Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From Ballarat & District in the Great War

In trying to locate photographs of our local war dead, I have been fortunate to have shared some wonderfully insightful and lively conversations with innumerable people. Enthusiasm is a great tool for unlocking memories – and EVERYONE has a story to tell. It just requires the right approach and the treasures of family stories are gifted to you generously. Many years ago, I made a telephone call to an elderly lady trying to locate a photograph of her uncle who had died on active service. This particular lady was an absolute delight and, not only did she share with me her family stories, she taught me a salutary lesson about the damage done by the Spanish influenza pandemic.

Lynn Gould was the granddaughter of one of Ballarat’s finest entrepreneurs, Harry Davies. When he married Lynn’s grandmother, Mary Ann Scott, in 1882, he had yet to embark fully on his career that would ultimately see him as head of the most successful drapery firm in the city.

Harry Davies was English by birth and, although his wife was Ballarat-born, her roots were staunchly Scottish. The couple had five children in total, but only three would survive to adulthood – the first-born daughter Evelyn Maud, their eldest son, Harry Dent, and the youngest child, Clifford Keith.

The establishment of the Harry Davies store began in 1884 with the purchase of the building known as “Steele’s” in Sturt Street, a few doors up from Doveton Street. As was later noted, the beginnings were modest, with a staff of just 30 people. However, the business flourished and Harry was soon able to purchase the corner premises known then as Thompson’s buildings. A second storey was then added to the existing structure, creating an imposing façade for the growing store.

Increasing trade made it ‘imperative’ for the business to extend further along Sturt Street with a further purchase of Gay’s building. The staff went from 30 to numbering some 360 people. Products were sourced from an office set up in London and provided locals with the finest and latest trends in personal and domestic fittings – everything from ‘…mantles, millinery, fancy laces, ribbons, manchester, dresses, silks, hosiery, haberdashery, underclothing, men's mercery, tailoring, linoleums, and carpets. Patterns solely confined to the firm from Halifax…’

Domestically, life was also flourishing. The family had taken up residence in the grand villa, Norwood, in Webster Street. And both Harry and Keith were given the opportunity of advanced education in highly regarded private schools.

Keith, who is ultimately the main subject of this story, was born at the Webster Street home on 13 November 1897. As a boy he began his schooling at Ballarat College, before continuing on as a boarder to Melbourne’s Scotch College in 1908, where his brother had also studied. During Year IV, Keith was named Class Captain.

Having completed his schooling at Scotch in 1913, and choosing not to follow his brother, Harry, into the family business, Keith continued on to the Wagga Wagga Agricultural College. Given that his constitution was not particularly robust, it was somewhat surprising that he chose a career that was so physically demanding.

During his school days, Keith received a number of years military training with the Senior Cadets. However, due to his move to Wagga, he was exempted from further compulsory training with the Citizen Forces.

Early in April 1914, Harry Davies made the decision to ‘recognise the merit of some of the oldest employees of the firm’ by expanding the business into a proprietary company. The members of the board were Harry Davies (as chairman), his younger brother, Fred. Davies, his son, Harry Dent Davies. Andy J. Taylor, and John Blaikie. At the time, the warehouse was stocked with £10,000 worth of merchandise – the equivalent of nearly $257,000 by today’s prices.

Although Harry was not seen as a ‘public man’ he had a deep civic pride that led him to support numerous aspects of the city. He was particularly interested in mining and was the director of several companies; he was a member of the board of the Eureka Tile Company and was one of the co-proprietors of Her Majesty’s Theatre. With a reputation for being a ‘just and considerate employer,’ it is hardly surprising that he was also known for encouraging members of his staff to branch out on their own in business.

Despite the outbreak of war in August, everything was looking particularly rosy for the firm of Harry Davies Pty Ltd as the year drew to a close. On 26 October, Harry journeyed to Melbourne to oversee the firm’s buying requirements for the Christmas trade. He stayed at his usual room at the Menzies Hotel, and was in seemingly good spirits and excellent health when he retired to bed the following evening. When he failed to appear the next morning and then missed his scheduled appointments, hotel staff anxiously entered the room where they found that the irrepressible 66-year-old had died in his sleep.

News was quickly relayed around Ballarat and tributes poured in for the popular businessman. His son-in-law, Horace Troup, drove to Melbourne to make immediate arrangements for the return of Harry’s body to Ballarat, and the funeral, which took place on 30 October, was one of largest and most solemn seen in the city.

