Trove Tuesday: Leslie Leister died at Fromelles 19/20 July 2016

Leslie Leister (1894-1916), the half-brother of my husband’s grandfather, was one of the 2,000 soldiers  killed at the battle of Fromelles one hundred years ago on 19 and 20 July 1916 and one of the 250 soldiers who were buried in a mass grave by the Germans after the battle.

I have written before about Leslie at F is for Fromelles and about the delays in his parents finding out about what happened to him at K is for King and Country .

There are now more newspapers digitised and available through Trove.  Among more recently digitised newspapers is the Western Champion from Parkes, New South Wales, Leslie’s home place. The Western Champion includes a photograph of Leslie in its article about Leslie’s fate. 

The article also explains the creation of the list that Leslie was included on which was compiled by the Germans from the identity discs of the soldiers they buried. It was only in late 1916 that soldiers were issued with two identity discs.  When the Germans buried Leslie and the other soldiers they took the identity discs to compile the list and notify the British that they had done so. Thus there was no disc with the body.

In 2010 Leslie was among the soldiers identified when the mass grave created by the Germans in a hurry during the battle was excavated. A cousin’s DNA was used to identify him. He has been reburied in the new cemetery at Fromelles.  The inscription we chose for his grave is the same one used to remember him on his family’s grave at Parkes.

FOR KING AND COUNTRY. (1917, March 29). Western Champion (Parkes, NSW : 1898 – 1934), , p. 8. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113524459

L is for Eliza Leister

I have decided to continue the story of Leslie Leister by writing about his aunt, Eliza, who became his foster mother.

Eliza Way was born 22 August 1865 on Brittons Dam Station, Kitticara, near Murrumburrah, New South Wales. Her father John Way (1835-1911) was a shepherd. She is named Elizabeth on her birth certificate.

Eliza was the sixth child of John and Sarah (1837-1895). The birth certificate stated three males living and two children deceased. There was a mistake on the certificate, Eliza in fact had three older sisters, and a boy and a girl had died before she was born. There were also four younger siblings.

• • Louisa 1855-1926
  • William John 1857-1758
  • Mary Jane 1859-1859
  • Mary Ann 1860-1938
  • Sarah Jane 1863-1898
  • Elizabeth / Eliza 1865-1940
  • Emily 1868-1952
  • Harriet Elizabeth 1870-1879
  • John 1872-1896

from an advertisement in the Grenfell newspaper in 1868

• Martha 1874-1875

From the birthplaces of her siblings we can see that the Way family had moved to Grenfell by 1868, when Emily was born. John’s occupation was then as a sawyer. In 1870 Harriet was also born in Grenfell, “near Reece’s foundry” (‘The European Iron Foundry’). John was still a sawyer. In 1872 his son John was also born at Grenfell. In 1874 when Martha was born in Parkes, John Way’s occupation was as a miner.

By the 1890s, and perhaps earlier, the Way family were living at Bogan Street Parkes.

Eliza’s sister, Sarah Jane, married Robert Whiteman, a miner on 12 July 1882 at Parkes. They had two children: Robert Henry, born 1883, and Mary Ann, born 19 August 1884. Six months before Mary Ann was born, Sarah Jane’s husband Robert  died of pneumonia after an illness of four days. Sarah Jane probably relied on her parents and sisters for help in bringing up her two infant children. Sarah Jane remarried on 26 September 1894 in Melbourne to John Young, a miner, who had spent some time in New South Wales, presumably including a period in Parkes.

On 13 August 1894, just before her second marriage, Sarah Jane gave birth to a boy, Jack Walsh Whiteman. The father was not named on the birth certificate. The birth was registered on 21 September, with Sarah Jane the informant. Her mother had been a witness, assisting at the birth. There was no doctor and seems to have been no other nurse or midwife.

It appears that Sarah Jane left her baby Jack behind with her mother in Parkes when she went to Melbourne to marry John Young.

Sarah Way, the mother of Sarah Jane and Eliza, died on 7 April 1895 of what is described on the death certificate as biliary colic and an impacted gallstone. The length of her illness was described on her death certificate as chronic. Four of Sarah’s daughters were married: Louisa in 1873, Mary Ann in 1883, Sarah Jane in 1894 and Emily in 1892. Four children had died. Eliza and John junior were unmarried and probably still living with their parents. It would seem to have become Eliza’s responsibility to care for the grandchild Jack.

On 1 July 1896 Eliza married Robert Watson Duncan Leister at her father’s residence in Parkes. The witnesses were Hugh Leister and Caroline Harrison.

