Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Service Number: 5683
William Thomas Hopley has two separate war records. The first is dated 6 July 1915, about a week before his older brother John enlisted for the first time. He filled in the entire form and a medical examination was recorded but that is all it contains. He gave his age as 18 years and 6 months, overstating it by four months. His record provides no explanation as to why his application did not proceed.

The enthusiasm of friends and siblings must have been a powerful factor in the drive to enlist in what so many young men of the time saw as an opportunity for a great adventure overseas. The two Hopley brothers had taken steps to enlist within a week of each other in July 1915 and in February 1916, just ten days before his brother rejoined the AIF, William applied again, giving his age as 21 years and 3 months. On his form this is crossed out and there is an initialled correction of 19 years and 10 months. He was in fact 18 years and 9 months. Like John he was a labourer employed by the Railways Department and he cited one year's experience with the Senior Cadets and three years in the Citizens Forces 60th Infantry.

This enlistment proceeded. In April he was assigned to the 14th Battalion and embarked on the Port Lincoln. Like so many others he could have had no idea of the realities of war and his enthusiasm for military life was short-lived. From late September 1916 he was AWL for over a month "until apprehended by the civil police". The ensuing court martial sentenced him to 90 days' detention and the forfeiture of 148 days' pay. In 1917 he was AWL on three occasions, in March for almost four days, which cost him 9 days' pay, again in April, for which he was fined 10 days' pay, and then for a longer period of 8 days. This last offence incurred another court martial and the sentence was 60 days' detention in Wandsworth Barracks and the forfeiture of 111 days' pay. It looks as if someone was trying to teach him a lesson.

In August 1917 six days of this detention was remitted in recognition of good conduct and he was immediately transferred to France. At the end of that year he was admitted to hospital with trench fever and then returned to England for treatment. After some time in hospital and a short period of leave (How welcome that must have been!) he was stationed at Hurdcott near Salisbury. It was here that he was court-martialled for the third time, on the charge of receiving "eight shillings and sixpence stolen from NCAB." He was found guilty of receiving six shillings and sentenced to 85 days' detention. This record is over-written in red ink "not confirmed" which apparently means that the sentence was not endorsed by a higher authority.

After the months at Hurdcott William Hopley rejoined his battalion on 13 July 1918 but he was to be with his comrades for less than a month. On 8 August 1918 he was killed in action. A member of a machine gun crew, he was shot through the head, dying almost instantly, and was buried at Cerisy-Gailly cemetery near Corbie. The notice in the Deaths On Active Service column on page five of the Age on the 24 August 1918 read:

Killed in action in France on 8 August, Private William Thomas, 14th Battalion, second loved son of John S and Mary, loved brother of Jack (returned 20th Battalion), Lily, Ivy, Leo, Ernie and little Gerald, aged 20 years and four months, after 2 years and four months' active service. Late of Victorian Railways.1

He was one of 97 men listed in that column of that newspaper on that day.
This was not the first death to touch the Hopley household. In June 1917 the Tribune published a letter dated March 14th, addressed to Mr and Mrs Hopley of 95 Amess Street and written by Private A.S. Collins, who was on active service in France and who was killed less than a month later.2

"A dugout got blown in on me ... I got buried up to the neck in timber but none of it went into me ... They sent me to a dressing station. When halfway a nosecap of a shell hit me on the top of the steel helmet. Luckily enough it was near a little shelter and I poked my frame into it until Fritzy stopped his little pranks ... I was sent to the hospital with shellshock. Three of my mates got killed".

It was in September of the same year that their oldest son was wounded while serving in France. The Hopley's youngest son Leo was as keen as his brothers and made two attempts to enlist. The first was in February 1917 when, aged 16, he claimed to be 18 years and 8 months. Both his parents "signed" his attestation paper but the signatures look quite odd and his father has misspelt his own first name as "Jhon". In any case Leo was rejected as unfit because his chest measurement was "deficient". Almost exactly a year later he tried again, now claiming to be 18 years and 9 months. He passed the medical examination this time but the application was cancelled with this comment: "Mother will not consent and lad will not be 18 years until April." So it must have been with mixed feelings that John Sydney and Mary Hopley prepared to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary in October 1917.3

The army machine was efficient and less than a month after his death William's effects were delivered to his sorrowing parents. His kitbag was never traced and his father wrote to Army Headquarters pointing out that a notebook, one of the five items listed on the inventory, was missing when the parcel was opened. After some correspondence it was decided that there was no such notebook and its listing had been a clerical error.

Years after the end of the war Army officials were continuing the sad task of erecting headstones on war graves. A letter to William's father, John Sydney Hopley senior, dated 8 March 1922 read thus:

It is noted that the personal inscription submitted viz: "How we miss our dear son and brother so far from the land of his birth. Rest in peace. Mother" contains over 90 letters and spaces whereas the available accommodation on the headstone will not permit of more than 66 ... If you do not desire to abbreviate the above, kindly choose a shorter inscription.

How hard it must have been, having lost so young a son, to be so constrained in the wording on his headstone.
Notes and References:
1 Curiously his age is wrong. Born on 24 April 1897, he was 21 years and 3 months old when he was killed.
2 The Tribune, 7 June 1917, p. 7. In a later death notice (The Age 19 May 1917, p. 5) Private Collins is described as the "dear friend" of the household at 95 Amess Street and the "comrade" of Jack and Willie, serving overseas.
3 The Argus, 5 October 1917, p. 1

Carlton in the War - Stories of the Men and Women Who Served
This page is dedicated to the memory of just a few of the many men and women who served in World Wars 1 and 2, and other conflicts. All have a connection with Carlton, North Carlton or Princes Hill. Some were born or had lived in the area, while others gave a Carlton address for their next of kin. Others returned to Carlton after the war and went on to live productive post-war lives.

http://www.cchg.asn.au/greatwar.html