Thomas James Dudley enlists. Thomas served in the 3rd Battalion that captured the German 77mm calibre Field Gun on display in Cook Park in Orange.
The German Government formally announces to the United States that it does not intend to postpone the extended submarine campaign due to begin at midnight on 29 February.
The German raider SMS Greif, disguised as a Norwegian vessel, intercepts the British armed merchant ship HMS Alcantara in the North Sea. The Greif suddenly hoists the German battle ensign and opens fire, the Alcantara responds and the vessels sink each other following a close-range battle lasting just 12 minutes. The Alcantara loses 74 men; the Greif nearly 200. The British merchant ship Andes rescues the survivors of both ships and takes more than 120 German prisoners.
Unknown artist’s impression of HMS Alcantara and SMS Greif in battle. Image courtesy The Times History and Encyclopaedia of the War Vol XXI, London 1920, p. 127.
Thomas James Dudley was born in Lucknow on 21 May 1897; one of ten children born to Thomas and Mary Ellen Dudley. Thomas’ maternal uncle was Alderman William Edwin Agland, who became Mayor of East Orange in 1910. Thomas’ grandfather – Thomas Taylor Dudley – was a Cornish settler from Ludgvan who arrived in Lucknow in 1877, and his grandmother, Mary Ann Dudley nee Allen, who practised as a midwife in the Lucknow and Shadforth areas for many years and was still delivering babies in her 80s.
The Dudleys were very prominent in the district. Thomas Snr was underground mine manager of the Lucknow Gold Mining Company, and family members were active in the Methodist Church, and participated in music and sport.
Thomas enlisted in WWI in February 1916 and attended Dubbo training camp for six weeks before proceeding to Liverpool camp. He embarked from Sydney in September 1916, a private in the 3rd Battalion, 20th Reinforcements. Private Dudley served in France for over two years. He was hospitalised twice during his service; in May 1917 due to trench foot, and in March 1918 after having been gassed.
On 18 September 1918 the 3rd Battalion was involved in the Battle of Warfusee in the Picardy region of France. It was here that they captured the German 77mm calibre Field Gun that is now on display in Cook Park in Orange. Private Dudley was one of 25 servicemen from the Orange area who served in the 3rd Battalion.
Thomas returned to Australia in March 1919 and was discharged from the AIF two months later. He married Frances Jessie Bowyer in Orange in 1922 and the couple settled in Huntley. In mid-1929 they were living in Sydney where Thomas was employed as a voluntary timber worker. On 14 August their home in Huntley was destroyed by fire; the couple lost all their possessions, including Thomas’ war medals.
Jessie died in Orange in 1931, aged just 28. Thomas continued living at Huntley until his death in February 1964 at the Repatriation Hospital at Concord. His obituary in the Central Western Daily described him as “a keen sportsman, taking particular interest in breeding and racing greyhounds.” Thomas is commemorated on the Methodist Church Orange Honour Roll.
When James Paton enlisted at Dubbo in February 1916 he stated his age as 28 years and seven months. He was, in fact, born in Orange on 29 June 1885, the third of six children to George Daniel Paton and his wife Emma Jane nee Bargwanna. Aged 31, perhaps James believed he would have more chance of being accepted into the AIF if he claimed to be under 30.
James spent a week at camp in Dubbo before proceeding to Liverpool for further training. A private in the 3rd Battalion, 20th Reinforcement, James embarked HMAT A14 Euripides in Sydney on 9 September 1916, arriving in Plymouth late the following month.
Private Paton proceeded to France in December 1916. In May the following year he sustained a gunshot wound to the left thigh and was evacuated to England and admitted to the 4th Southern General Hospital at Plymouth. James spent over two months in hospital; he was discharged to furlough at the end of the July and marched into No 1 Command Depot at Perham Downs in Salisbury in August 1917.
In October 1917 James returned to the Western Front in France. In April 1918 the 3rd Battalion was engaged at Strazeele in northern France defending the British-Australian front line during a German offensive. It was here that Private James Paton was killed in action on 14 April 1918.
When James enlisted he nominated his sister Levine in Lucknow as his next of kin, as both his parents were deceased. In June 1917 Base Records Office wrote to Miss L Paton at Lucknow to advise that James had been admitted to hospital in England, however the letter was returned unclaimed.
Ada Fraser, James’ eldest sister was located in Sydney following his death, and it was she who eventually received his personal effects and war medals. But this was not until the Army was convinced that she was, in fact, entitled to them. On 7 December 1922 the Base Records office wrote to Ada to enquire if her parents or an older brother or sister were alive. Ada replied two days later, confirming that both parents were deceased and that she was the eldest child. She also added that she had been forwarded her brother’s deferred pay and gratuity bond. On 19 December 1922 Base Records replied:
[I] regret the information supplied is not sufficient to enable me dispose of the late soldier’s war medals etc… Will you kindly state definitely whether the deceased has any surviving brothers.
