Newfoundland’s Gallipoli

“Ptes Stanley and George Abbott of the Newfoundland Regiment were my grandmother’s brothers. I remember that picture of them at her house. My Dad’s sister has it now. They made it through Gallipoli only to be struck down at Beaumont-Hamel.” (Mike Barrett, comment Beaumont-Hamel)

George and Stanley were sons of Henry and Emily Abbott of Battery Road in St. John’s. When they were killed July 1st, 1916, George was 22 and Stanley 21.

At Gallipoli, about 40 Newfoundland men died. The 1st Newfoundland Regiment landed September 20, 1915. The battle had been going on since April 25th. It lasted until January 9, 1916.

ANZAC Day

The other Allied forces there were from the UK, France, Australia and New Zealand. The ANZAC troops, from Australia and New Zealand, proportionately lost the most men. Gallipoli was their Beaumont-Hamel; the battle that will always stay in their memory, that defined them as nations.

…And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda…

Johnny Turk he was waiting, he primed himself well…
And in five minutes flat he’d blown us all to hell…

(Eric Bogle – here it is, beautifully presented).

April 25th is Anzac Day, a day of remembrance each year in New Zealand and Australia. And in Newfoundland. “The Newfoundland Regiment commemorates Anzac Day, a unique tradition in the modern-day Canadian Forces. Every 25 April the regiment marches through St John’s to the National War Memorial…” (NZ History).

Beaumont-Hamel has such a strong presence in Newfoundland and Labrador’s memory that it’s easy to overlook battles like Gallipoli. A commemorative newspaper tells the story of Newfoundland’s Gallipoli. Below is the text (the whole paper is online – and is worth reading).

“When Britain declared war in August 1914, Newfoundland, which was a colony of Britain at the time and not yet a part of Canada, responded quickly and began recruiting men for overseas service.

The fighting in the First World War occurred in more places than just Western Europe. On September 20, 1915, the 1st Newfoundland Regiment landed on Turkey’s Gallipoli peninsula, joining British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops already there. Gallipoli would be the Newfoundlanders’ first experience of the horrors of trench warfare—artillery fire, snipers, punishing heat and cold, and disease caused by living in such harsh conditions.

Caribou Hill

In November they earned their first battle honour when they captured ‘Caribou Hill’—named after the animal that represented their regiment. These soldiers later successfully covered the withdrawal of Allied troops from the region, being among the last to leave in January 1916. Approximately 40 Newfoundlanders had died there, a grim taste of the great casualties the regiment would soon suffer on the Western Front.”

Christopher Morry tells his grandfather’s story in the book When the Great Red Dawn Is Shining. Howard Morry of Ferryland fought at Gallipoli, fought at Beaumont-Hamel, and came home to Newfoundland. Lucky man!

Those buried at Gallipoli

I could not find the names of all the men of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment who died at or due to Gallipoli. Below are the names of 22 who are buried there.

Bewhey, E.
Blyde, M. J.
Brown, J. M.
Carew, D. M.
Dunphy, J.
Ebsary, H. E.
Ellsworth, J.
Fitzgerald, J.
Hardy, W. F.
Hiscock, S.
Hynes, J. J.
Knight, G. S.
Lodge, S.T.
McWhirter, H. W.
Morris, R.
Murphy, W. J.
Roberts, F.
Roper, F. C.
Simms, G.
Squibb, J.
Tibbo, J. J.
Wighton, C. Capt.