George Alfred Cook Lt

SAPPER JOHN GEORGE HOPE 5550 – 1st Tunnelling Company

Born at Plattsburg, New South Wales (NSW) on 4 March 1892, John, known as Jack, was the son of John George and Lily (nee Baldwin) Hope.

He completed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ and signed the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ at Wallsend, NSW on 30 May 1916. A Wheeler by occupation, he named as his Next-of- Kin his mother, Mrs. L Hope of Hill Street, Plattsburg.

A medical examination the same day recorded that he was 24 years old, stood 5ft 8ins tall and weighed 150 pounds. He had a dark complexion, grey eyes and black hair. He was of the Methodist faith.

Training began with “G” Company, Depot Battalion, Newcastle on 12 June 1916 and was transferred to “D” Company on 23 June. He was appointed to the Tunnelling Reinforcements and then transferred to the Miners Reinforcements at their Training Camp at Seymour, Victoria on 5 July 1916.

John George Hope [top row, left] Taken at the Miners Reinforcements Camp, Seymour, Victoria courtesy John Salway

516 Tunnellers Reinforcements departed Melbourne, Victoria on October 25, 1916 at 1.30pm aboard the transport HMAT A38 Ulysses, John Hope being one of them. The Australian coastline disappeared from view on October 30, 1916 with the port of Durban reached at 11.30am on November 13, 1916. They felt the effects of the wind going around the Cape and arrived at Cape Town at 7am on November 19. Freetown in Sierra Leone was the next port of call where they arrived on 29 November. Their departure was delayed until December 14, 1916 as it was not safe to proceed further. Ulysses arrived at Plymouth, England on December 28, 1916, after 65 days at sea, with the troops disembarking at 1.30pm and entraining for Tidworth.

5798 Sapper George Oxman, (later of the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company) recorded the voyage in his Diary:

Dec 5. It took 1½ hours to take 1000 men ashore for the afternoon. We have to pay 6d each for the loan of the punts. We were fastened with ropes with one punt to the other coming back, the rope broke and we were drifting out pretty quick but the tug boat soon had us back again. Not too clean of a place. The women stand in a stream and wet their clothes they are washing and place them on a flat stone and then belt into them with a flat piece of wood like a bat. Dec 9. Had to get some coal and fresh water. The officers went ashore to buy some fruit to sell to us they wouldn’t let us buy off the natives so when they came back with the fruit - none of us would buy it off them. Dec13. 29 Big boats in here now. Dec 14. Left for England with four other transport auxiliary cruiser escorting us. Dec 25. On the sea between Gibraltar and England it has been very foggy. We had roast pork for Christmas dinner and some baked scones. They were as hard as rock. Dec 26. Very foggy torpedo boats came to escort us in the rest of the way. Got our kit bags out of the holds. Dec 28. We had nothing to eat from 7.30am to 3.30pm. We had to buy some cakes during the last week on the boat. We held the Dead March on a roast they gave us (250 of us) for our dinner. We marched up to the top deck with it, all the rest of the men were watching us and laughing. We got roared up a bit after it but we didn’t care. Got on the train at 4pm. Got to Perham Downs camp at 11pm. Nothing to eat from the military until 8 or 9 the next morning. Then we had two tablespoons of boiled salmon and spuds and a mug of tea. Mud from 1-6 inches deep.

Jack produced a ‘Digger’s Diary’ recording his time overseas:

Diggers’ Diary Left England on the 28th Jan for France arriving at Boulogne. Left the boat and marched 3 kilos to a camp called one blanket hill, very cold and miserable. We slept there one night and marched the next day to Etaples, a distance of about 26 kilos, with our full packs. We had five days at Etaples. I left there on the morning of the 3rd Feb. for the line. Caught the train there which took us to Poperinghe and then we marched 3 kilos to where the company was camped what we had to join which was the 1st A.T.C. on the morning of the 4th Feb.

Left camp on the 7th for Hill 60 where we worked constantly till the morning of the 7th June when the hill was blown up at the Battle of Messines. We had many exciting time going in and out of the trenches but Fritz never managed to get us. After the hill went up we had to go over the top and put two lines of communication trenches in and we did it in record time and never had a casualty.

