World War I Commemorative Website

War Memorial Hall  c1929

Memorial Hall circa 1929
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Aubrey LIDDELOW

LIDDELOW

Aubrey Liddelow was born on 10 November 1876 in Tarraville, Victoria. His parents were Arthur and Helen (née Clarke) Liddelow. He attended Scotch from 1890 to 1891.

Aubrey was a schoolmaster in East Malvern when he enlisted on 11 November 1914 at Melbourne. He served in the 59th Battalion with the rank of Captain.

Aubrey died on 19 July 1916 at Fleurbaix (Fromelles), France. He was 39 years of age.

Service record

Aubrey Liddelow was the son of British-born parents who married in Ballarat. His father was a schoolteacher. Aubrey’s obituary in the 1917 The Scotch Collegian says that at the time he enlisted, in 1914, he was a teacher at Melbourne High School. On enlistment in November 1914 he was posted to the 7th Battalion as a second lieutenant. After training at Broadmeadows, he embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Themistocles on 22 December 1914.

While travelling with the convoy from Alexandria on 9 April, he wrote in his diary: ‘Now we think of the old Phoenician and Grecian traders and Roman galleys and wonder whose old path we replough. Soon maybe we shall see even the “windy plains of Troy” – may even fight where Ulysses guided and Achilles fought, though I rather think ‘twill be upon the other side.’ He was correct, for he was headed to the Gallipoli side of the Dardanelles.

He was at the landing on 25 April, on which date he became a full Lieutenant. He found that he could cope well with the horrible scenes around him, declaring that having to bury 7 Australians and one Turk on the first night ‘made me feel not repugnant nor anything else, it was as a matter of course.’ At some point in the period 26-30 April he received a bullet wound to the left ankle. In his diary he described unloading artillery ammunition at the beach one morning ‘when I felt something hit my foot hard – as if a stone had struck me sharply. It didn’t hurt and I looked down, being quite surprised to see blood coming out of a hole in my boot. I walked along and soon limped a wee [sic], the Clearing hospital was about 50 or 60 yds. along and in there I took off the boot finding that the beast hadn’t gone through.’ A kind English doctor tried but couldn’t find the bullet with a probe.

While on a hospital ship, Liddelow wrote of his recovery: ‘The Dr on shore said from 8 to 10 weeks the job would take – I hope not – the boys ought to be across the peninsula by then.’ Rather than being content with his wound, he wrote: ‘I lie here on the upper berth in No. 6 cabin of the Mashobra [a ship] wounded in the foot, bless you. I have done nothing, have ventured little, and am removed soon from the scene of the action.’ Aubrey was taken to hospital in Alexandria, Egypt and returned to the battalion on 26 June. He was ‘slightly’ wounded in the eye and chest in July 1915 and was sent to Malta.

He returned to the unit in October, immediately taking temporary command of a company. He sprained his ankle on 14 November and was sent to hospital on the island of Lemnos. He rejoined the unit nine days later, and was present at the evacuation of Gallipoli in December. Aubrey was promoted to Captain in February 1916 and transferred to the 59th Battalion in March.

He left Egypt with the 59th in June 1916, and fought at Fromelles in July. He was initially posted missing, but wounded men returning to Australia from his unit reported that he had been killed. The Scotch Collegian quotes one of these wounded men: ‘I was with the Captain from the time we went over our parapet until all was over, as far as this world is concerned, for a noble hero.’ The language is a bit extravagant even for that era, but undoubtedly contains some truth about the events. His account continues: ‘On going over the parapet the Captain was wounded in the head, but he rose at once and led us on, for by that time he was in charge of the battalion. He reached the German lines with only a handful of men left, and in going over their parapet, he was wounded in the shoulder and again in the arm, but nothing daunted him. In order to spare the few men remaining he withdrew us to a shell crater for shelter until reinforcements should arrive, when we could attack to better advantage. I was wounded, and had quite enough by this time; so I went to the Captain and asked him to return with me, as his wounds needed attention’. According to this eyewitness, Liddelow replied ‘I will never leave the men whom I have led into such grave danger and walk back again; we will wait for reinforcements.’ He then ordered the eyewitness back for treatment, but ‘I had gone only ten yards when a shell ended the life of a hero and a gallant gentleman.’

The Scotch Collegian said self-effacement was Liddelow’s defining characteristic, and asserted that his ‘noble death was a fitting end to an unselfish and chivalrous life.’ Liddelow’s file in the Red Cross Wounded and Missing archive contains 12 pages of accounts of his fate on 19 July. The most detailed chimes largely with The Scotch Collegian account, saying that he was badly wounded, that he was well forward of the Australian lines and that he sent back another man who tried to help him (see below). Others say variously that he was killed by shells or bullets. In July 1917 a Court of Inquiry declared him ‘Killed in action’. His service file contains a letter from his wife confirming receipt of news that he was now listed as killed rather than missing. (see below).

Aubrey Liddelow has no known grave. He is commemorated in the VC Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial, Fromelles, France.

Photographs and Documents:

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A 1914 photo of Aubrey Liddelow, then a 2nd Lieutenant in the 8th Battalion reinforcements.

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Aubrey Liddelow is fourth from the left in the front row of this photograph of original officers of the 59th Battalion in Egypt some time after 20 February 1916.

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From Liddelow’s Red Cross Wounded and Missing file

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December 1917 letter from Aubrey Liddelow’s wife Fannie concerning certificate of her husband’s death.

Sources:

  1. Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour and Red Cross Wounded and Missing file
  2. Mishura Scotch Database
  3. National Archives of Australia – B2455, LIDDELOW AUBREY
  4. Scotch Collegian 1917
  5. The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=176388

Page last updated: 11 November 2015