On 9 January 1923 Ada replied to their request asking:
Would you be good enough to let me know what you intend doing with regard to mementos granted to my late brother…I fail to understand why you doubt my word after the severe test you put me to when you paid me his gratuity and deferred money. I think that alone should prove to you that I am his next of kin.
Ada received her brother’s war medals later that month.
In 1923 the Anzac Memorial Avenue of trees was planted along Bathurst Road to commemorate fallen WWI soldiers. A tree was planted in honour of “Pte J Paton”; it was donated by H Hansen. Very few of the trees are still standing today.
James Paton is commemorated at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France, on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Panel number 37 and and on the World War I Roll of Honour on the southern face of the Orange Cenotaph.
Telegram (illegible) advising James’ sister Levine of his death. The residents of Forest Reefs presented the medallion on the right to Levine in 1920. Image courtesy WE Agland RSL MBE Memorial Museum Orange.
The muddy Verdun battlefield 1916. Image in public domain.
William Bryant Rowatt enlists. William is commemorated on the Centenary of WWI in Orange Honour Roll; he would die of wounds in Belgium on 30 October 1917.
The Verdun battlefield turns to mud as freezing conditions abate
The first elements of a long range British air bombing squadron is formed to attack German industrial centres
Essad Pasha establishes a provisional Albanian government at Naples
Australian pilot Cedric Waters Hill of the Royal Flying Corps bombs the water reservoir at Bir el Hassana on the Sinai Peninsula. He would later be mentioned in dispatches for this feat
Having completed their conquest of Serbia and Montenegro, the Austro-Hungarian army seizes the city of Durazzo in Albania. Durazzo remained under Austro-Hungarian control until the conclusion of the war. Austrians occupy Durazzo
Russian forces occupy Kermanshah in Persia
Arab forces occupy the oases at Farafra and Dakhla in Egypt
155 people perish as the P&O liner Maloja strikes a mine and sinks in the English Channel two nautical miles south west of Dover. The Canadian freighter Empress of Fort William attempts to render assistance, but also strikes a mine, forcing the crew to escape in lifeboats.
La Provence, 1911 by Antonio Jacobsen. Image in public domain.
German U boat U-35 torpedoes and sinks the French merchant cruiser, La Provence II in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of nearly 1000 lives. 742 people were rescued, many of whom spent up to 18 hours in the water. The Sydney Morning Herald later publishes a survivor’s account of events:
There was no lamentation, and there was no panic, though the ship was sinking rapidly and the boilers exploding. Captain Vesco remained on the bridge, calmly giving orders, and finally cried, “Adieu, mes enfants.” The men clustered on the foredeck, and replied, “Vive la France.” Then the Provence made a sudden plunge, and the foredeck rose perpendicularly above the water.
The British Western Frontier Force led by Brigadier-General Lukin defeats Senussi tribesmen in action near Agagiya in western Egypt. Action of Agagia
HMAS Melbourne and her sister ship, HMAS Sydney patrol Brazilian waters for the German raider Pungo and the armed merchant cruiser Kron Prinz Wilhelm
Serbians, Montenegrins and Albanians withdraw from Albania
Russian forces occupy Ashkala in Armenia and Kermanshah in Western Persia
The Fort of Douaumont 1916. Image courtesy Photographisches Bild-und Film-Amt.
The German 24th Brandenburg Infantry Regiment storms the Fort of Douaumont at Verdun; shocked and demoralised residents begin to evacuate the city. The Germans capture 10,000 prisoners with the help of a lethal new weapon, the flammenwerfer (flamethrower)
French soldiers launch a counter-attack at Poivre Hill, where they manage to repulse the Germans
Russian forces occupy Sakhne and Bideswikh Passes, Kashan and Ispir in Persia
Herbert Vincent McGrath enlists. Herbert is commemorated on the Centenary of WWI in Orange Honour Roll; he would be killed in action in France on 21 November 1916.
Bathurst Military Camp continues to expand; recruits now number about 1,200. Bathurst Military Camp
French soldiers evacuate Bois des Caures, Ornes and Samogneux as Germans forces capture 3,000 prisoners in the Battle of Verdun
General Jan Smuts arrives at Nairobi
The Portuguese government seizes 36 Austrian and German ships that have been moored the River Tagus in Lisbon since the beginning of the war. Crews are taken prisoner and the Portuguese flag is hoisted.
General George Fowke, 1917. Image courtesy Imperial War Museum.
Day 560 of the war
The Battle of Verdun continues; German forces advance 5km, taking Bois d’Haumon and Beaumont, but failing at Brabant
Lieutenant-General Sir George Henry Fowke is appointed Adjutant-General of the British Expeditionary Force in France, taking over from Lieutenant-General Sir Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready, who is appointed Adjutant-General of the Home Forces in Great Britain.
Japanese warships arrive in the Mediterranean Sea to assist Allied naval operations