There is no doubt that Harry Davies had provided well for his family – at the time of his death his estate was estimated to be worth some £63,000; he was a millionaire by today’s standards. The company was in the safe hands of his brother, eldest son and the other members of the board.

Of course, at this early stage of the war, Keith Davies was well under age for military enlistment – he was not quite 17 when his father died. According to later newspaper reports, he tried several times to volunteer, but was rejected due to ‘weak constitution’. Certainly, he had poor eyesight that required him to wear spectacles, which would have been an issue during combat, but generally wasn’t considered detrimental by the military authorities. The only known rejection came about because of a fresh appendectomy scar when Keith had been shamed into attempting to enlist by the receipt of a white feather. According to his niece, Keith had been out walking when a woman approached him and handed him the emblem of cowardice. He was far from fit – an operation for appendicitis in 1916 was potentially life-threatening – but, he took that insult to heart.

Determined to join up, Keith persisted until, on 13 February 1917, at the Recruitment Depot in Melbourne, he was finally successful. The ‘appendiceal operation scar on right abdomen’ was noted on his medical examination and his physical development was described good. He was only of average height at 5-feet 7-inches, and slightly under-weight at 132-pounds, but his chest measurement was more than acceptable at 33 to 36-inches. The medical officer recorded Keith’s weak eyesight and an overall description that included his sallow complexion, brown eyes and hair. Keith also claimed to be 20 years-old, a year older than his actual age.

Keith was passed fit alongside his Scotch College classmate and friend from Ballarat, Hugh Curtis Clarkson. The pair were both assigned to the Australian Field Artillery Brigade – Hugh to the 6th and Keith to the April reinforcements to the 12th FAB.

After being accepted into the AIF, Keith initially went into camp at Royal Park. During his time there he received inoculations against typhoid. He was then transferred to Maribyrnong, where the Field Artillery were trained.

On 1 July, Keith was admitted to the No5 Australian General Hospital in St Kilda Road, suffering from laryngitis and tonsillitis. He was also experiencing chest pains and headaches. A smear test was immediately taken, but the result returned negative for any major diseases, so he was treated for simple laryngitis. He was discharged from hospital on 10 July, and returned to Ballarat to recover, but it was recommended that he continue to receive treatment privately. As was usual with the Australian Army during this time, Keith was required to sign an indemnity form absolving them of any responsibility as he sought private treatment at his own expense. He was also required to submit weekly progress reports on his condition.

It took Keith a month to fully recover, and he rejoined his unit at Maribyrnong on 2 August.

In the midst of mounting casualty lists and Keith’s imminent departure for the Front, the Davies family was able to come together for a happy occasion. At St Paul’s Church, Bakery Hill, on 4 September, Harry Dent Davies married Avenel Maud Halls. The church had been decorated by Avenel’s girlfriends, and she looked ‘petite and very fair’ in her gown of white satin and Georgette crepe, and a veil of Limerick lace. She wore a diamond ring and carried a bouquet of orchids and azaleas that were gifts from Harry. And, standing by his brother as best man, was Keith Davies. The reception was held at the Ballarat Town Hall and a particularly fine time was enjoyed by all who attended.

The day before embarkation on 9 November, Keith was given a final physical examination. He then boarded the troopship, Port Sydney, to begin the voyage to Egypt. For Keith the trip was far from uneventful – on 20 November he ‘neglected to obey an order’, and the following day Lieutenant-Colonel F. J. Alverson issued an award of 72-hours detention.

The Port Sydney docked at Suez on 12 December, and, after just a week in Egypt, the men embarked for the Italian coastal city of Taranto. This was the latest passage for ANZAC troops to England – from Taranto, they travelled by train across the continent into southern France. Keith finally arrived in at Southampton on 4 January 1918 and marched into the Reserve Brigade Australian Artillery at Heytesbury in Wiltshire.

On 13 March, Keith sailed for France. He arrived at the Australian General Base Depot at Rouelles the next day. Within days he was on his way to his unit near Crucifix Corner outside Villers-Bretonneux. He was posted to the 47th Battery and warned to prepare for a move to the St Quentin area.

Heavy shelling the following day was a nasty initiation to the Western Front for Keith Davies – 70 horses were either killed or so badly wounded they needed to be put down.

