St John's Cemetery - Parramatta

St John's cemetery, Parramatta, is the oldest burial ground in Australia. It contains the remains of notable persons associated with the foundation of the colony and many graves of those who arrived with the First Fleet. The first interment is James Magee, a convict’s child, buried on 31 January 1790. The first burial marked with a stone memorial was of Henry Edward Dodd on 28 January 1791. Henry Dodd, Superintendent of Convicts at the Government Farm, is noted for growing the first successful wheat crop in the colony.

St John's cemetery site is a place of cultural heritage. Many early landholders, whose names reflect local suburbs, are buried here. D’Arcy Wentworth of Wentworthville, John Harris of Harris Park, several members of the Blaxland family, Mary Kelly of Kellyville, Mary Pymble of Pymble and John Thorn of Thornleigh are buried there. Other notable burials include Reverend Samuel Marsden, Chief Cleric of the colony, Minister at St Johns Cathedral for almost 50 years, Robert Campbell of Campbell’s Wharf and Duntroon, noted as the father of Australian commerce, two Governor’s wives, Mrs Elizabeth Bourke and Lady Mary Fitzroy, two Assistant Commissaries John Palmer and Thomas Freeman, many pioneer missionaries and seventeen marked graves of those who arrived on the first fleet.

WW1 -Christmas Day 1915 and Football Match

On Christmas Day 1915, soldiers from both sides of the trenches met up in ‘No-Man’s-Land’ for a game of football. Nothing official was kept of this brief meeting between the enemies.

Bertie Felstead, the last known survivor of that football match, died at the age of 106 in July 2001. He was a member of the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Bertie Felstead remembered the following:

On Xmas Eve, he was stationed in northern France with his colleagues near the village of Laventie when he heard the Germans in a trench 100 meters away singing "Silent Night". In reply, the Royal Welch Fusiliers sang "Good King Wenceslas".

On Xmas Day, after some shouting between both trenches, he and his colleagues got out of their icy trench and greeted the Germans. Bertie Felstead recalled that the Germans probably were already out of their trench before the British left theirs. He claimed that nothing was planned and that what happened was entirely spontaneous.

A football was produced from somewhere – though he could no re-call from where. "It was not a game as such – more of a kick-around and a free-for-all. There could have been 50 on each side for all I know. I played because I really liked football. I don’t know how long it lasted, probably half-an-hour, and no-one was keeping score."

The truce ended when a British major ordered the British soldiers back to their trench with a reminder that "they were there to kill the Hun not to make friends with him."

The mood of Christmas friendliness was shortly broken by the firing of British artillery. Bertie Felstead described the Germans as "all right".

Health Effects of WW1

World War One had profound consequences in the health of the troops. There were about 60 million military personnel who went to war between 1914 to 1918. Out of 60 millions - 8 million were killed, 15 million were seriously injured and 7 million were permanently disabled. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%. In Germany civilian deaths were 474,000 due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition.

By the end of the war, famine killed 100,000 people in Lebanon, 5 million to 10 million from Russian famine. By 1922, there were between 4.5 million and 7 million homeless children in Russia as a result of World War I. By 1930s, the northern Chinese city of Harbin had 100,000 Russians and thousands emigrated to France, England, and the United States.

In Australia, the effects of the war on the economy were no less severe. The Australian prime minister, Billy Hughes, wrote to the British prime minister, Lloyd George, "You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies." Australia received ₤5,571,720 war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been ₤376,993,052. 416,000 Australians served in the war and 60,000 were killed & 152,000 were wounded.

In 1914, louse-borne epidemic typhus killed 200,000 in Serbia. Russia had about 25 million infections and 3 million deaths from epidemic typhus (1918 to 1922). In 1918, a major influenza epidemic spread around the world and flu pandemic killed at least 50 million people.

