Virtual
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Australia

William Donald Cosgrove was born in August, 1875. He lived on East Street, Magill in Adelaide, South Australia. At the time of his enlistment he was married to Mrs Ellen Cosgrove and had one son. His occupation was as a jockey.

William enlisted on the 20th of September, 1915 at the age of thirty years and one month. He was put into the 1st Australian Remount Unit, 3rd squadron; with the rank of trooper and the regimental number 654.  He enlisted after his brother, Stewart Lionel Cosgrove 1281. Who enlisted on the 16th of August, 1915 and was put into the 11th Light Horse Regiment, 6th Reinforcement; at age of 18 years. Stewart returned to Australia on the 5th of March, 1919.

The Remount Units were made up of more experienced army personnel or men with skill in the area of horses because of their occupation; with an age limit of 50 years. The remounts trained horses and mules to be used in or assisting with the war. So because William was a jockey by profession he was placed in this unit for his skill and experience with horses.

The Australian Remounts were assembled on the 21st of September, 1915 at Maribyrnong, near Melbourne for training. This place is known as Remount Hill and has history with horses even before the remount unit set up camp there.

Of the 170 000 horse were sent to war, one returned from overseas. This horses’ name was Sandy, he was trained at the Maribyrnong depot and belonged to Major General Sir William Bridges. Sandy was believed to be buried at Remount Hill in 1922; his grave site is lost but his head is preserved at the Australian War Memorial in recognition of all the horses that assisted in World War One.

The remount unit left from Melbourne on the 12th of November, 1915 on board the ORSOVA A67. The unit arrived at Suez on the 8th of December, 1915. Their first assignment was to train 198 horses, to assist Batteries arriving shorty from Australia.

William was moved to the hospital in Maadi for influenza on the 5th of December, 1915. Fifteen days later the rest of the unit embarked from Suez to Maadi. He was discharged from the hospital on the 5th of February, 1916.

The need for horses on the battlefront became less and the remount unit was cut by half in numbers and merged the 1st and 2nd remounts to one unit on the 4th of March, 1916.

On the 31st of July, 1916 William was discharged and moved to the hospital in Abbassia for gastritis, then he was moved from there to the hospital in Heliopolis where he stayed for five days and then moved back to re-join his unit.

Finally, on the 5th of August, 1916 the unit was cut in numbers again; which this time William was cut, probably because his health or fitness condition was lacking. On 17th of August, 1916 William embarked from Suez on a Borda to return to Australia.

William Cosgrove was then issued a Star, this medal was given to soldiers who enlisted in 1914/15, to congratulate them for signing up the start of the war to face fatal and unknown danger for their country. He was also awarded a British War Medal and the Victory Medal; these medals were given to the soldiers that had survived the war.

Bibliography

Nation Archives or Australia 2016, NAA: B2455, Cosgrove W D, Australian Government, accessed 20 March 2016, <http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3427989>.

Black, A 2015, Australia the story of us, issue two, Pacific Magazines.

UNSW Australia 2015, William Donald COSGROVE, ADFA, Canberra, accessed 12 March 2016, <https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=63430>.

Raafat, S 1996, Aussies in Maadi, Digger History, accessed 14 March 2016, <http://diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/ww1/maadi.htm>.

SJ Hardy, 2009, Remount Section AIF, accessed 17 March 2016 <http://alhresearch.tripod.com/Light_Horse/index.blog/1972038/remount-section-aif-the-training-of-a-remount-by-lieutenant-sj-hardy-royal-scots-greys>.