Eastern Front 1915.
Image courtesy US Department of Military Art and Engineering.
Thomas Dalton.
Image courtesy Rosemary Serisier.
Thomas Joseph Dalton was born at Wheatley in North Sydney in 1893. His father was Thomas Garrett (“Gatty”) Dalton MA, LLB, and Mayor of Orange in 1903, 1904 and 1905. His grandfather, also called Thomas, built Duntryleague and founded Dalton Brothers Stores.
Thomas was the fifth of six children born to Gatty and his wife Mary Helene Condon. He spent his childhood at Killiney in Kite Street, a house built in 1875 by his grandfather, and now known as Mena. He was educated at St Ignatius’ College at Riverview.
20-year-old Tom was one of the first men in Orange to enlist, doing so on 22 August 1914. He attended camp in Sydney for several months before embarking in October, a Private in the 1st Light Horse Regiment. In May 1915 he joined the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and proceeded to Gallipoli, where he was appointed Temporary Colonel.
Following the evacuation of Gallipoli Tom transferred to the 15th Field Artillery Brigade in Egypt. In March 1917 he proceeded to France and served on the Western Front at Passchendaele and Ypres.
Thomas Dalton, aged 22, aboard Honorata following the evacuation of Gallipoli in December 1915.
Image courtesy John Egan and Rosemary Serisier.
Tom returned to Australia in December 1918 and dedicated his time to the Dalton Brothers family business. He later became chairman of the board of directors. In 1926 Thomas married Doris Morrissey and the couple had three children; Elizabeth, Thomas and Rosemary.
Thomas died in Orange on 20 December 1979, aged 86. He is buried in Orange Cemetery and is commemorated on St Joseph’s Church Orange Honour Roll.
Thomas’ brother James also served in WWI; he died of disease in 1918.
In December 1914 Thomas wrote two letters home in which he described the Australian Light Horse’s memorable reception in Cairo and the beauty of Egypt.
Leader, 28 January 1915, p. 1.
War Postbag
Thomas Joseph Dalton’s headstone, Orange Cemetery. Image courtesy Lynne Irvine.
The Ottoman Camel Corps at Beersheba in 1915.
Image in public domain.
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The Heliopolis Palace Hotel, where No. 1 Australian General Hospital was located during 1915 and early 1916.
Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
SMS Blucher sinks after receiving multiple hits from British warships. View from the deck of the British cruiser HMS Arethusa, 24 January 1915.
Image in public domain.
James Lewis Martin’s headstone, Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, France.
Image courtesy Sharon Hesse.
James Lewis Martin was born in Orange in 1887. James was the youngest of twelve children born to Thomas Martin and his wife Ellen (nee Stephens). Thomas, a native of Galway, had come to the colony in the 1860s and settled in the Forest Reefs area. The family later moved to Sale Street in Orange.
James enlisted in Melbourne in January 1915, aged 27, and was assigned to the 12th Battalion as a private. He embarked from Sydney in June, however ill-heath saw him return to Australia just three months later. Private Martin re-embarked from Melbourne in October 1915, joining the 29th Battalion.
In March 1916 James was re-assigned to the 46th Battalion, and he proceeded to France three months later. James sustained a gunshot wound in his back in August 1916, which saw him hospitalised in England. He was hospitalised a second time, in February the following year, with mumps. In April 1917 he was hospitalised again, this time with a fractured arm.
James was promoted to Lance Corporal in July 1917, Corporal the following month, then Sergeant in October 1917. Sergeant Martin was killed in action on 11 July 1918, aged 30. He is buried at Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery in France.
James’ father, Thomas, died in August 1918. Before issuing Sergeant Martin’s’ war medals, the Army Base Records Office requested that the Orange Inspector of Police interview James’ mother, Ellen. Once she had testified that her husband was deceased and that James was unmarried and had no children Ellen was issued with her son’s medals.
James Lewis Martin is commemorated on the World War I Roll of Honour on the southern face of the Orange Cenotaph.
Leader, 26 July 1918, p. 3.
Last great sacrifice: Sgt James Martin killed
James Lewis Martin commemorative plaque, Orange Cemetery. Image courtesy Lynne Irvine.