After the advance the company moved to Dranoutre but our section and another went to Mont Kemmel where we used to sleep and go out in the day putting advance roads down on Messines Ridge around the blown up country. We put plank roads down in the following places Wytschate, St. Eloi, Hollebeke, Spoil Bank. We worked in those places and then went to our camp at Dranoutre. Stopped there for one night and went to St. Omer for a fortnights rest. We had a good time there and was very sorry when the time came for us to leave. We returned to Dranoutre and continued to put advanced roads down. During this time Fritz used to shell us pretty heavy we had a good few casualties there. After we finished there we went back to Ypres and found ourselves on the well known Menin Road. A road feared by all for he was continually shelling it day & night. Our first job was putting dugouts down in Glencourse Wood for a dressing station. We had to carry timber a distance of 3 kilos after dark as he could see you too well in the daytime but we had to abandon the job owing to the nature of the ground and a good thing for us too.

After that half of the company went to Hooge Crater to put in a dressing station and the other half to Cambridge trench to put down dugouts.

After we finished Hooge we went to Half-way House and put in some very big dugouts. We left there and went to Westhoek and worked there putting down shafts and dugouts. We put a lot down but had to abandon them as the ground was too bad. We got three down successful and made some big dugouts for the Artillery. We were on a couple of jobs putting observation posts in the front line at Passchendaele. When they were finished we started a big job at a place called Kit-Kat corner on Westhoek Ridge. We were half way through it when Fritz found out we were working there.

He shelled it all the afternoon and at night opened out with gas shells. He put hundreds over and that is where I got gassed on the 13th March. I left there and went to camp and from there I was taken to the 8th Field Ambulance where I was left for six days.

I was taken from there to a C.C.S. at Bailleul and stopped there two days. They could not get us away straight off as Fritz was shelling the station. I left there for Boulogne and stopped at a hospital for 4 days and was taken down to a hospital ship which landed at Dover. They put us in a train and landed at Horton County of London War Hospital. I stopped in bed there a month. I was up for 2 weeks and then sent to Dartford Hospital in Kent. I was there for four days and was marked B.2.B. for Australia. I went to Weymouth from there and came a big gutser. I stopped there a couple of months and was sent to 4 Command Depot, Hurdcott. I got my furlough there and spent 2 days at Wigan and the rest at Llandudno, Wales.

I went back again to Hurdcott and had nearly 3 months there and it was such a God forsaken hole I was glad to get away from it. I got another 4 days leave and when I returned I had my teeth fixed up and was sent to the O.T.B. near Warminster. I had nearly a month at that camp and after John George Hope going on 4 days leave was sent back again to France. Left Warminster on taken while on leave in Wales courtesy John Salway the 8th Oct. for Southampton where I stopped in a camp for one night and left the next day for Le Havre, our base in France. I stopped at Havre for 5 days and then left for the line to rejoin my unit. We landed at Rouen early in the morning and had the day there. The train left about midnight landing at Peronne about 4 p.m. next day. On the way up we passed through Amiens but it is knocked about a good deal. I stopped one night at a rest camp in Peronne and left the next day for Cartigny about 8 kilos out from Peronne. I joined my company up on the 13th Oct. exactly seven months to the day. We stopped there for a week and then left for Busigny. I don’t know how many kilos but a good few. We went from there in a few stunts and lost a good few men. We had a job at St Souplet putting down bridges. The worst job the company had while we were there was putting a bridge over a canal at Cartillon just near Fritzes line. The British R E’s were working with us and more than half their company got wiped out. We had a lot of casualties there.

We had a lot of work around there taking out mines, a job I did not care too much about. We were at Busigny when word came through that the Armistice was signed. The troops there just took it like an every day occurrence. We stopped there for a week after and then started on our march to Germany. Our first stop for the night was Felleries we slept there two nights and moved off the next day. On the march that day I saw the first snow for the year just on the Belgium & French border. We stopped that night at Mont Blair in a barn but I was that tired I did not care where I slept. We left the next day for Cerfontaine and stopped there for a week. While we were there I bought some steak it cost me 10 francs and then I never had half enough and it was tough as an old boot. We left Cerfontaine and marched to a small village called Chaumont. While we were there I paid a visit to Charleroi, not a bad sort of a town. Left Chaumont after resting there for five days for Marbaix las Sour. We had a lot of work there taking out mines. We had to take mines out of a tunnel one day & Fritz had some there too. It had ten shafts down right on the top of the tunnel at one end and eight at the other and the tunnel was mined form end to end. There was also a bridge over a big canal and the bridge was full of mines. It took us nearly a week to get rid of them all. At this place there was some very old ruins of an abbey destroyed by Napoleon II. They were worth looking over but I did not have a chance.