Robert Leister was 25 years old, a blacksmith, born at Maryborough, Victoria. His father was a carpenter. Eliza was 29 and her occupation was given as “living with her father”.

From Leslie Leister’s war record, we know that Eliza was his foster mother. We don’t know when Jack’s name was changed to Leslie. There were no formal adoption laws in New South Wales at this time. The first legislation in NSW to regulate adoption was the Child Welfare Act 1923. (Releasing the past : adoption practices, 1950-1998 : final report / Standing Committee on Social Issues. [Sydney, N.S.W.] The Committee, 2000. – 1 v. (various pagings); 30 cm. (Report 22, December 2000) (Parliamentary paper; no. 600) retrieved from https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/56e4e53dfa16a023ca256cfd002a63bc/$FILE/Report.PDF 12 April 2014)

Robert and Eliza continued to live with Eliza’s father John at Bogan Street, Parkes. When John died in 1911, Robert Leister is given as the informant on his death certificate. John’s will left his estate to his daughters Eliza and Louisa and appointed Eliza as his executrix.

Taking load of wheat to silos by horse – Corner of Bogan & Dalton Streets, Parkes, NSW. , 1925-26. Image from the State Library of New South Wales retrieved from http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10508626 The Way and Leister families lived two blocks away on the corner of Bogan and Church streets.

Robert Duncan Leister died on 31 March 1925 at Bogan Street, Parkes. He was 56 years old. His occupation was upholsterer. He had been ill for several years with chronic nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) and for 24 hours with uraemia (the illness accompanying kidney failure). He had been 26 years in Victoria and 30 years in New South Wales; he had arrived in New South Wales about a year before he married Eliza. Robert and Eliza had no children of their own.

In 1929, William Charles Waine, husband of Eliza’s sister Mary Ann, died in Orange. By 1930 according to the electoral rolls, Eliza was living at Byng Street, Orange. She had no family left in Parkes. Perhaps she was helping her sister or perhaps they enjoyed each other’s company.

Eliza died after a car accident in February 1940. She was hit by a car when walking to church.

 

Eliza is buried at Orange. The grave at Parkes beside her husband remained empty. Parkes is 100km from Orange and there were no other members of the family living in Parkes at the time of Eliza’s death.

grave of Robert Duncan Leister at Parkes Cemetery

 

grave of Eliza Leister at Orange Cemetery

K is for King and Country

When writing on F is for Fromelles, I wrote about Leslie Leister, my husband’s great uncle who was killed at Fromelles in 1916. This blog entry is looking at the official
correspondence which survives in his World War I dossier, NAA:B2455, Leister Leslie, between the next of kin and the Department of Defence following the death in World War I of Leslie Leister. Ten years after his death, his aunt and foster mother, Eliza Leister, was receiving correspondence from the War Office concerning her son.

When Leslie Leister died in 1916, he was first reported missing.  The day before the battle on 19 July he had written to his adoptive parents, His aunt and uncle Robert and Eliza Leister. They received that letter in September.

On 5 October 1916 Robert Leister wrote seeking further information about Leslie. (NAA:B2455, Leister Leslie folio 56)

NAA:B2455, Leister Leslie, folio 56

Robert Leister received a reply dated 11 October 1916 advising that

no further particulars are yet available regarding this soldier. You will be promptly notified upon receipt of any later information. (folio 55)

On 15 September 1916 the Deputy Post Master General wrote to Base Records seeking news of Leslie having seen that he was reported missing in the 199th casualty list of 28th August. (folio 58) Before enlisting, Leslie had been employed at the post office in Newcastle.

…

CASUALTIES. (1916, August 28). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 5. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15687503

On 13 March 1917, Leslie’s casualty record was amended that he had previously been reported missing but was now reported killed.  The authority for this change was a letter from the war office. (folio 22)
 

DIED IN GERMANY. (1917, March 26). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 10. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15720120

Family Notices: Roll of Honour. (1917, March 31). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 12. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28101225

On 3 April 1917 the Deputy Post Master General wrote seeking information about Leslie’s death:

With reference to your communication of the 23rd September last, stating that No. 4840, acting Corporal Leslie Leister, 55th (late 3rd) Battalion, was officially posted “missing” on 20th July last, I have to intimate a paragraph appeared in the “Roll of Honour” Sydney Morning Herald, of the 31st ultimo, stating that Private Leslie Leister died of wounds in Germany on 4th November last. Will you kindly advise me whether this refers to the soldier mentioned above, and if the date of death given is correct. (folio 54)