Indian Victoria Crosse recipient soldiers - WW1

Indian Victoria Crosse recipient soldiers

 

Name	Unit	Place of Action	Date of Action
Khudadad Khan	129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis	Hollebeke, Belgium	1914
Darwan Negi	39th Garhwal Rifles	Neuve Chapelle, France	1914
Gabar Negi	BB03939th Garhwal Rifles	Neuve Chapelle, France	1915
Mir Dast	55th Coke's Rifles	Wieltje, Belgium	1915
Chatta Singh	Garhwal Rifles	Battle of the Wadi, Mesopotamia	1916
Lala	41st Dogras	El Orah, Mesopotamia	1916
Shahamad Khan	89th Punjab Regiment	Beit Ayeesa, Mesopotamia	1916
Gobind Singh	Garhwal Rifles	Peizieres, France	1916
Badlu Singh	14th Murray's Jat Lancers	River Jordan, Palestine	1918

WW1 - Indian Soldiers - Manta Singh

Manta Singh was born in the Punjab, northern India. Soon after leaving the school, he joined the 2nd Sikh Royal Infantryin 1907.  By August 1914, when the German army invaded Belgium and France, Manta held the rank of Subedar, and his regiment was part of the Indian Expeditionary Force sent to France

In March 1915 the Allies attacked Neuve-Chapelle and broke through the German front line. On the first day of the battle, British and Indian troops captured the town. British and Indian troops suffered 13,000 casualties in three days fighting. About 20 per cent of the Indian contingent – were killed in heavy fighting, and Manta Singh was injured in action after helping to save the life of an injured officer, Captain Henderson

Manta Singh was sent back to England, to a hospital in Brighton. The doctors told him that he would have to lose both his legs, as they had become infected with gangrene. Manta refused to think about going back to India with no legs – what use would he be to his family? Unfortunately, he died from blood poisoning a few weeks later. He was cremated in a ghat, according to Sikh beliefs.

In the Second World War, the sons of both of Manta Singh and In the Second World War, the sons of Manta Singh and Captain Henderson
served side by side and became lifelong friends served side by side and became lifelong friends.

In 1993 Manta Singh's son, Lt Col Assa Singh Johal, was part of a delegation of the Undivided Indian Ex-Servicemen's Association that visited the Indian war memorial at Neuve-Chapelle. Assa Singh said, "It was a moving visit of great sentimental value to us. We were able to remember and pay homage to the fallen in foreign lands."

Indra Lal Roy - Indian Soldier - WW1

Indra Lal Roy was India's only officially accredited air ace of the First World War, destroying 5 aircrafts in 170 hours of flying time, achieving ten 'kills' prior to his death in action in July 1918.

Roy was born in Calcutta on 2 December 1898. He was educated in England and was attending St. Paul's School in Kensington (since 1911) when war broke out in August 1914, then aged just 15.

In April 1917 Roy enlisted with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and was given a commission as 2nd Lieutenant on 5 July 1917. Within a week Roy was training at Vendome. Roy was assigned to 56 Squadron at the end of October 1917 after Gunnery practice.

While on a sortie in December 1917 over France and Germany, Indra Lal Roy's aircraft was shot down by Germans in 'No Man's Land'. After lying unconscious for three days, he was picked up by British troops and sent to a British military hospital in France. He was given up for dead and sent to the mortuary. At the mortuary, however, he regained consciousness.

Following a spell of recuperation - during which time he occupied himself sketching aeroplanes, many of which have survived - Roy underwent further remedial training in England. Nevertheless pronounced medically unfit Roy was successful in getting the verdict reversed before returning to France on 19 June 1918.

Assigned to George McElroy's 40 Squadron "Laddie" Roy amassed ten air victories (two shared) in a short period from 6-19 July, including three in a single day in under four hours, 8 July. Three days following his last victory, on 22 July 1918, Roy was killed in action, shot down in flames in the skies above Carvin while fighting German Fokker D.VII aircraft belonging to Jasta 29.

Roy was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in September 1918. To this date he remains the sole Indian air ace. He is buried at Estvelles Communal Cemetery.

