Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Douglas Holroyd Booth was born in Balmain, NSW, Australia on the 6th of March 1899. His father was Henry Talton Booth and his mother was Jemima Wallace Booth. He lived in his home at St Margarets, Shirley Road, Roseville, Ku-ring-gai (1) where he moved to 4 Guernsey Avenue, Minto after he got married. He worked as an accountant throughout his entire career and moved houses a few times throughout his life.

He attended Fort Street Public School for his primary education and completed his mandatory qualifying certificate(2) which marked the completion of primary school education and selected pupils best fitted for further education in high schools and super-primary schools. He then went on to attend Technical High School, enrolling in 1912 but he struggled during the first term ranking 31st out of 33 (May 1913) in his class but then ended up ranking 9th in the second term (September 1913) and he is recorded as being a respectful person and kept up with his schoolwork, having very fair notebooks, schoolwork, homework and had a good conduct record (3). Although there are no clear documents that show when he left for enlistment, his name does appear on a results sheet being marked as "Left" along with another boy (4). However, following today's school progression, enlisting in 1917 would make him year 12 at school when he left.

Douglas enlisted on the 12th of December 1917 at just 18 years and 9 months old and was stationed at Sydney Showground camp for 2 days for basic training (5). Later he would be moved around a few camps, beginning on the 2nd of May 1918 where he was transferred to a field hospital in Liverpool as per the orders of a duty officer and then shortly after, transferred to the 5th Infantry Battalion on the 8th of May (6) where he remained until the 19th of June when his unit would board the SS Feldmarschall, later renamed to SS Field Marshall after British capture at Dar es Salaam in 1916 (7) and embark on the route to London. It would take 68 days to reach London where his unit disembarked on the 26th of August and would be assigned to the 45th battalion from the 7th NSW general service reinforcement unit. Although he first had to march into the 14th training battalion the next day to resume training but would remain in the 45th Infantry Battalion until the 25th of September(8). 

On the 18th of September 1918, Douglas and his battalion would partake in the first attack on the Hindenburg Line around Le Verguier in the Allies attempt to seize the outpost line of the German defence that overlooked approaches to their main defensive line (9). The Australians were successful in their offensive attack and captured the southern front of the Line although,  the consequences of the attack were severe and the 45th battalion suffered heavy casualties and shortly after, on the 26th of September,  Douglas was transferred to the 34th battalion to reinforce the unit and remained in the unit until the 4th of December.

On the 29th of September 1918, British, Australian, and American forces operating as part of the British Fourth Army launched a second attack with the objective of breaking through one of the most heavily defended stretches of the Hindenburg line at St Quentin Canal (10). Another Australian soldier, Gunner J.R. Armitage wrote about the battle in his diary, "As we went over the ridge we found ourselves in the midst of the most wonderful and impressive battlefield scene imaginable. It was a scene never to be forgotten with infantry, tanks, guns, everything in action in a sort of inferno of smoke and shell bursts." (11)

On the 4th of December, Douglas was transferred to the Australian Imperial Forces depot headquarters from the 34th battalion as the unit had sustained heavy casualties during the battle of St Quentin Canal . He would remain in Europe for an additional year, while AIF soldiers across the world began their journeys home. Although, he was meant to leave earlier aboard the Waimana, a New Zealand ship, did not embark on it.

On the 12th of January 1920, he would finally return home to Australia aboard the Aeneas and was cleared for discharge by the captain of his unit, A.M. Burge, and medical officer Zlotkowski, but it would take another 22 days on the 4th of February until he was officially discharged.

Douglas worked as an accountant and six years later he married Ellen Dorothy Shadbolt at Rockdale, NSW, and moved to 4 Guernsey Avenue in Minto shortly after their marriage. The Great Depression would then begin in 1929 and a few years later, Douglas would appear in the newspaper on the 14th of March 1932 when he was appointed as a liquidator for Greenwoods Limited (12) which was likely a major project for his career. 

Moving across a few years on the 1st of September 1939, World War 2 would break out with him enlisting yet again into the army on the 25th of March 1942, but being 43 years of age he enlisted part-time into the Australian Defence Corps. He would continue to work as an accountant and would become a registered tax agent on the 31st of December 1943 at 91a York Street in Sydney allowing him to expand his clientele with more services offered.

He worked through the war without any conflict and was promptly discharged on the 30th of September 1945 as a corporal of the 10th Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps that oversaw the Kogarah area. As a corporal, he had command of a section of other defence troops in the area and also had the responsibility of training new recruits for battle.

On the 21st of May 1954, Douglas was granted a licence for 2 dams and a pump on an unnamed water course, part of portion 163, parish of St. Peter in the county of Cumberland (13) potentially revealing his wealth and his intentions of investing into real estate. Later on, he appeared as the executor of the will of Charles Nanten on February 2nd, 1962 furthering his business and reputation, and would live without any events thereafter until his death on the 21st of September 1975 at age 76. After his death, Douglas's assets and houses were distributed by administrator Lily Mary Booth on the 20th of April 1979 as part of Mulally & Mylott, Solicitors (14). Douglas Holroyd Booth will be forever remembered in the history of Sydney Technical High School as an old boy who worked studiously through school and fought courageously in the significant battle of the Hindenburg Line during World War 1.

References

 Virtual War Memorial Australia
 1912 QUALIFYING CERT TECH HIGH [17 June 2024]
 THS 1913 Class 2E Term 2 [29 July 2017]
 THS unknown [31 July 2017]
 National Archives of Australia B2455, BOOTH D H
 lbid
 BirtwistleWiki
 National Archives of Australia B2455, BOOTH D H
 Australian War Memorial - The Hindenburg Line: Breaking the Hindenburg line
 Battle of St Quentin Canal - Wikipedia
 Australian War Memorial - The Hindenburg Line: Breaking the Hindenburg line
 BOOTH 1932 liquidator for Greenwoods
 BOOTH 1954 application for construct dams
 BOOTH 1979 estate Gov Gaz

Bibliography

Ken Stevenson, Research on Google Drive

National Archives of Australia  https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=3098856&isAv=N 

Wikipedia  Battle of St Quentin Canal - Wikipedia

AIF project https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=27014 

Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10702531 

Breaking of the Hindenburg line - AWM https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/1918/battles/hindenburg 

Virtual War Memorial Australia https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/98481 

BirtwistleWiki https://birtwistlewiki.com.au/wiki/SS_Field_Marshall