General News
18 January, 2025
Veterans' Voices: George Edward Broughton
George Edward Broughton was born in Harrow to George and Amily Broughton in 1875.
George Edward Broughton was born in Harrow to George and Amily Broughton in 1875.
He was educated initially at Trinity Hamilton and Western District College before attending The University of Melbourne.
George married Mary Grace Mackiehan in 1912.
A birth was registered in 1913 for a baby boy named George Campbell Broughton.
George's occupation before enlistment was grazier at Ballaarook, Coleraine.
He also owned the property Kout Norien.
George served in the volunteer cadets as a corporal, then enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on April 12 1916.
His service number was 24395.
George's rank was driver in the Divisional Ammunition Column 3, Section 1.
His unit sailed from Melbourne on board HMAT A37 Barambah on June 27 1916 and disembarked at Plymouth, England, on August 25.
As a reinforcement, at the formation of the division members were given only basic preliminary training in Australia.
Training was completed in training units in England located on the Salisbury Plain and in surrounding areas in the county of Wiltshire.
The Third Division AIF trained at Larkhill before serving in France.
Preliminary and secondary unit training was followed by further training at brigade and divisional level, with final assessments carried out by the commanding officers.
The men experienced the training done at Larkhill camp, Cosford training camp and various rifle ranges on Salisbury Plain near Larkhill.
On November 2 1916 Driver Broughton was admitted to Fargo Military Hospital, Wiltshire, with bronchitis.
He was discharged to duty on November 9.
George was admitted to hospital again on the following day with influenza.
He was marched into No 4 Command Depot, Wareham, from Larkhill, Wiltshire, on November 20 and sent to hospital the same day.
He was marched in to AAT Depot at Larkhill, Wiltshire, on December 17 and into Bulford, Wiltshire, from Larkhill on December 29.
On January 28 1917 George was admitted to the military hospital at Tidworth, Wiltshire, seriously ill with asthma.
He died in this hospital from asthma, according to his field service form, although several memos within George's service record file give broncho pneumonia as his cause of death.
The summary page in his service record file states on February 2 1917 “Died Asthma 2.2.17”, then on February 13 “NOK [next of kin] informed died from broncho pneumonia not asthma”.
Many letters of correspondence went back and forth between the army and Mary Broughton concerning George's death.
Mary received from the officer in charge of base records at army headquarters on September 28 1922 a memorial plaque in connection with the late 24395 Driver GE Broughton.
George was aged 41 years when he died.
He was buried in Bulford Church Cemetery (Plot 3, Row 1, Grave No 2) in Wiltshire, England.
Fourteen other World War I Australian war graves are located in the same cemetery.
Many of the 71 WWI burials in Bulford Church Cemetery were made from Bulford Camp, one of the military training grounds associated with Salisbury Plain.
The cemetery also contains three World War II burials.
George is commemorated on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour on panel number 21.
His name is also on Kowree Shire's War Honour Roll.
If George had survived his illness, he would have continued serving with his unit, 3rd Divisional Ammunition Column, which played an important role in WWI under very difficult conditions.
Artillery was the defining factor of the Great War.
In post-19th-century conventional warfare, artillery was a dominant component of military combat power.
The nature, range and effect of artillery fire dominated the battlefields of the Western Front in particular on a scale that has rarely been rivalled since.
To sustain this, the logistics of supply meant that keeping ammunition up to the guns at the rates required was an all-encompassing supply chain issue from manufacture through storage, distribution and provision, then disposal of unexploded ordnance and recovery of reusable components.
Each division had an ammunition column to keep supply up to the guns by moving it from “third line” storage up to the front (“first line”).
It was a mammoth task involving motor and horse-drawn transport, heavy and light rail, and tramways.
Ammunition dumps and transport near the front line were high-priority targets for the enemy’s guns and, later, aircraft.
Horse-drawn transport laden with ammunition was a doubly risky business.
Horses were vulnerable to all forms of small arms and artillery and the cargo was such that a hit was generally catastrophic.
It was not for nothing that many drivers received bravery awards.
With thanks: Sally Bertram, RSL Military History Library.
Contact Sally at sj.bertram@hotmail.com or call 0409 351 940.