On 17 April 1917 the Mutual Life and Citizens’ Assurance Co. Ltd. wrote to base records seeking a certificate of death and identification particulars  for Jack Walsh known as Leslie Leister as he was insured with the company. (folio 52)

On July 10 1917 Robert Leister signed a receipt for a package of the effects of the late No 4840 Acting Corporal L. Leister, 55th Battalion consigned ex “Beltana”.  These effect comprised motor goggles and a card. (folios  46 and 49)

Connellan & Pearce, solicitors of Parkes, wrote several time to the Base Records office seeking a certificate of death. Their letter of 3 October 1917 referred to a letter on 4 September and another on 24 September. Probate of his will could not be obtained without the death certificate. (folio 39)

On 29 July 1921 the War Records Office wrote that they had been unable to find any trace of the last resting place of Leslie. The office requested

to have on loan any letters or communications that contain any reference tot he circumstances surrounding his death, particularly the exact locality at which it occurred, or where he was last seen alive. Of course any information you may have received as to his burial would be of the greatest assistance. (folio 33)

Robert Leister replied

I am unable to find the letters I would have liked to send you. One letter lost from the Sydney Red Cross & told my nephew was killed at Fromelles July 20th 1916 & that his name was on the German list. One letter was from a soldier that knew him well. They had reached the German’s Front-line at Fromelles & early in the morning of July 20th 1916 he saw him killed with a shell. Our boys was then retreating. My Nephew would be buried by the Germans.(folio 33)

On 28 November 1921, Robert Leister wrote in response to a query by the War Records Office on behalf of his wife advising that Eliza was the only person entitled to the War medal as she was his foster mother and aunt and his will was left to her. (folio 32)

On 7 August 1922 Robert Leister wrote to Base records acknowledging receipt of the Memorial Scroll but advising that the King’s Message had not been enclosed. (folio 30) The receipt for the Memorial Scroll was signed February 14 1922. (folio 31) 

Eliza Leister signed a receipt for a Victory Medal in connexion with the late Pte. L. Leister on 27 February 1923. (folio 26)

From the record below, the final folio of Leslie’s personal dossier, Eliza was sent information in 1926 about Leslie’s name being listed at V. C. Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial in France. This was ten years after Leslie had died.

NAA:B2455, Leister Leslie, folio 62

F is for Fromelles

Leslie Leister (1894-1916), the half-brother of my husband’s grandfather, was one of the 250 soldiers who were killed at the battle of Fromelles in July 1916 and buried in a mass grave by the Germans after the battle.

Fromelles is said to have been the worst 24 hours in Australia’s history. There were 5,533 casualties and about 2,000 men were killed in one night. (McMullin, Ross. “Disaster at Fromelles.” Wartime 2006. Australian War Memorial. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. <http://secure.awm.gov.au/wartime/36/article.asp>.)

After the battle many men lay dead in the area occupied by the Germans. It was summer and the rotting bodies had to be dealt with quickly so the Germans buried the dead British and Australians in pits near a wood.  The Germans sent the identification tags of the soldiers they had buried to the Red Cross so relatives could be informed. Leslie Leister’s name was on the Red Cross list.

Although many bodies were recovered after the war and reburied in Imperial War Graves Commission cemeteries, the bodies in the graves at Fromelles were not. Lambis Englezos, an amateur historian from Melbourne, began a project to identify the grave site.  Eventually he convinced the Australian government to commission an excavation and the bodies were located and reinterred, with DNA samples taken for identification. 124 soldiers have been identified using DNA, forensic science and historical data.

In February 2009 my husband Greg received a phone call from a researcher and former police officer, Tim Lycett, about the excavation of the soldiers from the Fromelles battlefield.  Although there had been several news stories I hadn’t paid any attention because at that time I didn’t know there was a family connection. Tim worked with other researchers, including a genealogist called Sandra Playle, to identify men who might be buried in battlefield mass graves.

In November 2009, one of Tim and Sandra’s stories appeared in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald.  They said about Leslie Leister:

But the real eureka moment was Lesley Leister: “It took months,” says Playle. ”We had nothing but an adoptive name as a starting reference and still we uncovered the truth about his illegitimate birth, identified his true parentage, established his birth name and located his descendants. Oh, we did a little jig with that one!” (Totaro, Paola. “Face to Face with the ‘lost’ 85 Diggers of Fromelles.” World News. Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Nov. 2009. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. <http://www.smh.com.au/world/face-to-face-with-the-lost-85-diggers-of-fromelles-20091106-i25h.html>.)

