One can only imagine the conversation that took place at the dinner table in late 1914 when both father and son volunteered to go to war. Charles Albert Marques (son) and Charles Marques (father) were both in the No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital.  They both enlisted at Morphettville on the 26^th September 1914.  Both served in Egypt and Lemnos whilst CA Marques was at the hospital in North Beach (Gallipoli) whilst C Marques was in hospital himself at the time.  CA Marques was later transferred to the 14^th Field Ambulance in France and C Marques stayed in the 3^rd Auxiliary Hospital in England. CA Marques returned to Australia in November 1919 as a Staff Sergeant and C Marques returned in September 1919 as a Sergeant.

Interestingly one of them took quite a number of great photos which are still held by the family today. Of course these will be in the book but thought I would give you a sneak peak at one of them today.

This photo was taken in 1915 showing a number of the members of No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital posing with Turkish prisoners of war.

If you have a relative, photos, documents or any information that will be of assistance int he creation of this book then please contact me.

I am fortunate enough that I will be interviewed on Monday evening (20 Apr 15) on ABC Radio 891 in Adelaide with Peter Goers (evenings show) as part of the Anzac Centenary Celebrations. I am very excited about this opportunity as it is a chance to tell the story of the No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital during WWI and hopefully some of the listeners are relatives or friends of the members of the unit. Wish me luck and hopefully you enjoy the interview. I will endeavour to get a recording of the interview and put it on my site in the near future.

http://www.abc.net.au/adelaide/programs/adelaide_evenings/

This year is the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli. When I first thought about writing a book about the No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital I was hoping to publish the book in 2015 to coincide with the anniversary. However as I do not do this professionally or for money then it was a little ambitious with all the other things happening with life. However this does not stop me researching for the book as it will be written and the story of the men and women that served with this hospital will be told. The book will include, where possible, a biography of each member of the unit. Here I wanted to share the life of one of those men – LSGT Sidney Luck.

Photo of LSGT Luck taken at Gallipoli

Sidney Ivor Luck was born Srool Itzek Luck in Zamostie, Lublin, Russia (today Poland) on 16 Mar 1887. He commenced his childhood learning Russian before moving to England with his parents when he was young. Sidney Luck lived in London and attended the Royal School of Mines in South Kensington as well as studying at the University of London completing a Bachelor of Science degree. At the conclusion of his study, he was instructed by the Institution of Mining Metallurgy to travel to Australia and work in Broken Hill as a Surveyor. He arrived in Adelaide aboard the Grosser Kurfurst on 01 Mar 1912 before traveling to Broken Hill. Luck worked in the ‘Wolverhurst’ mine for two years before leaving Broken Hill to return to Adelaide in order to volunteer for the Australian Medical Corps. Enlisting as a private, Luck was promoted to Corporal in October 1914 and Lance Sergeant in November 1914 before the unit had even departed Adelaide. Sidney Luck served with the No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital in Egypt, Lemnos and Gallipoli. He discharged from the AIF in England on 22 Jul 1916 before being appointed a commission, with probation, as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Engineers, Chatham. Luck would serve with the 33rd Base Park Company, Royal Engineers in Salonica (Macedonian Front) between 30 Sep 1916 and 04 Jan 1919 before moving to Constantinople as part of the occupation force between 05 Jan 1919 to 18 Feb 1919. After the war, Captain Sidney Luck returned to England and married Isobel Gertrude Warnock at Hackney that same year. The following year he would be bestowed the Order of the White Eagle 5th Class with Swords in 1920 from HM King of Serbia as well as the Order of the British Empire for his war service.

In 1936, Sidney Luck was a member of the ‘The British Eclipse Expedition’ which travelled to Omsk in Western Siberia to conduct Astronomy tests and observations of a total eclipse of the sun on the 19 Jun 1936. Sidney had a book published of his experiences by Macmillan in 1938 entitled “Observation in Russia” which was dedicated to his wife. On the outbreak of World War II, Sidney Luck was given an emergency commission on the 26 Sep 1939 as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Engineers and rose to the rank of Major becoming the Deputy Assistant Director for the Quartermaster General. After the war Sidney travelled regularly to Gibraltar and pre-deceased his wife and daughter on 28 Nov 1954.

I wanted to wish all readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

2014 was a good year regarding research for the book on the No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital. It started well with a trip to Adelaide for the Australia Day Long Weekend meeting a number of relatives and spending a little time in the South Australian State Library. I was also able to visit Keswick Barracks including the museum and made some wonderful contacts.

