Private Thomas Edward KIRBY2 Dec 1890 – 21 Jul 1917
Thomas Edward KIRBY was born at Broken Hill on 2nd of December 1890, the son of Thomas Edward and Eliza Ann Kirby, the family moved to Waikerie whilst he was young but he did most of his schooling at the Scotts Creek State School.
Thomas’ sister, Dorothy married Sid RAINEY also living in WAIKERIE. Thomas was known to one and all as Ted. Ted was an engineer on the Paddle Steamers travelling the river in the employ of Captain Arnold. He left that work when he bought an irrigation orchard at Waikerie. Teds family also had property at Willunga that his parents now lived at, and a property at Montieth near Murray Bridge that the boys helped with.
Teds older brother Richard William KIRBY enlisted into the Australian Imperial Forces on 30th August, 1915. Richard served with the 1st Machine Gun squadron of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. He returned to Australia on 26th June 1919 after serving in Egypt. He also enlisted in WW2, Richard died on the 24th of October 1977.
Ted enlisted into the Australian Imperial Forces on May 25th, 1916 at Murray Bridge and attested at ADELAIDE. On the 12th August 1916, Ted embarked from Adelaide aboard “HMAT BALLARAT” with the 43rd Battalion. They went to Britain for further training. On 17th November 1916, Ted and several others were transferred voluntarily to the 36th Battalion, and on the 22nd of November 1916 preceded with the Battalion to France and the front line.
Ted moved into the trenches of the Western Front for the first time on 4 December, just in time for the onset of the terrible winter of 1916-17. The battalion was in the Ypres Sector of Belgium in mid-1917; this was where the battle of Messines was launched on 7th June.
On the night of 21st July 1917, Ted and 84 others moved forward to attack and take a German strongpoint in front of their position at Messines. They were unsuccessful, discovered during the raid, they were hit by heavy gunfire and bombardment. A large number of those on the raid were killed or reported missing. Ted was one of those reported missing in action. Fourteen of the 85 men returned, the others remained on the battlefield.
Two nights later, other Australians made their way across the front and reported that they had located a body they believed was Teds in a crater in “No Mans Land”. It was reported that Ted appeared to have been killed during the earlier raid and no dog tag was recovered from his body.
Later that day very heavy shelling from both the Australian and German Artillery across the battle field commenced and continued for a long period. Almost all identifiable trace of those lost on the battlefield was lost as the whole of no mans land heaved and turned under the explosive forces.
Teds body was never recovered, nor was his death confirmed at that time. His parents and siblings received word that Ted was “Missing In Action” by telegram on 2nd August 1917. On 19th March 1918, a 36th Battalion Court of Enquiry deemed that Private Thomas Edward KIRBY, identification number 1854, was “Killed in Action on 21st July 1917, In the field, BELGIUM”. The Red Cross began making enquiries into Teds fate, interviewing fellow soldiers and his brother who, as an officer on the raid, had seen Ted early in the raid when he was still alright.
Teds family in Australia were notified that he was officially Killed in Action in June, 1918. None of Teds property could be located and so nothing was returned to the family. Teds family were invited to Montieth Institute Hall in July 1919. There, flanked by returned servicemen, Mrs KIRBY was brought forward and presented a brooch as a memoriam and in appreciation from the community for her family’s sacrifice. Ted is also remembered on the Willunga Soldiers Memorial.
Thomas KIRBY was never found and has no known grave. He is commemorated on the MENIN GATE at YPRES. This gate was one of only two entries into the medieval fortified city. It was through this gate that allied soldiers, including Ted and the Australians, marched to the battlefields of the Ypres salient between 1914 and 1918. After the war, the MENIN GATE was chosen as the site for a memorial to the thousands of allied soldiers who were killed in the area but had no known grave. Opened in 1927, the memorial consists of an imposing archway surmounted by a recumbent lion and it is inscribed with the names of 54,389 dead from Britain and Commonwealth countries.
Every evening since 1927 the Last Post has been sounded under the memorial’s great arch by the local Fire Brigade “Last Post Association” buglers. This was stopped under the Nazi regime in WW2 but immediately recommenced on the very evening they were driven out and has continued unmissed daily ever since.
KIRBY Street in WAIKERIE is named for him. Thomas Edward KIRBY is also commemorated on the Australian War Memorial on the Roll of Honour and on the 1914-1918 Honour Board at the Waikerie Soldiers Memorial Institute and on the War Memorial in the WAIKERIE War Memorial Gardens.
LEST WE FORGET.
