Mount Gambier, Springsure, Dalton and Gunning: Alchins & WW1

 

Mount Gambier, Springsure, 

Dalton and Gunning: Alchins & WW1

by Garry Norman Smith

        A number of Alchin men have varying histories relating to World War One – The Great War. 

Many more with name Allchin also have similar relationships with The Great War. But let’s limit this discussion to those with name Alchin and leave the name comparisons for another story.

        Despite the first two Alchins mentioned here coming from South Australia and Queensland respectively, both have forebears dating back to County Kent in England as do my own Alchins from New South Wales, Gunning, Goulburn, Crookwell and Dalton especially.

        Archie Ernest Alchin (born Allchin) was born and raised in Mount Gambier, South Australia. His forebears go back into the 16th century to Warwickshire and Kent, his grandfather, Christopher Wood Allchin became an early settler in Mount Gambier in 1841.

        I have placed Archie in my current research about Alchins and WW1 because he enlisted as Alchin but later had the army officially change his name back to Allchin.

Archie Ernest Allchin

Archie Ernest Allchin was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia in 1880. He was an early enlister in the 1st AIF on 18 December 1914. He was 33 years old and had some training as a member of the Mount Gambier Scottish Regiment. 

It was not until 1918 that Archie was sent to France. He was not destined to see any action but rather spent interminable hours in the headquarters of the 3rd Australian Infantry Brigade; his civilian occupation as a clerk led Archie to be separated from the fighting. He was eventually discharged in Adelaide, South Australia in June 1919.

Stewart Reeve Alchin

Stewart Reeve Alchin was a Queenslander, born in Springsure in 1887. Like other Alchins, Stewart has a long history back to County Kent, England. His father and grandfather came to Queensland from Poplar, London, England.

Stewart was a well borer by trade. He enlisted at the age of 27 years on 1 April 1915. He was assigned to the 4th Light Horse Field Ambulance as a driver. 

He left Brisbane on 16 June 1915 with assignments to the engineers and later the field ambulance. He moved on from illness, including mumps, in Egypt but like his distant cousin Archie Ernest Allchin, he was destined to be removed from the battle. His war was spent as a driver, moving essential supplies, including a stint with the 17th Light Railway Operating Company in 1917. He arrived back in Australia in 1919.

Ernest Alchin

Ernest Alchin was born and raised in Dalton, New South Wales in 1892, the son of James Alchin and Hannah Bush. On enlistment on 26 July 1915, his occupation was recorded as “Farmer”. He enlisted at Liverpool near Sydney and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Battalion.

The attestation sheet for Ernest records that he was 5 feet 8½ inches tall, weighed 126 pounds and had hazel eyes and brown hair. His next of kin was listed as his mother, Hannah Alchin not his father James Alchin, who was still alive in Dalton in 1913.

After his arrival in Egypt Ernest was transferred to the 5th Machine Gun Battalion as a Driver. After 2 years operating in the battlefields of France on the Western Front Ernest remained unscathed. It was a severe case of appendicitis in October 1918 that brought Ernest undone; he was invalided to England and returned to Australia from England with renal calculi (kidney stones) and discharged in May 1919 as medically unfit.

Arthur Montague Alchin

Arthur Montague Alchin was a Gunning lad, born on 28 August 1898. His parents were Albert Noah Alchin and Louisa Susannah Borman. Arthur was the second of eight children and became a mail driver after leaving school.

He enlisted in 1st AIF at Goulburn, New South Wales on 26 April 1916; Arthur’s father had died in 1913 so his mother was listed as his next of kin, living at Waratah Street, Gunning.

Arthur was posted as a private with the 3rd Reinforcements to the 35th Battalion; he embarked from Sydney on 24 August 1916. He finally reached  the battlefield in France in November 1916. He was wounded in action in July 1917 but soon re-joined his unit.

The Battle of Passchendaele Ridge took place in terrible weather, with torrential rain that filled shell holes to neck deep and created mud so thick it often stopped men in their tracks and clogged their weapons.

Arthur Montague Alchin

Private Arthur Montague Alchin, No. 2027, AIF 35th Battalion, was among the shower of earth, mud and barbed wire that accompanied the German bombardment on 12 October 1917. Machine gun fire from pill boxes cut down soldiers as they emerged from trenches and shell craters. Informants from his company reported seeing Arthur being wounded but details of his death on that day vary.

There is some agreement that Arthur was killed by a shell that exploded near him after he was wounded. Arthur has no known grave.

The author of this piece is currently researching a printed work on Alchins who had a relationship with World War One – The Great War. Some of the 21 men being researched – from New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia – enlisted and served; some attempted to enlist but were unsuccessful in that attempt. Three of the 21 were killed in action.

The Author, Garry Norman Smith,

with WW1 German Trench Mortar, Hahndorf, South Australia