We were on a job one day taking out a mine in front of an estaminet and the old woman was that pleased to see it getting taken out that she kept the beer up to us till the job was finished but you can’t get drunk on this beer over here.

We left Marbaix La Sour and marched to Sombreffe. We had a pretty good time there as we rested 2 months and we got to know a lot of the people. I went to Brussels twice while at Sombreffe. On the way to Brussels the train stopped at Louvain where we changed. That is the place Fritz half burnt out in 1914. I had a good time while there but we only had a day and you can’t see too much. But the next time I went I got to Brussels at 8.30 am & did not leave till 5.30 pm so I saw a good bit of it.

We left Sombreffe for Chatalet where I am at present. We are living two of us with some civils. We have a double bed between us so we can’t grumble. It is not too bad here there is cinema’s to go to and skating. I had a letter from Arthur telling me that he is at Dance, a place I marched through when I was coming here. We had a very good time at Chatalet and left there on the 3rd April for Charleroi where we stopped for two days. We then entrained on the 5th April for Le Havre. On our way down we passed through the old battle fields of Mons, Valenciennes, Douai, Arras and finally landed at Harfleur after a 30 hour trip in the train. We then marched from there to Havre. We had our rifle & equipment taken from us on the following day and jolly glad to get rid of it.

See also on this site: Western Front Units/1st Australian Tunnelling Company/Easter Raid 1917; /25th April 1917; /The Hindenberg Line; /Sambre Canal – 4th November 1918

On 3 April 1919 John left 1ATC and marched in to the Australian General Base depot for return to Australia. He left France on 10 April and marched in to No.1 Group at Longbridge Deverill on 11 April.

John George Hope was a member of 1ATC from March 1917 until his return to Australia in May 1919. In that period he worked at Hill 60 in the preparations for the Battle of Messines Ridge. He also most likely worked on the digging of the Catacombs at Hill 63.

He may have been involved with the Easter Raid of April 1917 and the accidental explosion of 25 April 1917 which killed 10 members of his unit.

He would also have been involved with operations on the Hindenberg Line in September 1918 when 20 members of 1 & 2ATCs where decorated. He also worked on the construction of the Hooge Crater dugouts.

John left England on 31 May on board HT Aeneas, disembarking at Melbourne on 12 July 1919. Discharged from the A.I.F. in Sydney on 19 September 1919, he was entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

A ‘Welcome Home’ was tendered to Jack Hope on by the Elmore Tunnel Colliery.

courtesy John Salway

In 1925John married Sarah Jane Sanders. The 1930 thru 1936 Electoral Rolls record John George Hope, Ambulance driver, living at 14 Thalaba Road, New Lambton with Sarah Jane.

In June 1939 the medical and service documents of John George Hope were provided to the Repatriation Commission, Sydney.

The 1943 thru 1958 Electoral Rolls record John George Hope, Station officer, living at 4 North Avenue, Cessnock with Sarah Jane.

A later 1958 Roll records John George Hope living at 5 Ambrose Street, Toronto with Sarah Jane.

John George Hope died on 22 January 1960 after a brief retirement and a long career in the NSW Ambulance Service.

In 1963 Sarah Jane Hope is recorded living at 266 Maitland Road, Cessnock.

Sarah Jane Hope died on 7 September 1964 at age 64. John George Hope - 1947 courtesy John Salway

John’s brother also served in WW1:

PRIVATE THOMAS ARTHUR HOPE 59860 – 55th Infantry Battalion

With his parent’s written permission, Arthur, as he was known, signed the ‘Attestation paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’, and the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’, on 27 May 1918 at Newcastle, NSW.