Indra Lal Roy’s nephew Subroto Mukerjee was also a fighter pilot who became the first Indian Chief of Air staff of the Indian Air force.

 

WW1 - Indian Soldier - Badlu Singh

Badlu Singh

 

Badlu Singh was a Hindu Jat born in Dhakla Village, District Haryana, India. He was born on 13^th January 1876 and died in action on 23^rd September 1918

He was a Rissaldar (commander of a risala - mounted troop) in the 14th Murray's Jat Lancers, attached to the 29th Lancers (Deccan Horse)

The 29th Lancers were sent to France, part of the 8th (Lucknow) Cavalry Brigade of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division. They served, at times, in the trenches as infantry before being withdrawn to fight in Palestine.

Badlu Singh died in action and he was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. His VC is displayed on rotation at The Lord Ashcroft Gallery: Extraordinary Heroes exhibition, Imperial War Museum.
 

"Risaldar Badlu Singh was attached to 29th Lancers when "on the morning of the 23rd September 1918, his squadron charged a strong enemy position on the west bank of the river Jordan, between the river and Kh. es Samariyeh village.

On nearing the position, Risaldar Badlu Singh realised that the squadron was suffering casualties from a small hill on the left front occupied by machine guns and 200 infantry.

Without the slightest hesitation he collected six other ranks and with the greatest dash and total disregard for danger, charged and captured the position, thereby saving very heavy casualties to the squadron.

He was mortally wounded on the very top of the hill when capturing one of the machine guns single handed, but all the machine guns and infantry had surrendered to him before he died.

His valour and initiative were of the highest order."  London Gazette of 27th November, 1918

He was cremated where he fell but his name is inscribed on the Heliopolis (Port Tewfik) Memorial in Egypt.

Leigh Memorial Uniting Church - Parramatta

Leigh Church is located in the heart of Parramatta. Leigh Memorial embraces a family and community focused, multicultural and inter-generational approach to worship, with a program that includes morning and evening services and dynamic learning, social and creative opportunities for everyone. Leigh Church is named after the first Methodist minister, The Revd. Samuel Leigh (1785-1852). He arrived in Parramatta in 1815. In 1821, a chapel was opened in Parramatta and a large building was built in 1839.

In 1883 a tender was circulated for the design of the present church, “to have a spire, organ chamber, galleries and two vestries”. The walls were specified to be of brick and stone, the fittings of kauri and the size to accommodate 650 persons. The total cost was not to exceed £5,000. Leigh Memorial Church was opened in 1885. In 1905 the building was modified under the supervision of Messrs.

Leigh Memorial Uniting Church (formerly Methodist)
119 Macquarie Street, Parramatta NSW 2150

Private Roland Walter Lofts - WW1

Roland Walter Lofts was born on 11th November 1898 in Parramatta. He is son of Edwin Arthur and Fanny E Lofts of Harris Street, Granville. Ronald was a draughts man before enlisting at the age of 18. He was enlisted on 17th October 1917. His service number is 4861. He sailed for the front on 19th December 1917 travelling to England via Egypt, Italy and France. After undergoing a period of training in England he went over to France in July and was with his Battalion, the 4th Pioneers, near. Amiens. His parents received word from the military authorities that he had on 8th September severely fractured his ankle. Writing from the Kitchener Hospital, Brighton, Private Lofts informed his people that ‘he was making a good recovery and hoped to be back in France before long'. He served in France and came back to Australia on 5th February 1919. 

St John's Cemetery

 

St John’s Cemetery, the oldest existing European burial ground in Australia, was established on the southern outskirts of the Rose Hill settlement in 1790.

 

There were ten burials in the cemetery by the end of 1790 and a further 67 in 1791. The death of Henry Edward Dodd, 28.1.1791, approximately one year after the first burial in the cemetery, has given Parramatta two important firsts. Dodd was Superintendent of convicts employed in cultivation at Rose Hill and his was the first public funeral in the colony. His headstone is the earliest in situ in Australia. It was an indication of the esteem in which Henry Dodd was held that when the colony was facing famine, a headstone was provided. It simply inscribed, H. E. Dodd 1791.

