Great Scot September 2018 Gt Scot_154_September_online | Page 16

Commemoration
Scotch Commemorates World War I
They ‘played the game right
through to the finish’
Scotch College war deaths in 1918
This article concerns the first 26 of the 54 Scotch
Collegians who died as a result of war service
in 1918.
Serving as an artilleryman, RALPH OSWALD
ELLINGWORTH (1912) had survived the
great battle of Ypres in late 1917, only to be
mortally wounded when a shell from his own
gun exploded prematurely on 14 January. His
obituary in The Scotch Collegian stated that ‘his
letters frequently mentioned his meeting other
old Scotch Collegians, both in France and in
England. He expressed the gratitude that he felt
at having had the privilege of once attending
Scotch College.’
GEORGE ROBINSON JOHNSTON (1914),
who enlisted at 19, was evacuated ill from
Gallipoli, and wounded in the thigh and face at
Pozieres. Though given a safe job in the Pay
Corps in England, he sought more adventure
and transferred to the Australian Flying Corps.
George was killed in an air accident on 24
March. The mechanics of his unit made a cross
from a propeller, for his grave.
JOHN THOMAS (known as Jack) TRIM (1915)
was a model Scotch Collegian: in 1915 he was
a Prefect, represented the School in athletics
and football (1st XVIII) and was a champion
swimmer. He won a prize as ‘most popular boy
in the school’. By August 1917 Jack was part of
General Monash’s 3rd Division in France. On 30
March 1918 Jack’s artillery unit repelled seven
waves of attackers. Eventually Jack was mortally
wounded in the chest and fell across the trail of
his gun. He said ‘I’m done’, but also urged his
mates to ‘Fight on; there’s infantry depending on
you in front.’
GEORGE RICHARD ROUSE (1902) enlisted
at 30 in 1916. He was sometimes in trouble with
authority before joining the 39th Battalion in
France in mid-1917. On 31 March 1918 he was
taking rations to the front when he was shot in
the lung and died almost immediately.
Lieutenant PERCIVAL FRANK NICHOLSON
(1900) was 33 years old and just five feet five
inches tall when a large shell fragment struck
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Great Scot Number 154 – September 2018
him in the neck and killed him near Villers-
Bretonneux on 5 April. A fine sportsman, Percy
had represented Victoria in lacrosse.
GEORGE ERIC MILNE (1910) was also
short — five feet four and three-quarter inches
tall – on enlistment at 22. He had a remarkable
career. He fought at Gallipoli, where he rose
from private to company sergeant major. In 1916
George became a lieutenant, serving through
Pozieres and the battles of 1917. In April 1918,
now a captain, George earned a Military Cross
for ‘conspicuous gallantry and able leadership’
in repulsing an enemy attack at Albert. While
moving between trenches two days later, he was
struck by shell fragments and mortally wounded.
FREDERICK EYTON (entered Scotch 1875)
was an unusual Scotch war death. He was a
munitions worker in England when he died,
possibly of influenza, at age 56. His occupation,
listed officially as ‘Australian Munitions Worker’,
entitled him to a Commonwealth War Grave.
MURRAY GLADSTONE PATTEN (1905) won
prizes in senior English and History at Scotch
in 1905. He excelled at Melbourne University,
completing his MA at 20. He studied Philosophy
in Europe, achieving a doctorate at Freiburg,
Germany. After enlisting in the British Army in
1915, Murray fought in the battle of the Somme,
and was afterwards promoted to captain. In
1917 he won a Military Cross and was wounded.
He was killed during a German attack at Crucifix
Corner on 14 April.
FREDERICK GEORGE DOUGHARTY (1894)
enlisted at 39 in 1916. Even at his relatively
advanced age, the traditions of Scotch animated
him, for he wrote to his father: ‘I think as an old
public school boy, it is not quite a sporting thing
to watch others.’ After long training in England,
he joined the 12th Battalion in France on 11 April
1918. Just 12 days later a sniper shot him dead
at Meteren. At his wife’s direction, Fred’s epitaph
reads: ‘DULCE ET DECORUM EST/PRO PATRIA
MORI’.
DUNCAN MCHUTCHISON (1905) enlisted
in July 1916, a month before his brother Ross
(1913) was killed at Pozieres. Duncan was just
five feet four and three-quarter inches tall. At
Millencourt on 24 April 1918 he was killed by a
German shell after leaving his dugout for a few
minutes. In one of his last letters, Duncan wrote:
‘I have enjoyed every moment of it, and would
not have missed it for anything.’
JOSHUA ALEXANDER (known as Alexander)
FORRESTER (1903) landed at Gallipoli on
25 April 1915. He was twice wounded there,
in the hip in April and in the face at Lone Pine
in August, but both times he soon returned.
Promoted to corporal, he was wounded a third
time, in the ankle at Pozieres in 1916. A fourth
wound, a severe one to the right thigh, followed
in April 1917. By May 1918 Alexander was a full
lieutenant, but while leading a patrol on 2 May,
a sniper’s bullet struck the 31 year old in the
abdomen and killed him at Meteren.
ROBERT BRUCE NELSON (1902) enlisted in
Western Australia, aged 31. He suffered several
bouts of debilitating illness before being killed in
action in France on 19 May. His lieutenant wrote
of him: ‘He died doing his duty as an honourable
and true soldier.’
ROBERT ALEXANDER (known as Bob, Alec
or Rick) LITTLE (1912) was the most eminent
and famous Old Scotch Collegian killed in World
War I. He was Australia’s most successful fighter
ace. In 1915 he travelled to England to earn a
pilot’s licence, and then join the Royal Naval Air
Service. From November 1916 he flew Sopwith
Pups, triplanes and Camels and by July 1917
had shot down 28 aircraft. He was aggressive
and apparently fearless, and won promotions –
eventually to captain — and British and foreign
decorations. On 27 May 1918 while attacking
enemy bombers, a bullet from one of them or
from the ground, struck and mortally wounded
him. At his death he was just 22, and had shot
down 47 aircraft. On at least one occasion he
flew with wingtip streamers in the school colours
of cardinal, gold and blue.
ARTHUR HILTON (known as Hilton) DIGHT
(1889) was six feet four and a half inches tall and