Ballarat men at Gallipoli 1

William Kinsey Bolton -
National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an23251721

William Kinsey Bolton, CBE, VD (1860-1941) was born in Cheshire in England.  He migrated to Victoria in 1868. 10 years later he joined the Southern Rifles, a militia group.  He received a commission in 1891, and led the officers' rifle team to victory during the Federation celebrations in 1901.  By the outbreak of the First World War, Bolton was Commanding Officer of the Ballarat based 70th Infantry, and in August 1914, he was appointed commander of the 8th Battalion, which was largely recruited from Ballarat and country Victoria. He was already an older man and not in great health, but he was determined to go to the War.  Unfortunately after participating in the early ANZAC battles, including in particular, that at Krithia, by 22nd May 1915, Bolton's health had deteriorated to such an extent that he was replaced as Commanding Officer by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Brand. There is a rather tragic letter written by him, included in his service records: the strenuous work of the last 3 weeks has been too much for a man of my years...I am broken in body and mind: the horrors at Aitchi Baba [sic] were more than I could stand... As the first CO of the 8th Battalion, Bolton established the standards which were to carry the battalion through later campaigns, and also achieved the enduring reputation of being a CO forever solicitious of his troops' welfare. (1)

Bolton returned to Australia, and received a hero's welcome in Ballarat.  Later he was elected to the Australian Senate, serving from 1917-1923.  In 1918 he was awarded the CMG, and retired from the Army with the rank of Honorary Brigadier-General.

He was the first President of the Ballarat branch of the RSL (Returned Sailors and Soldiers League) and the founding Federal President of the RSL, a position he held from 1916 until 1919.

There is a more detailed biography at the Australian Dictionary of Biography of Bolton, indicating the positives and negatives of his career.  He was accused of cowardice at Gallipoli, but he was able to refute all those claims.

(1) Austin, Ron Cobbers in khaki: the history of the 8th battalion 1914-1918

The 7th and 8th Battalions at Ismailia on the Suez Canal

The 8^th Battalion recruited from Ballarat, central and Western Victoria.  Lieutenant Colonel William Bolton, of Ballarat, originally led the Battalion, and there are many Ballarat names in the Battalion’s rolls.  The 7^th and the 5^th Battalions also carried recruits from Ballarat and district.

The Battalions were encamped at Mena in Egypt and “enjoying” their desert training (things had become monotonous) when news was received at headquarters of a large Turkish force advancing across the Sinai Desert, aiming to capture the Suez Canal and threaten Cairo.  British commanders called up reinforcements to protect the canal around Ismailia, and the reinforcements selected were the two country battalions of the 2^nd Brigade – the 8^th and the 7^th.

Colonel Bolton wrote of the excitement aroused by news received at midnight on 3^rd February of the move to the Suez Canal:

…[the Battalions were] to be ready to march out of camp in one hour…Talk about excitement in the camp…long before the hour was up these two battalions were out on parade and ready to move off…men delighted with prospect of change…whole camp turned out of bed and lined the road to wish us luck and express envy and regret at not going with us ¹

But the excitement was short lived. The Turkish forces were withdrawing by the time the Battalions arrived. Despite being detailed for a pursuit across the Western Sinai Desert, the orders were soon cancelled, and there were “plenty of disappointed faces” as one soldier noted in his diary.

In fact the Turkish advance across the Sinai was disastrous for them, with thousands of casualties, and the ease with which the Turks were repulsed influenced the thinking of senior British commanders, who felt the fighting value of the Turkish soldier was very low.  This thinking was to have profound consequences, when the two armies next met – at the Dardanelles.

 

The 8th Battalion travelled to and from Ismailia on open railway trucks

1.       Austin, Ron.  Cobbers in Khaki: the history of the 8^th Battalion 1914-1918. 

         Slouch Hat Publications, 1997 p.  29   (available in the Australiana Room if you’d like to read more)