 

The site is outstanding as a place of cultural heritage and a true pioneer cemetery. Many early landholders, whose names reflect local suburbs, are buried here. D’Arcy Wentworth of Wentworthville, John Harris of Harris Park, several members of the Blaxland family, Mary Kelly of Kellyville, Mary Pymble of Pymble and John Thorn of Thornleigh are a small selection.

 

St John’s Cemetery is a resting place for Reverend Samuel Marsden, Chief Cleric of the colony, Minister at St Johns Cathedral for almost 50 years, Robert Campbell of Campbell’s Wharf and Duntroon, noted as the father of Australian commerce, two Governor’s wives, Mrs Elizabeth Bourke and Lady Mary Fitzroy, two Assistant Commissaries John Palmer and Thomas Freeman, many pioneer missionaries and marked graves of those who arrived on the first fleet.

 

The cemetery is entered through a lych-gate in O'Connell Street Parramatta (opposite Aird Street). The cemetery is the oldest existing European burial ground in Australia. It is enclosed by a brick wall that dates to 1820.

 

The remarkable cemetery wall with many of its bricks stamped with government arrows was built by public subscription in the 1820s. It replaced the 1811 bank and ditch enclosure while the lychgate is a modern copy of James Houison’s entry gate. In colonial times, bodies from the convict hospital were carried to their graves by the chain gang, contrasting sharply with elaborate funerals of the hierarchy of the colony.

 

In the 1930's the cemetery records were destroyed by fire.

WW1 - Private Roland Walter Lofts

Roland Walter Lofts was born on 11^th November 1898 in Parramatta. He is son of Edwin Arthur and Fanny E Lofts of Harris Street, Granville. .  Ronald was a draughtsman before enlisting at the age of 18. He was enlisted on 17^th October 1917. His service number is 4861. He sailed for the front on 19th December 1917 travelling to England via Egypt, Italy and France. After undergoing a period of training in England he went over to France in July and was with his Battalion, the 4th Pioneers, near. Amiens. His parents received word from the military authorities that he had on 8th September severely fractured his ankle. Writing from the Kitchener Hospital, Brighton, Private Lofts informed his people that ‘he was making a good recovery and hoped to be back in France before long'. He served in France and came back to Australia on 5^th February 1919.

WW1 - Robert Charles Jackson

 

Private Robert Jackson was enlisted on 12 September 1916. He was 23 year old assayer and was living with his father, W.G.Jackson at "Rutland", Windsor Rd, Northmead. He embarked 8 November, 1916 at Sydney on S.S. 'Port Nicholson. He served in France in 2 Infantry Battalion and 13-23 Reinforcements. His service number was 6764.  He was wounded twice in France once with a shrapnel wound to the face and later right foot amputated.

St John’s Anglican Cathedral

 

1803 - St John’s Anglican Cathedral is the oldest place of worship in Australia. It was opened on 11^th April 1803. 

1818 - The twin towers which stand today were constructed under the supervision of Lieutenant John Watt in 1818, making them the oldest surviving part of any Anglican Church in Australia. They are built from handmade sandstock bricks, possibly by convicts, and overlaid with a stucco render giving the appearance of stone. The choice of design is attributed to Elizabeth Macquarie, the wife of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who was inspired by a ruined church in Reculver, Kent in England.

1821 - St John’s Anglican Cathedral’s clock was built by the London Clock making Company Thwaites and Reed of Clerkenwell and installed in the northern Tower in 1821 

1850s - The church building of the early 1800s, except the towers, was demolished in the early 1850s after a severe storm and subsequent deterioration meant that the building was no longer fit for use.

1862 – The pipe organ was brought from England in 1862 and installed in the Western Gallery in 1863.