We had seen the gravestone of Greg’s great-great-grandparents, John and Sarah Way (1835-1911 and 1837-1895), in Parkes cemetery. Their grandson Leslie Leister is mentioned, but as a nephew. Beside the Way grave is the grave of Robert Leister (1871-1925) and we assumed that Leslie was a nephew of Robert’s and did not understand that he had a more direct connection to the Way family.

Gravestone at Parkes photographed March 2009.  The inscription reads: In memory of our dear father John Way died June 11, 1911: aged 76. And our dear mother Sarah Way died April 7,1895. Aged 58. Also our dear brother John, died April 21, 1896, aged 24. Erected as a memorial of our loving nephew Leslie Leister killed in action in France July 20,1916. Aged 22. At rest.

Greg’s great-grandmother Sarah Jane Way (1863-1898) married twice.  Her first husband was Robert Whiteman, by whom she had two children. He died of pneumonia in 1884. Ten years later she married John Young (1856-1928) in Melbourne. Sarah Jane had also had a third child, Jack Walsh [Whiteman] born on 13 August 1894 at Parkes in New South Wales, just weeks before her marriage to John Young. The child’s father is not recorded on the birth certificate. Leslie Leister was brought up in Parkes by Sarah Jane’s sister, Eliza (1865-1940), who married Robert Leister in 1896.

The information to trace the family history is there in the World War I dossier, NAA:B2455, Leister Leslie. In his letters to the Defence department, Robert Leister always refers to Leslie as his wife’s nephew. The linking document is a letter from the Mutual Life and Citizens Assurance Company at folio 52 which refers to his birth name. Without that information we might never have identified him.

folio 52 of NAA:B2455, Leister Leslie

We believe this is a photo of Leslie Leister. It was in a family album and Leslie is the only soldier who fits within the family tree who is not otherwise identified.

Leslie enlisted on 2 October 1915 at Holsworthy Barracks near Sydney.  He had been working as a postal assistant at Lambton, Newcastle, New South Wales. On 8 March 1916 he embarked for Egypt on the troopship HMAT A15 Star of England. In 21 April 1916 at Ferry Post, on the Suez Canal, he was transferred to the 55th Battalion. On 29 June he sailed with the 55th on HMHT Caledonia from Alexandria to Marseille. On July 19 he wrote to his adoptive parents from “somewhere in France” that he was quite well. Robert and Eliza Leister received that letter on September 9. On July 20 Leslie was dead, killed at Fromelles.

Photograph from the Australian War Memorial image id A01562.  Unknown photographer. Portion of the German 2nd line held by the 31st Battalion, AIF, throughout the night during the Battle of Fleurbaix which took place on 19 July 1916 and 20 July 1916. Note the attempt at consolidation. This photograph was taken during the morning of the 20th July whilst the Germans were re-occupying their old position. Note the three German soldiers at rear. Retrieved from https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A01562/ https://www.awm.gov.au/blog/2008/07/18/the-worst-night-in-australian-military-history-fromelles/ : For a long time afterwards many would refer to the events about to unfold as the battle of Fleurbaix, but eventually the name of Fromelles stuck and today it is by that name that the battle is known.

 

Leslie Leister is one of the soldiers who was identified. His grave in the new cemetery is marked with the same inscription as his grandparents’ grave at Parkes.

Related posts:

• K is for King and Country : looking at the official correspondence which survives in Leslie Leister’s World War I dossier, NAA:B2455, Leister Leslie, between the next of kin and the Department of Defence following his death
• L is for Eliza Leister : concerning Leslie Leister’s aunt and foster mother

Remembrance Day

The grave of Trooper Philip Champion de Crespigny of the 2nd Australian Light Horse Brigade of Bendigo VIC, who was killed in action on 14 July 1918. This is the original grave which has been incorporated into Jerusalem War Cemetery. Photographed by Oswald Hillam (Ossie) Coulson Australian War Memorial photograph B03314

We seldom pause to remember the men and women, including our relatives, who died in the First and Second World Wars.

This short list includes only our closest relatives.