He stated he was born on 18 March 1898 at Wallsend, NSW and was a clerk by occupation. As a single man he named his mother Mrs. Lily Hope of Hill Street, Wallsend as his Next-of-Kin.

A medical examination on the same day recorded that he was 20 years and 4 months of age; that he was 5ft 6ins tall and weighed 130 pounds. He had a fair complexion, grey eyes and dark hair and was of the Methodist faith.

On 29 July he was appointed to N.14. G.S.R. (14th (N.) General Service Reinforcements) at Liverpool, NSW, and embarked at Sydney on board H.M.T. SS Gaika on 30 July 1918.

Disembarking at London on 13 October 1918, he marched in to the 14th Training Battalion and was allotted to ‘Reinforcements 55th Infantry Thomas Arthur Hope Battalion’ the same day. He proceeded overseas to France on 25 January courtesy Min Hope 1919 and marched in to the A.I.B.D. (Australian Infantry Base Depot) at Havre. On 31 January he was taken on strength of the 55th Infantry Battalion.

On 3 March he was attached to DADOS (Deputy Assistant Director Ordinance Services), Australian Corps. [no records for ‘DADOS Aust Corps’ are held by AWM – other DADOS were responsible for receiving and disposing of stores and equipment from demobilising units which would have been a massive undertaking and clerical skills would have been most welcome]

On 12 May he re-joined his Battalion at Havre and on 14 May marched out for return to Australia, leaving France on 22 May. Arriving in England on 23 May he marched in to No.5 Group, Weymouth. Arthur left England on 8 July 1919 on board Friedrichsruh, disembarking at Sydney on 4 September. He was discharged from the A.I.F on 19 September 1919, entitled to wear the British War Medal.

Arthur married Isabella O’Donnell in 1926. Isobelle, known as Bell, was born in 1904, the daughter of Patrick Henry and Isabella (nee Fryar) O’Donnell.

The 1930 Electoral Roll records Thomas Arthur Hope, storekeeper, living at Main Road, Abermain with Isabel Hope. Between 1934 and 1954 the Rolls record Thomas Arthur Hope, storekeeper, living at Elizabeth Road, Abermain with Isabel Hope.

In April 1959 his service and medical documents were provided to the Repatriation Commission, Sydney, in response to a claim for benefits.

Thomas Arthur Hope died on 7 August 1959 at Kurri Kurri, NSW aged 61 years.

Isobelle O’Donnell was born in 1904, the daughter of Patrick Henry and Isabella (nee Fryar) O’Donnell.

Pte George Baldwin, included in the Elermore Tunnel Welcome Home above, was a cousin of John George Hope. [George Baldwin’s father was the brother of Jack Hopes’ mother]

65717 Private George Wanless Baldwin enlisted on 1 June 1918 at Newcastle. He named his mother Mrs. Jane Baldwin of Hill Street, Wallsend, as his Next-of-Kin.

George embarked on 4 September 1918 on board H.T. Bakara, disembarking at London on 14 November.

He proceeded overseas to France on 22 January 1919 and was taken on strength of the 3rd Infantry Battalion on 29 January 1919.

He was attached to DADOS Aust. Corps on 22 February George Wanless Baldwin 1919, re-joining his unit on 22 courtesy Margaret Kirk April.

George left France on 15 May and left England on 2 August on board Argyllshire, disembarking at Sydney on 22 September 1919.

Discharged from the A.I.F. on 8 October 1919 he was entitled to wear the British War Medal.

George married Stella Ray Riley in 14 November 1925 at Cessnock. In 1930 George was an ambulance man living at Edden Street, Bellbird.

His documents were provided to the Repatriation Commission Sydney in April 1958.

In 1972 George was still working as an ambulance man at 1918 - Hurdcott Camp, England: Bellbird. George Wanless Baldwin died in 1975. George Baldwin, standing, with his friend and cousin Thomas (Arthur) Hope courtesy Min Hope © Donna Baldey 2017 www.tunnellers.net with the assistance of John Salway, grandson of John George Hope; Marie Pugh, daughter of Thomas Arthur Hope; Frances Wilkinson, great niece of John George Hope and Margaret Kirk.