1882 - The new building was opened in 1855 and by 1882; the church family had expanded so much that the building needed to be enlarged. The well-known architect firm of Blacket and Son was commissioned to design transepts which completed the building as it is seen today.

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Jennie Lee

Jennie Lee, the daughter of James Lee a miner, was born in Lochgelly, Fife, on 3rd November, 1904.

When Jennie was three years old James and Euphemia were persuaded to take over the management of a hotel and theatre in Cowdenbeath, that had formerly being run by Jennie's grandmother. Trade was affected by the fact that it was a Temperance Hotel and did not sell alcohol.

In 1912 James Lee decided to give up the hotel and once again became a miner. Jennie became a regular visitor to Mr. Garvie's Bookshop in Cowdenbeath. Garvie was blind and used to read to him from his favourite book, A History of the Working Classes. Another family friend, Jim Beveridge, lent Jennie a copy of the Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressell. Jennie Lee was also very fond of the Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde.

James Lee was chairman of the local branch of the Independent Labour Party. Jennie accompanied her father to these meetings and heard several leading socialists including James Maxton and David Kirkwood. Lee like most members of the ILP was opposed to Britain's involvement in the First World War. In the newspapers she read about Aneurin Bevan, a nineteen year old miner from South Wales, who refused to take part in the war. Bevan, who was later to marry Jennie Lee, told the local magistrates: "I am not and never have been a conscientious objector. I will fight, but I will choose my own enemy and my own battlefield and I won't have you do it for me."

As a fourteen year old schoolgirl, Jennie remembered the excitement of her father and friends when they heard news of the Russian Revolution. After the war James Lee was one of the leaders of the Hands off Russia movement that attempted to counterbalance the campaign led by Winston Churchill to invade Russia.

Jennie wanted to go to university but her parents were unable to afford the fees. However, with support from the Carnegie Trust, who agreed to pay half her fees and the Fife Education Authority, who awarded her a grant of £45 a year, she was able to become a student at Edinburgh University.

At university Jennie joined the Labour Club, the University Women's Union and the editorial board of the Rebel Student. One of Jennie's first campaigns was to have Bertrand Russell elected as Rector of the university. Russell a pacifist and campaigner for women's rights was a popular figure with university students at that time. During the First World War Russell was sacked from his post as a lecturer at Cambridge University and imprisoned for his involvement with the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF), an organisation that encouraged men to refuse war service.

Jennie was a great reader and favourite authors at university included H. N. Brailsford, Bertrand Russell, H. G. Wells and Olive Schreiner. It was while at university in Edinburgh that Jennie gained her first experience of public speaking. Jennie could often be found on the Mound in Princess Street making speeches on Socialism and votes for women on the same terms as men. Jennie also attended weekend schools organised by the National Council of Labour Colleges where she met Ellen Wilkinson for the first time.

During the General Strike Jennie returned home to give support to the miners. She had just won a MacLaren Bursary, which she was able to hand over to her family struggling on her father's strike pay. When the strike was over James Lee, like many union activists, was sacked, blacklisted and after four months unemployment was forced to take work as a manual labourer.

Jennie's political work did not interfere with her studies and she left University of Edinburgh with a degree in education and law. She taught at her school in Cowdenbeath but after an impressive speech at the 1927 National Conference of the Independent Labour Party, Jennie was invited to become the ILP candidate for North Lanark.

Jennie Lee was elected to Parliament at a by-election in February 1929 when she turned a 2,028 Conservative majority into a Labour majority of 6,578. At twenty-four she was the youngest member of the House of Commons. The Labour leadership selected Margaret Bondfield and the Chief Whip, Tom Kennedy, to introduce Jennie into Parliament. Jennie rejected the idea and insisted that two old friends from Scotland, Robert Smillie and James Maxton, should be her sponsors. This was the first of many conflicts that she was to have with the leadership of the party over the next few years.

Jennie's first speech in the House of Commons was a fierce attack on Winston Churchill and his budget proposals. Afterwards she congratulated Jennie on her speech and told her that he also wanted to help the poor but she had to understand that: "The richer the rich became, the more able they would be to help the poor".

