Private George Sweeten Bambery
Service #: 726
Summary
FAMILY LIFE
The Bambery brothers, George Sweeten Bambery (15th July, 1880) and Timothy Bambery (21st September, 1882) were born in Warwick, Queensland. They were the second and third of 12 children born to Timothy (Snr.) and Margaret Bambery. In the early 1890’s, the family moved to Crabbes Creek, before finally settling at Caves Point (Fingal Head) in 1897 where they started oyster farming. By 1911, George had purchased land in South Cooloon, as well as at Caves Point and according to his war record at the time of his enlistment he was working as a labourer. George and his brother Timothy went to Murwillumbah Public School.
APPLICATION
He and his brother were unmarried. They enlisted together on 19 Oct 1914 in Murwillumbah. Timothy receiving Regimental No. 725 and George No. 726, and both were drafted to the 15th Battalion, E Company. Military records state that George was 32 years old stood 5ft 5¼ in (166cm) and weighed 143lb (65kg) with grey eyes and dark brown with speckled grey hair. He had a scar on the palm of his right hand. He had never been vaccinated. He had a small round birthmark on his right thigh. His eye sight was good. George was Roman Catholic. He had a conviction for taking oysters off the river training wall & had been fined.
The 15th Infantry Battalion was raised from late September 1914, six weeks after the outbreak of the First World War. With the 13th, 14th, and 16th Battalions it formed the 4th Brigade, commanded by Colonel John Monash. The 15th Battalion is remembered for its bravery and resilience during World War I
They travelled to Enoggera on 26 Oct 1914, before being moved to Broadmeadows in Victoria for training. Now training for the new recruits began. Firstly, the men received their vaccinations for smallpox, rabies & plague, then a recruit had to be inducted into military forms of discipline, command, and order. This was partially achieved through a program of basic training carried and, in a sense, was maintained for a long as a man was in the service. It involved marching and drilling with the rifle, cleaning and caring for personal equipment and being supervised and inspected in ways quite different to ordinary civilian life. For example, no boots should be allowed to get in a bad state of wear but must be sent to the bootmaker without delay for repair. Men who were found with hair long and unshaven had to have a haircut and shave
Secondly, after basic training there followed the far more serious exercise of turning a man into a fighting soldier at least partially prepared for the kind of warfare he was about to experience overseas. The topics and exercises in the syllabus of training were a world away from their former lives and included daily physical training, entrenching, wiring, firing rifle grenades, firing the Lewis light machine gun, dealing with gas attack, using hand grenades, using the bayonet, and the routines to be followed in the trenches.
This training was then put into practice during what were called ‘Field Days,’ when men would practice using the skills they had acquired in mock attacks both by day and by night. How well men had learnt to use their weapons, in cooperation with each other in training, would be tested in the harsh reality of the front line. Training would take several months
The brothers were part of the original establishment of the 15th Battalion, three-quarters of which was recruited from Northern NSW/ Queensland and the rest from Tasmania. The battalion was united in Melbourne before embarking for Europe in December 1914. They embarked on 22 Dec 1914 on the SS Ceramic with a stopover in Albany, Western Australia. They thought it was the start of a new adventure- for many it was their first time so far away from home. However, after some time at sea the biggest problem turned out to be boredom. Attempts at breaking up the boredom, apart from the regular drill, varied. Shipboard activities included regular church parades and concerts. Troops engaged in lifebelt drill; a cookhouse on deck; soldiers on fatigues peeling potatoes 'spud bashing'; going to the dentist; barber, pay day; soldiers cleaning personal equipment; medical inspection. Sports and recreation included boxing, deck quoits, draughts. Also, the commanding officer's morning inspection; kit inspections; submarine drill; recreation such as the on deck 'open air' library, deck billiards, pillow fighting and card games including Nap. As well, conditions on the ships were cramped and the risk of illness was constant. They disembarked at Alexandria, Egypt on 1st Feb 1915.
EGYPT 1915
Timothy & George’s adventure began after reaching Alexandria in Egypt, on February 1st. The month at sea getting there was followed by a six-hour train trip to Heliopolis and an hour-long march into camp at Heliopolis. Many men kept diaries and the following is an entry from one recording Egypt's brutal weather: "Towering sandstorms blowing like hell. The dust is making a lot of men sick. They are dying at the rate of three a day."
Immediately the 8 companies of the 15th battalion were merged into 4 larger companies (A, B, C, D), with both brothers being moved to C Company under the command of Captain Hugh Quinn. They had already completed their basic training in Australia but over many more tough months, in the Egyptian training camp, the volunteers left their old lives farther behind. They began their training with physical fitness exercises, they were taught individual and unit discipline, how to follow commands, how to march, some basic field skills and how to safely handle his weapons.
Training would be for eight hours a day six days a week. All day long, in every valley of the Sahara for miles around the Pyramids of Giza were groups or lines of men advancing, retiring, drilling or squatted near their piled arms listening to their officer. For many of the battalions many miles of desert had to be covered in the morning and evening to and from their allotted training areas. At first, to harden the troops, they wore full kit with heavy packs. Their backs became drenched with perspiration, and the bitter desert wind blew on them as they camped for their midday meal and many deaths from pneumonia were attributed to this cause.
