championship of Australasia in 1901, the long jump championship of Victoria in 1900, 1901, 1902 and 1904, the 100 yards championship of Victoria in 1900, 1902 and 1904, and the 220 yards championship of Victoria in 1902. He resided at Trinity College during 1903 and 1904, and
gained a double Blue (football and athletics) at the Melbourne University.
He took up the profession of dentistry, and graduated L.D.S. Victoria 1904; D.D.S. (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) ; and M.A.C.D. (Victoria) 1905. He was noted in sport at Pennsylvania. On his return to Victoria he settled at Bendigo, and when the war broke out he was regarded as having one of the best dental practices outside Melbourne.
He was Lieutenant 67th Infantry Brigade, A.M.F. This is a short history of the facts of Herbert Hunter's career prior to the declaration of war. He was a most popular man, a leader in anything he took up, and when the call came he enlisted at once. On the day the Council of the Old Melburnians visited Broadmeadows camp, when a remark was made about young men giving up everything for the war, with characteristic modesty his only reply was : "Well, what could
a chap do? A man could not stop out." This was the man-a champion athlete, an organiser, a leader of men-he thought nothing of the pleasant life of a professional man in his native city, but gave it all up.
He was appointed Captain in the 8th Battalion, and in all that went to make up the life of the camp he was a leader. The sports meetings and boxing competitions saw him taking an active
part, and in Egypt he organised a Stadium and acted as referee in the boxing contests there.
The story of his death is shortly told : On the morning of the
ever-memorable Landing on Gallipoli, in getting out of a boat he sprained his ankle but he would not give in, and though his foot was badly swollen he limped along at the head of his men. Some days after, in the assault of Krithia, he was shot in the foot and was carried out of the firing line. Some distance back, in what appeared to be a position of safety, his bearers laid his stretcher down, and the dressers were binding up his wound when a stray bullet, almost spent, landed between them and shot Herbert Hunter through the head, killing him.
Thus died a brave, energetic, soldierly man who. earned and commanded the respect of all.
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