In the House of Commons Jennie's closest friend was Frank Wise, one of the leaders of the Independent Labour Party. Wise was married and although he considered the possibility of divorce, they eventually decided against it. As she pointed out in a letter to Wise: "I feel that divorce and marriage would do both of us immense harm. Certainly public non-Catholic opinion is becoming more tolerant about divorce, but in triangles where all three parties are fairly equal as to age and other matters. The situation where a man has lived with one woman for twenty years, and becomes attached to another woman about twenty years younger, is too many unpleasant types, to be lightly accepted."

Another close friend was Aneurin Bevan, who represented Ebbw Vale in South Wales. Jennie was particularly impressed with Bevan's attack on David Lloyd George. The two young MPs had much in common. They both had fathers who were miners who had suffered terrible industrial defeats in 1919, 1921 and 1926. As she wrote later: "We were both now pinning our hopes on political action. We were eager to test to the full the possibility of bringing about basic socialist change by peaceful, constitutional means.

Jennie was totally opposed to Ramsay MacDonald and the National Government he formed in 1931. Like most Labour MPs who refused to support MacDonald, Jennie was defeated in the 1931 General Election. Over the next couple of years Jennie spent her time writing articles for the ILP New Leader and on lecture tours of the United States and Canada.

In 1931 G.D.H. Cole created the Society for Socialist Inquiry and Propaganda (SSIP). This was later renamed the Socialist League. Other members included William Mellor, Charles Trevelyan, Stafford Cripps, H. N. Brailsford, D. N. Pritt, R. H. Tawney, Frank Wise, David Kirkwood, Clement Attlee, Neil Maclean, Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, Alfred Salter, Gilbert Mitchison, Harold Laski, Frank Horrabin, Ellen Wilkinson, Aneurin Bevan, Ernest Bevin, Arthur Pugh, Michael Foot and Barbara Betts. Margaret Cole admitted that they got some of the members from the Guild Socialism movement: "Douglas and I recruited personally its first list drawing upon comrades from all stages of our political lives." The first pamphlet published by the SSIP was The Crisis (1931) was written by Cole and Bevin.

According to Ben Pimlott, the author of Labour and the Left (1977): "The Socialist League... set up branches, undertook to promote and carry out research, propaganda and discussion, issue pamphlets, reports and books, and organise conferences, meetings, lectures and schools. To this extent it was strongly in the Fabian tradition, and it worked in close conjunction with Cole's other group, the New Fabian Research Bureau." The main objective was to persuade a future Labour government to implement socialist policies.

In November 1933, Frank Wise collapsed and died. The following year she married Aneurin Bevan. Jennie Lee was defeated again at North Lanark in the 1935 General Election. Jennie remained involved in politics, and was especially active in trying to persuade the British Labour movement to create a Popular Front with other European groups in an attempt to stop the spread of fascism in the 1930s.

In 1940 Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, employed Jennie Lee in his department. She later left to work as a journalist for the Daily Mirror. In the 1945 General Election, she won the mining constituency of Cannock in Staffordshire. In the government formed by Clement Attlee, Jennie's husband, Aneurin Bevan, was made Minister of Health and was responsible for the introduction of the National Health Service.

Jennie Lee agreed with Aneurin Bevan about most political issues, but was unhappy with his decision to reject unilateral nuclear disarmament at the 1957 Labour Party Conference. However, she was aware that his decision was based on what he thought was best for the Labour movement and was deeply shocked with the way he was treated by fellow socialists during and after his speech. For as he had told her, "I can just about save this Party, but I shall destroy myself in doing so."

After the 1964 General Election Lee was appointed arts minister and was responsible for what Harold Wilson later called the greatest achievement of his Labour Government, the setting up of the Open University. She retired from the House of Commons in 1970 when she was created Baroness Lee of Asheridge.

Jennie Lee died in 1988.