Instead of being deployed to St Quentin, the 12th FAB was sent north to combat the German offensive during the Battle of the Lys. As the German troops advanced on Calonne, the batteries were forced to withdraw ‘at the gallop.’

During June, the batteries began to experience at epidemic of influenza – or what was commonly referred to in Western Europe as “Flanders Grippe”. It was a portent of things to come…

Back in Ballarat Harry and Avenel had set up home in Sturt Street. Their daughter, Lynne Dent Davies, was born in the family home of Logierait (named for the Scott ancestral home in Scotland) on 21 June 1918. She was absolutely doted on by her young parents. At the same time Keith was in the line half a world away at Borre near the Belgian border.

In August, the 12th FAB returned back to the Somme sector to take part in the Battle of Amiens. The unit continued at the Front up to the final withdrawal of Australian troops from the line in October. Keith was with his battery during the support of American troops at Bellicourt and the assault on the Hindenburg Line.

Just two days before the signing of the Armistice, Keith began to feel unwell. He quickly became very ill and was admitted to the 5th Australian Field Ambulance. On 10 November, after having been diagnosed with influenza, he was transferred to the 41st Stationary Hospital in Étaples. By this stage the influenza and already attacked his lungs and he was suffering from broncho-pneumonia.

As his condition continued to cause concern, the decision was made to transfer him to a larger hospital in Rouen; he was admitted to the 10th General Hospital on 22 November. An ‘official wire’ was received by Mary Davies in Ballarat on 23 November, stating simply that her son was ‘dangerously ill.’

As they waited anxiously, no further word was received from Base Records. They were therefore unaware that Keith died on 28 November – another statistic of the growing global pandemic caused by Spanish Influenza. He was buried in the military extension to the St Sever Cemetery as soon as was practicably possible given the highly contagious nature of the disease.

On 10 December, Harry, not knowing that Keith had already died, wrote to Base Records in Melbourne asking for information on his brother’s condition. Again, the days continued to pass without communication, so Harry cabled Melbourne on 16 December asking for an investigation. It wasn’t until 23 December that news of the death of Keith Davies finally reached Ballarat. In a sad twist, his mother had left for Warrnambool that morning and was still unaware of her son’s fate.

Before Keith left Australia, he left his Will, dated 21 May 1917, with his brother, Harry.

‘…I give my gold watch to my brother, Harry Dent Davies; to my nephew and niece, Harry McIntosh Troup and Jocelyn Mary Troup, £200 each to be invested until they attain the age of 25 years; the whole of my deferred pay to Mother; the residue of my real and personal estate I devise and bequeath unto my mother, Mary Ann Davies, my brother Harry Dent Davies and my sister, Evelyn Maud Troup in equal shares…’

Of course, at the time of writing his Will, Keith’s niece, Lynne, had not been born.

As the pandemic worsened, people began to live in fear of the disease. Avenel Davies took to placing her baby daughter in her pram outside in the sun, behind a hedge and away from people, hoping to protect her from the virus.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the Spanish Influenza was the way it attacked the seemingly strong and healthy young adults. When both Harry and Avenel fell ill, pneumonia quickly supervened. They were treated with the available medications and procedures of the time, but both were soon in a very serious condition. Hope was raised when Harry appeared to rally, but, as was often the case with this virus, he suddenly relapsed and died on 20 April 1919.

Within a few short hours, Avenel Davies was also dead, dying the following morning, shortly after four o’clock.

A small orphan baby was the most distressing aspect of the couple’s deaths, and this was not lost on the people of Ballarat, who were reminded that the little girl was completely oblivious of her parent’s demise – but that she would have a lifetime of coming to terms with her loss.

Lynne Gould was about 84 years-old when I spoke to her about her Uncle Keith and she shared with me the grief she had carried for her parents all those long years. Such a tragic irony, that one disease could reach from France to Australia, take two brothers and ultimately destroy what had been such a wonderful family business.

The firm of Harry Davies Pty Ltd, did continue as a Ballarat institution well into the 1950’s, but eventually the business declined and the store was closed. In 1961, McKay’s wreckers crew moved in and demolished one of Ballarat’s landmark buildings. Now, the thriving store that was Harry Davies’ legacy to Ballarat is just a memory, but the threat of global pandemic has reminded us once again that nothing should ever be taken for granted.

Footnote: Keith Davie’s mate, Hugh Clarkson, also fell victim to Spanish Influenza – he died at Rouen on 4 November 1918.