By John Telfer, History Columnist
With the passing this year of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the nation went into mourning, with many tributes throughout to honour her death and service.
One of those tributes was the lowering of the national flag to half-mast in all cities and towns around the country. It brought back memories of another half-mast flag honour that occurred in Warwick on 12 January 1947, when the Soldier’s Club along with other local places accorded that honour after news of the passing of Major William Chatham, whose courage under fire at Gallipoli saw him enshrined into Anzac history while the place of his bravery on the Anzac Peninsula was named Chatham’s Post.
William Chatham was born in November 1881 at Cradley Heath, Staffordshire, England. He was the son of George Robert Chatham and Sarah Radford of Stourbridge, Worcester, where he spent his early life. He received his education at the prestigious Worcester Grammar School, and his life at this time was devoted to cricket. He became good enough to play county cricket for the famous Zingari Cricket Club and the Dierley Club. At the age of 21, he won the batting and bowling averages for the year and was an astute cricket historian. His peers knew him as a typical English gentleman with many literary interests. He would often quote passages from Shakespeare’s works to his teammates and was an expert in the Bible’s teachings plus an avid reader of world history.
William decided that wonderful opportunities were open in Australia’s rural industry so at the age of 21 migrated to the Darling Downs where he took up farming near Canning Downs just outside of Warwick, in Queensland. At one stage, William met with one of his old masters from Worcester Grammar who came to Warwick to open a secondary college in Guy Street, and William almost quit the farm to use his extensive intellect to teach, but the call of the land was stronger so he returned to farming. He continued his love of cricket in Warwick and although not a frequent visitor to the town, worked his farm until his life was to change in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I. William had joined the local militia, the Darling Downs 5th Light Horse Regiment where he served as a Second Lieutenant prior to his enlistment on 14 November 1914, and retained his rank on enlistment.
William embarked for the war front on board the A34 “Persic” on 21 December 1914. Arriving at Alexandria, Egypt, the 5th Light Horse Regiment was sent to Gallipoli as Infantrymen, as the terrain at the Peninsula was unsuitable for cavalry and so the regiment was sent there to help reinforce the AIF there. It was here that William became part of Anzac history when under fire. On 19 June 1915, William as a lieutenant was given charge of a platoon of 34 men who moved along a strategic ridge called Harris Ridge and came upon a heavily armed Turkish patrol. After an intense exchange of rifle fire, they killed three of the enemy and captured the ridge. They then successfully defended it against continuous Turkish attacks. On 22 June 1915, the High Command was placed under Regimental control and it was decided to name the ridge “Chatham Post”, whereby William’s name was now enshrined forever in the Anzac history of the Gallipoli campaign. It was here at Chatham Post that Billy Singh, the famous sniper of WWI, also firmly implanted a place in Anzac history as a member of the 5th Light Horse when he shot and killed the Turk’s legend sniper, “Abdul the Terrible” along with many other Turks.
From this point William’s war service movements are a bit muddled but from Gallipoli he did spend time in Malta, suffering from dysentery at the Cottenera Military Hospital and convalesced at the Dragonara hospital. Moving back to Alexandria, now promoted to Major on 10 October 1916, William commanded a squadron during the Palestine campaign, under Colonel Donald Cameron. On 29 June 1917, William was mentioned in General Murray’s despatches when he said: “Major Chatham has given Gallant and distinguished conduct in the field, and other valuable service”. William suffered a serious gunshot wound to his leg and endured ongoing issues with dysentery before the war ended. He recovered at a rest camp in Jerusalem before returning to England on 28 June 1919 aboard the “Gloucester Castle”. He was granted 75 days leave in England to gain experience on a stud farm before returning to Australia on HT “Aeneas” on 10 January 1920.
After his distinguished war service, William moved back to Warwick and purchased a farm at Canning Downs until he met an old master from his old English school who had come to Warwick to start up a secondary college. Keen to help. William purchased a property from a local solicitor J.R. Curnow and quit his farm for 12 months to assist in the education of young people until, owing to financial difficulties, the school, much to William’s disappointment, closed down. A friend of William said that: “Reading and education were the two great pleasures in Major Chatham’s life. He missed his vocation in my opinion. He would probably have been one of the greatest school masters in the world because he was imbued with the true ideals of education, chivalry and sportsmanship”.
Later, William purchased a property called “Evandale” before selling it a couple of years later and settled on a Greymare property close by and worked on horse breeding as a form of hobby until his death. William never married but was quite content to live quietly on his property surrounded by his large library of cultured books. Apart from a twelve-month period of hospitalisation at Randwick Military Hospital after his discharge, his wartime injuries hampered him for the rest of his life. His three great friends in Warwick were Major Edward Costello DSO, 11th Light Horse Regiment of Thane, Doctor James Smyth, a local resident of 37 years and President of the RSL Warwick Sub Branch, and J.D. Rowland, President of Eastern Downs Society, who all attended his funeral.
On 12 January 1947, William Chatham passed away in Brisbane and was cremated at the Mount Thompson Crematorium with little fanfare. For a man whose name is forever enshrined in Anzac history when his name was known to all the Anzac troops with the naming of “Chatham’s Post”, perhaps a much larger funeral could have been held. Having a name synonymous with Australia’s first great conflict was a great honour and one of many named after officers and men in that courageous battle on the slopes of the Gallipoli Peninsula. The city of Warwick can take great pride in having William Chatham; gentleman, grazier and soldier, select this area to make his home ten years after the Great War and become part of the community for the remainder of his life.