World War 1

• William Stanley Plowright 1893 – 1917
  • died 26 March 1917at Lagnicourt, France and is remembered at Villers Bretonneux Memorial
• (and we remember also his mate Johnna Bell 1893-1918)

• Philip Champion_de_Crespigny 1879 – 1918
  • died 14 July 1918 at Musallabah Hill, Jordan Valley, Palestine and is buried at Jerusalem War cemetery

• Milo Massey Cudmore 1888 – 1916
  • died 27 March 1916 at St Eloi, France and remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial

• Leslie Leister 1894 – 1916
  • died 20 July 1916 at Fromelles, France

• Vyvyan Westbury Hughes 1888 – 1916
  • died of illness on  28 April 1916 in Colombo, Sri Lanka

• John Percy Young 1896 – 1918
  • died 9 November 1918 in England from the effects of a mustard gas attack in France and buried Brookwood Cemetery

• Selwyn Goldstein  1873 – 1917
  • died 8 June 1917 at Loos, Belgium and buried Poperinghe New Military Cemetery

• Walter Fish 1878 – 1915
  • died 13 July 1915 at Gallipoli and buried Shrapnel Valley Cemetery

• William Alfred Fish  1890 – 1917
  • died 9 October 1917 at  Passchendaele, near the town of Ypres in West Flanders and buried Oxford Road Cemetery

World War 2

• Frank Robert Sewell 1905 – 1943
  • died 22 February 1943 in Queensland of illness and wounds having served in New Guinea

• James Morphett Henderson 1915 – 1942
  • died 11 June 1942 in Off West Africa killed in a flying battle

Trove Tuesday: Obituary for John Young (1856 – 1928)

From OBITUARY. (1928, November 3). Williamstown Chronicle (Vic. : 1856 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved August 27, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article69525217

John Young was my husband’s great grandfather.

He was the oldest surviving son of George Young and Caroline née Clarke. He was born at Dunolly on 27 August 1856. His father was a gold miner and the family moved around the rushes until settling at Lamplough as can be seen from the birth places of the children:

• George born and died at Beechworth about 1854
• John born 27 August 1856 at Dunolly
• Alice born  1859 at White Hills near Maryborough
• Charlotte and Harriet, twins, born 1861 at Lamplough
• Maria born 1863 at Lamplough
• Rachel born 1865 at Lamplough
• Caroline born 1867 at Lamplough, died 1876
• Edmond born 1870 at Lamplough died 1876
• Annie born 1872 at Lamplough and died 1873
• Laura  born 1874 at Lamplough and died 1876
• William Robert born 1876 at Lamplough
• James Ernest born 1878 at Lamplough

With the birth of the twins at the Lamplough rush of 1860, the family didn’t move on. George bought land and the family settled in the district.

John worked as a miner.

He travelled to New South Wales and, according to his death certificate, spent six years there.  In Parkes he met a widow, Sarah Jane Whiteman née Way. They married in Melbourne on 26 September 1894 at 430 Bourke Street according to the rites of the Church of Christ.   Their residences stated on the marriage certificate was that he was living at Bowenvale and she was at the Mechanics Hotel, Bourke Street.

Sarah Jane had two children by her first marriage, Robert born 1883 and Mary Ann Whiteman, Mary Ann was born on 19 August 1884, seven months after Sarah Jane’s first husband died of pneumonia. Sarah Jane had a third child, Jack Walsh Whiteman born 13 August 1894 at Parkes, just weeks before her marriage to John Young. The child was born to an unknown father and stayed in Parkes to be brought up by Sarah Jane’s parents and sister. He was renamed Leslie Leister; Sarah Jane’s sister Eliza marrying Robert Leister and the two of them brought up the boy.

John and Sarah Jane had three children together:

• Caroline born and died 1895 at Timor (near Bowenvale)
• John Percy 24 August 1896 at Bowenvale
• Cecil born 5 July 1898 at Rokewood

Sarah Jane died of following the birth of Cecil on 6 July 1898 at Rokewood.

The two young boys were brought up by John’s sisters. In particular by Charlotte who had married George Wilkins and lived at Homebush, near Avoca. The boys also spent time with Harriet who had married William Richards and lived at Clunes.  The era was not one where widowed fathers brought up their children.  John continued to work as a miner at Bowenvale and Betley just south of Dunolly.

Sarah Jane’s oldest two children stayed very close to the Young family; for example visiting Charlotte and writing frequently to their two young half-brothers (we have a collection of post cards from the young Jack Young which he collected through his child hood).

At the end of his life, John Young lived with his step daughter Mary Ann and her second husband, Henry White Nichols, in Henry’s house in Seddon, also known as Yarraville.  According to the electoral rolls, John was still living at Betley in 1924.  I do not know of any connection to Beveridge as mentioned in the obituary.

John died on 23 October 1928 after a three month illness from arterio sclerosis and cardiac failure.  He is buried at Footscray cemetery.