GALLIPOLI APRIL 1915
After two months training in Heliopolis his battalion returned to Alexandria on April 12 and from there they sailed to the island of Lemnos, off the coast of Greece. On 25 April 1915 the 15th Battalion was part of a combined Australian and New Zealand landing force that came ashore on the Gallipoli peninsula. The intention of the landing was to gain control of the Dardanelles straits and force Turkey out of the war.
George and Timothy were aboard HMS Seeang Bee with the rest of A and C Company when they left Lemnos early on the morning of 25 April. Companies B and D had left the day before on HMS Australind and were stationed off Anzac Cove by this time. The 15th Battalion was assigned as a follow-up wave for the landing at Gallipoli, and most of the Battalion had landed by the night of 25 April however, C Company did not disembark until 9am on 26 April. They were ordered to support the right of the 3rd Brigade
The 15th Battalion did not land until 9 pm, several hours after the first wave of Anzacs had come ashore, which meant that the fighting by that stage of the landing was mainly taking place in the precipitous ridges above the beach.
A diary entry reads-"This morning a fleet of gunboats is bombarding the coast and we are in the midst of them ... Aeroplanes were called in to help. There are more battleships here than I thought the English had. Bombardment is an awful thing. There are a lot of wounded coming from shore”
They were immediately sent into action; they were split up into companies and sent to reinforce other Australian units engaged with the Turks on second ridge. It is believed the Bambery brothers were sent to 400 Plateau, in the region of Lone Pine, which is where both were killed in the fighting over the following days.
A dairy entry reads- “there are plenty wounded. I have carried some dead uns past too. The shrapnel from the Turks is flying over as I write. The Turks bombarded us all day. We lost a few men. Shrapnel has done a lot of damage to us. There are a hell of a lot of killed and wounded ...”
KILLED IN ACTION 26TH APRIL 1915
During the fighting on 26TH April, Private George Sweeten Bambery was killed. The following day (27 April) his brother, Private Timothy Richard Bambery was also killed. Both brothers were lost within the first 48 hours of their arrival at Gallipoli.
Owing to the confusion of the fighting, historical documents do not tell us how the two men were killed, but we know it was in the region where the memorial to the missing at Lone Pine now stands. Their remains were never recovered, and their names are recorded on that monument. Sadly, the family read a newspaper article about another local soldier who stated that George & Timothy were dead.
It is now we need to remember that conditions at Gallipoli defied description as the terrain and close fighting did not allow for the dead to be buried. Flies and other vermin flourished in the heat which resulted in an epidemic of sickness. Of the 213,000 British casualties 145,000 or 67 per cent were due to sickness with the primary causes being dysentery, diarrhoea, rheumatic, and enteric fever.
FOR HIS SERVICE & LONE PINE MEMORIAL
For his service, Timothy was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and the Victory Medal. George’s effects were returned to his mother on 13th December 1915 and consisted of cards, photos & a horse shoe. On 25th January 1916 his mother received a War Pension Claim for both her sons of 52 pounds pa from 1st August 1915
With the brothers having no known grave their names are commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Lone Pine Memorial, co-located with the Lone Pine Cemetery at Anzac, is the main Australian Memorial on Gallipoli. It is one of four memorials to men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The Memorial is on the site of the Turkish trenches and tunnels which were the objective of the Australian 1st Division attack on 7th/8th August 1915.
Most Australians killed on Gallipoli are commemorated here, their original graves having been lost in the interim. As becomes readily apparent, relatively few soldiers are buried in the marked graves in the various cemeteries on the peninsula.
The Lone Pine Memorial commemorates 3268 Australians and 456 New Zealanders who have no known grave and those who succumbed to wounds or disease and who were buried at sea during evacuation to Alexandria, Malta, and the UK; 960 Australians (nearly 1 in 8 of those lost) and 252 New Zealand soldiers were thus accounted for.
Many ANZACs wounded at Gallipoli succumbed to their wounds either at sea or on the nearby island of Lemnos, where several cemeteries are located, and the other destinations mentioned above.
Designed by Sir John Burnet, the principal architect of the Gallipoli cemeteries, it is a tapering pylon 14.3 metres high on a square base 12.98 metres wide. It is constructed from Turkish limestone
The Australian War Memorial has memorialised their names on panel 74 of the Roll of Honour and on the Murwillumbah Cenotaph in Remembrance Park on Tumbulgum Road. The high round column is surmounted by a ball. It is set on a square, on the sides of which are inscribed in marble the names of the 228 soldiers who went from the Tweed district, and who gave their lives for the Empire. On the side facing the main street is tablet telling in gold letters the reason of the erection of the memorial.
Their names are also memorialised at Uki in the park on the corner Rowlands Creek Road & Kyogle Road. This is a tower with clock and bronze plaques which read “In Honour of Those Men and Women of This District Who Served in World War II and In Proud Memory of Those Who Passed from the Sight of Man "Lest We Forget" Commemorating the 2nd A.I.F.”
If you have any additional information about this individual, we invite you to email us at rsl@msmc.org.au.
Memorial Location
Lone Pine Memorial, Uki Memorial
Buried Location
Lone Pine P 45
Gallery
