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Victor Clyde was the son of Robert John and Rose Dougherty who lived at Sandgate, Queensland. The father Robert (aged 50), Victor, and his brother James all enlisted in Queensland within a period of a month in mid-1915.

The father and two sons all enlisted with the 9th Battalion AIF. They all managed to get themselves transferred to the 49th Battalion AIF in Egypt on the same day, 29 February 1916.

Victor was wounded by a bullet and as he was getting into a shell hole for shelter was then hit by a shell at Mouquet Farm, near Thiepval, Pozieres. His brother, James Oakwell [3317], was reported to have been wounded by the same shell.

He was reported missing, and his death was later (July 1917) confirmed to be on 5 September 1916. His remains were subsequently found in 1919 and reinterred in the Courcelette British Cemetery.

# 3328  DOUGHERTY  Victor Clyde                            9th / 49th Battalion
 
Vic Dougherty was born to parents Robert and Rose Dougherty of Sandgate. Vic probably attended school at Sandgate before leaving to work in labouring jobs. His father, Robert, and elder brother, James, were both butchers but rather than follow them into the butchering trade, Vic made his way to Woodford where he became a member of the Methodist congregation. He worked as a labourer, perhaps in the timber industry which was booming at the time.
 
Vic attended the Brisbane Recruiting Depot in Adelaide Street, Brisbane, on 19th July 1915. He informed the recruiting officer he was 21 years old and was a labourer. Vic named his father of Sandgate as his next of kin. Strangely, Vic did not declare his Methodist faith but rather claimed to be Church of England. Vic reported to camp at Enoggera where he was placed temporarily into a depot battalion before being allocated to the 11th reinforcements of the 9th Battalion. Nine days after Vic enlisted, his brother James also enlisted and was placed into the same reinforcement draft as Vic. On 16th August, Vic’s father, Robert also enlisted. He claimed to be 40 years old (the maximum age for the AIF was 45) but he was at least 10 years older.
 
Vic and Jim embarked on the “Seang Bee” in Brisbane on 21st October and sailed for Egypt. Father Robert was in the next draft for the 9th Battalion and by February 1916, all three Dougherty men were reunited in a depot camp at Tel el Kabir. In early 1916, the AIF was undergoing an expansion, effectively doubling the force from two divisions to four. This expansion called for the creation of new battalions which was achieved by splitting most of the original (Gallipoli veteran) battalions to create two experienced cores which would be augmented by the new recruits in the Egyptian camps. Probably after some negotiation, all three of the Dougherty men were transferred to the 49th Battalion, part of the 13th Brigade of the 4th Division AIF.
 
The 49th Battalion departed Egypt from Alexandria on 6th June 1916 and arrived at the French port of Marseilles six days later. The battalion moved into the “nursery” trenches around Armentieres in northern France to learn the routines of trench warfare. On 1st July 1916, the British Commander in France, Douglas Haig, launched the Somme offensive. The British armies were made up of either newly recruited “pals” battalions or conscripts. The offensive was a catastrophic disaster with 60,000 casualties on the first day; 20,000 of whom were killed. Now committed to the attack, Haig was determined to push on. The battle became a war of attrition.
 
Progress was slow, measured in yards rather than miles and with his reserve forces already committed, Haig turned to the four newly arrived divisions of the AIF to progress the advance. The highest point of the battlefield, and from which the occupiers had a commanding view, was a ridge which ran almost north/ south from Thiepval to the village of Pozieres. During the last days of July and early August, the 1st and 2ndDivisions of the AIF secured Pozieres, albeit at great cost. The 4th Division’s brigades were initially brought up to the front to hold the Pozieres position which allowed the focus of the battle to move less than a mile along the ridge to a ruined farm house.
 
The 4th Division would fight their first major engagement at Mouquet Farm; a collection of ruined farm buildings which the Germans had heavily fortified by extending the cellars and creating a line of three defensive trenches. The farm was depicted on the maps as “La Ferme du Mouquet” but the Australians referred to it as “Moo Cow Farm” or “Mucky Farm.”
The assault on the farm had to be conducted on an ever-narrowing front that was enfiladed by German artillery and machine guns on three sides. The ground was so churned up from artillery shells that advancing troops could not recognise a trench line when they reached it. Attempts to dig new trenches were unsuccessful due to the loose ground caving in.
 
On 5th September 1916, Vic and Jim Dougherty were part of an assault by the 49th Battalion at Mouquet Farm. Various eye witness accounts state that Vic was wounded with a serious gunshot wound to his abdomen. His brother Jim was with him sheltering in a shell hole when, according to Private Willliam Matthews, a high explosive shell landed on top of them blowing both into the air. Jim was evacuated wounded but Vic was missing.
 
Rose Dougherty began making enquiries with the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Service as well as the authorities in Melbourne. A statutory declaration by Private Matthews and a court of inquiry held by the 49th Battalion on 31st July 1917 provided enough evidence to conclude that Vic Dougherty had been killed in Action on 5th September 1916. A parcel of Vic’s personal effects including a spoon, testament, silk handkerchief, a shaving brush and a pair of sunglasses was sent to Rose at Sandgate. Later that year, Rose’s husband was returned to Australia and discharged due to debility and being overage (the record states he was 53).
 
At the conclusion of hostilities in 1919, the Imperial War Graves Commission began to scour the Somme battlefields for the remains of fallen soldiers. Victor Dougherty’s remains were identified (perhaps by an identity disk or some documentation that had survived two and a half years of warfare) and buried in the Courcelette British Cemetery on the road between Albert and Pozieres. Vic was buried beside another 49thBattalion man who had been killed at Mouquet Farm on 3rd September 1916.
 
As was the usual custom, the Dougherty family received three photographs of Vic’s grave. Unfortunately, the photographs were not of Vic’s grave but of a Sergeant Vincent Dougherty, 49th Battalion. It took several letters from the authorities to Sandgate before the mistake could be rectified. Vic’s headstone records only his name, rank, battalion and date of death; his family chose not to have a personal inscription included.
 
The town of Woodford honoured Vic Dougherty by including him on the Methodist Church Honour Roll and the planting of a tree in the Memorial Avenue along Archer Street. The tree regretfully no longer remains. Vic is also included in the Sandgate Honour Roll, as are his father and brother.