The forgotten hero

WILLIAM WHILES MM
1888-1939

The horrors of the Great War of 1914-18 in which an estimated 10 million lives were lost and twice that number wounded continue to fascinate, mainly because few families in Britain were not affected by the conflict. New developments in genealogy have now enabled us to research the lives of those ancestors who took part and this voyage of discovery often reveals surprising information.

William Whiles was one such man whose heroism in the trenches is unknown here in Bourne except to members of his family, particularly his nephew John Thomas Whyles, aged 82, boot and shoe repairer, of Abbey Road, Bourne, who now lives in retirement at Northorpe, near Thurlby. The family name was originally Whyles, one of the oldest known names at Scottlethorpe, first mentioned in the parish registers in 1773, but the discrepancy in the spelling that resulted in Whiles is believed to have been a mistake in 18th century documentation and was put right by later generations.

Mr Whyles was so fascinated by tales of his uncle’s deeds that he spent many months researching his life and the information he has obtained has provided the basis for a profile of the man who left home to seek his fortune in Australia, fought in the war in which he was decorated for heroism and lived to tell the tale but died in the back of an ambulance on the way to hospital twenty years later.

William Whiles was born at Scottlethorpe, near Bourne, on 2nd February 1888, one of ten children, two girls and eight boys, of George Whiles (1852-1914), who was employed as a carpenter on the Grimsthorpe estate, and his wife Jane (née Smith 1857-1952). After leaving school, he learned his trade as a painter and decorator but found little appeal in village life so he decided to emigrate, sailing for New South Wales early in 1910 aboard the Orient Line’s new 12,000 ton steamship Osterley with 700 other passengers travelling third class. The 13,500-mile voyage through the Suez Canal took six weeks and he landed at Sydney on 17th May 1910, soon finding work in his chosen profession.

War was declared in 1914 and as Australia was then part of the British Empire, troops were trained and drafted to France and Belgium with the Australian Imperial Force and on 15th February 1916, William enlisted during a recruiting session at the Town Hall in St Mary Ann Street, Ultimo, the district in Sydney where he had settled. He was passed medically fit for active service, aged 28 years, height 5 ft. 4 ins. and weighing 108 lbs, with blue eyes, a dark complexion and fair hair, and gave the name of his mother, Mrs Jane Whiles, back in Scottlethorpe, as his next of kin.

The SS Osterley, built in 1909 and carrying immigrants
to Australia a year later

William was allocated the army number of 5664 and on March 1st was posted to the depot battalion at nearby Bathurst for basic training until 9th September 1916 when he boarded the troopship Euripides with the 17th Battalion of the 5th Australian Infantry Brigade bound for England. He arrived on 26th October and after a further spell of training, his unit moved to Folkstone ready to cross the North Sea for France aboard the SS Golden Eagle arriving on December 14th at Etaples, near Boulogne, where a vast Allied military camp had been established together with a large hospital to treat casualties.

Ironically, William was to return there after his first spell at the front because he was wounded in action on 20th September 1917 and sent back for treatment. Two days later, after surgery on his right arm, he was discharged and sailed for England for convalescence at various military hospitals in Canterbury, Dartford and then Weymouth, until he had fully recovered and on December 12th, he was deemed to be fit enough for duty and was sent back to France, sailing from Southampton for Le Havre on December 15th, and eventually rejoining his unit.

It was during this spell at the front that William showed commendable courage in action and was awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery, the highest decoration for non-officer ranks after the Victoria Cross and Distinguished Conduct Medal. His unit took part in the Battle of Amiens between 8th and 11th August 1918 involving attacks on Rainecourt and Framerville. At that time, his duties were as a company runner, a most important role in the communications network which required him to deliver vital messages on foot between headquarters and the front line, often in highly dangerous conditions.

On August 24th he was promoted to lance corporal but a week later, on August 30th, he was again wounded in action, this time a more serious injury to his left leg, and was sent to a field hospital at Rouen but doctors decided that he should again be invalided to England where he was admitted to the Beaufort War Hospital at Bristol, remaining there until December 14th before being posted to a holding camp at Weymouth.

Time must have hung heavily because William decided that he needed a break and went absent without leave over the New Year Holiday, spending his time in London and perhaps even visiting his family at Scottlethorpe, but he escaped serious punishment, although he did have to appear before his commanding officer on January 7th when he was admonished and ordered to forfeit 11 days pay. This was a particularly lenient sentence because he also retained his lance corporal’s stripe, and so it appears that his recent honour had been taken into consideration which would also have been good for battalion morale. Two weeks later, he embarked for home, returning to Australia aboard the troopship Margha on 24th January 1919.

In May 1919, King George V approved the award of his Military Medal for bravery in the field, the honour subsequently being promulgated in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, and his mother, as next of kin, received an official notification from the Australian Imperial Force Records Office in Canberra, his other decorations including the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Having signed on for five years with the colours, William was not discharged from the army until 6th May 1921 and was given a war pension because of his injured leg from which he had never fully recovered. He returned to his work as a painter and decorator, still living in Ultimo, then one of the poorer areas of Sydney, marginal and working class, where he died on 29th July 1939 at the age of 51. He had been ill with a stomach abscess and developed septic pneumonia when a concerned neighbour called for medical help. An ambulance was summoned to take him to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital but he died on the way.

He had never married and appears to have had few close friends. His affairs were handled by a firm of undertakers who arranged for his burial in the Church of England cemetery at Rookwood, near Sydney, but there is no headstone, he left no will or probate and the only mention of his death was a few lines among the public notices in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday 31st July placed there by the funeral directors. The whereabouts of his medals is not known.

See also Thomas Whiles