Through out the year a number of relatives and friends contacted me and provided some wonderful information on members of the hospital. I always love receiving these emails as it contains such useful information.

My trip to the Australian War Memorial in August was also productive as I found some great information as well as a very useful map. Some of the information gathered has been useful as I use the XMAS holidays to draft another chapter.

Thanks again for all your support in 2014 and look forward to making further progress in 2015.

Cheers
Scott

Last week Shane from Trade In Military Ltd made contact with me regarding a postcard that he acquired. Written on the back of the postcard was a message that stated “3 of the Knuts of the No 1 ASH Heliopolis Egypt XMAS 1915, Yours Cyril”. Shane quickly worked out that this Cyril must be a member of No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital. This led him to my website which lists all known personnel and quickly found that there was only one Cyril amongst the list. PTE Cyril O’Malley joined No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital most likely after the unit returned from Gallipoli. He had enlisted in October 1915 and was allocated the 13th reinforcement to the No 1 ASH. As the back of the postcard indicates that he must have arrived in Egypt just in time for Christmas in 1915.

This is the photo of Cyril and two other members from No 1 ASH. Unfortunately I do not know which one is Cyril. We can assume he is the one sitting down but I hope to confirm this in the future. If a relative of Cyril O’Malley sees this then please get into contact. I love the red cross patch on the sleeve of the sitting down member but also the No 1 ASH colour patch on the sleeve of the man on the right of the picture.  Great Photo!

Thanks again Shane for sharing this photo with me and allowing me to ultimately use it in the book.

On Sunday 02 November 2014 I jumped online as a registered bidder of a Book Auction: The Stuart Braga Collection of Australian Military History held by the reputable Michael Treloar Antiquarian Booksellers. This impressive collection was up for auction and contained a huge selection of Australia’s military history to the end of the First World War including many scarce original battalion histories, rare printed ephemera, memorabilia, photographs, maps and artwork. Some of the items included Charles Bean’s virtually unknown Cairo publication, What to Know in Egypt (March 1915); a lengthy run of the very rare Gallipoli journal Peninsula Press; and Norman Wilkinson’s eyewitness watercolour of the Landing at Gallipoli which sold for a five-figure amount.

As the auction progressed I was so pleased to learn that the auctioneer was the great-grandson of one of the doctors from the No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital. I have since been in contact and hoping to share information soon.

I was after one little book which was called War Service of Old Melburnians 1914-1918 by John Beacham Kiddle. The book was an illustrated history of all the old boys of the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School who fought in WWI. One of the 1325 names in the book was my relative LTCOL Henry Bryant, the commanding officer of the No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital. A two page biography and a new photo of him makes the purchase all worthwhile.

Just released recently is a wonderful book called Blood, Sweat and Fears  which is about the
Medical Practitioners and Medical Students of South Australia who served in World War 1. As most of the Doctors from No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital were from South Australia then this book has become my new best friend.

‘Blood, Sweat and Fears: The Military Service of the Medical Practitioners and Medical Students of South Australia who served in World War 1’, is dedicated to the memory of the South Australian Medical Practitioners and  Medical Students who served in the Army, Navy and Flying Corps in the Great War, 1914-1918: To commemorate those who lost their lives and to those who lost their health, faith, hope and aspirations and to celebrate the achievements of those who received Military or Civilian honours in recognition of their bravery under fire,  their leadership and contribution to their profession and society in the aftermath of the war,  and finally to those whose contributions remain unknown and unacknowledged.

Product Description:
297x210mm
228pp
Paperback
800g

ISBN: 978-0-646-92750-3

Publisher: Army Health Services Historical Research Group AMOSA
Authors: Christopher Verco RFD MD FRCOG FRANZCOG;
Annette Summers AO RFD PhD MEdSt BN;
Tony Swain MB BS FANZCA RANR;
Michael Jelly RFD MB BS FRACMA FRACGP FCHSM.

Thank you to the authors for providing me a copy in acknowledgement of my contribution of information to the book.

I recently had to go to Canberra for two weeks with work and as they say; when in Rome… so I went to the Australian War Memorial. I could only attend on the Saturday so after spending a couple of hours walking around the wonderful exhibits I entered the research room and made the most of my few hours I had available. I came prepared so I knew what I was looking for and I was fortunate to pick up some information from Colonel Martin who was placed in command of the Kyarra during the journey from Australia to Egypt. I also received a copy of SSGT Cowan’s diary and some other useful bits of information. In my last hour I asked for access to the maps on Ismailia and found a great map that shows the location of the No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital in 1916. Overall a great day with more information found for the book.