Walker Samuel Orford 1258

SAPPER SAMUEL ORFORD WALKER

1258 – 3rd Tunnelling Company

Samuel Orford Walker was born in 1884 in the Parish of All Saints, near Wigan, Lancashire, England.

The 1891 Census of England and Wales records his family living at 198 Corning Street, Wigan. The family comprises:

Alexander Forester Walker, a Commercial Traveller and Head of the house, his wife Isabella, and

James Walker, 22, a Tailors Cutter;

Robert Walker, 18, a Joiner;

Israel Walker, 15, Engine Fitter Apprentice;

Isabella Walker, 13, a Tailoress;

Alexander F Walker, 11, Scholar;

Thomas Walker, 10, Scholar and

Samuel Orford Walker, 8, Scholar.

In 1901, Alexander is still a Commercial Traveller of Soft Foods and he and Isabella are living at 207 Gidlow Lane, Wigan. Living with them are Israel and Thomas, now both Steam Engine Fitters, and Samuel, a Plumbers apprentice.

The 1911 Census records the family still living at 207 Gidlow Lane, Alexander is 66 and has retired. Isabella is 69 years of age and records she has been married for 27 years. Thomas is 30, single, and a Fitter Air Compressors & Winding Engines by employment, while his brother Samuel is 29, also single and a Plumber, Building Trade.

Samuel completed an ‘Application to Enlist in the Australian Imperial Force’ at the Board of Health Recruiting Depot, Sydney on 17 January 1916, recording his address as ‘Braeside’, Lookes Avenue, Balmain East, Sydney. A medical examination on the same day recorded that he was 5ft 4ins tall and weighed 8 stone 2 lbs. He had a fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. The examination found him to be ‘fit for active service’.

He signed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ and the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ on 11 February 1916 at Casula, New South Wales.

Samuel stated he was 31 years and 11 months of age and a Plumber by trade, having completed a 6-year apprenticeship with Jackman & Mather in Wigan.

He named as his Next-of-Kin his father Alex Walker of Greenbank, Galhurst near Wigan, Lancashire. He recorded previous military service as 4 years with the 1st V.B.M Regiment. Samuel embarked for the European theatre with the Australian Mining Corps.

At a civic parade in the Domain, Sydney on Saturday February 19, 1916, a large crowd of relations and friends of the departing Miners lined the four sides of the parade ground. Sixty police and 100 Garrison Military Police were on hand to keep the crowds within bounds. The scene was an inspiriting one. On the extreme right flank, facing the saluting base, were companies of the Rifle Club School; next came a detachment of the 4th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, then the bands of the Light Horse, Liverpool Depot, and the Miners’ on the left, rank upon rank, the Miners’ Battalion.

Following the farewell parade in the Domain, Sydney, the Australian Mining Corps embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on 20 February 1916 on board HMAT A38 Ulysses.

The Mining Corps comprised 1303 members at the time they embarked with a Headquarters of 40; No.1 Company – 390; No.2 Company – 380; No.3 Company – 392, and 101 members of the 1st Reinforcements.

Ulysses arrived in Melbourne, Victoria on 22 February and the Miners were camped at Broadmeadows while additional stores and equipment were loaded onto Ulysses. Another parade was held at the Broadmeadows camp on March 1, the Miners’ Corps being inspected by the Governor-General, as Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth military forces.

Departing Melbourne on 1 March, Ulysses sailed to Fremantle, Western Australia where a further 53 members of the Corps were embarked. The ship hit a reef when leaving Fremantle harbour, stripping the plates for 40 feet and, although there was a gap in the outside plate, the inner bilge plates were not punctured. The men on board nicknamed her ‘Useless’. The Miners were off-loaded and sent to the Blackboy Hill Camp where further training was conducted. After a delay of about a month for repairs, The Mining Corps sailed for the European Theatre on 1 April 1916.

The ship arrived at Suez, Egypt on 22 April, departing for Port Said the next day; then on to Alexandria. The Captain of the shipwas reluctantto take Ulysses out of the Suez Canal because he felt the weight of the ship made it impossible to manoeuvre in the situation of a submarine attack. The Mining Corps was transhipped to B1 Ansonia for the final legs to Marseilles, France via Valetta, Malta. Arriving at Marseilles on 5 May, most of the men entrained for Hazebrouck where they arrived to set up their first camp on 8 May 1916.

A ‘Mining Corps’ did not fit in the British Expeditionary Force, and the Corps was disbanded and three Australian Tunnelling Companies were formed. The Technical Staff of the Corps Headquarters, plus some technically qualified men from the individual companies, was formed into the entirely new Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company (AEMMBC), better known as the ‘Alphabetical Company’.

Samuel would have been absorbed into the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company (3ATC) which first saw action at Boars Head in the period leading up to the battle at Fromelles of 19 July 1916 where they are mentioned in connection with Rhondda Sap and the Sugar Loaf feature. The company had a role in the battle, providing improvised saps and communication trenches for the advancing infantry, and in some instances, joining in the fighting.

In November 1916 3ATC relieved the 258th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, in the Hill 70 sector. The Company remained in that area for the duration of the war, completing work on the Hythe, Hulluch, Canteen and Copse tunnels. In January 1918, 3ATC was working in the Lens-Loos-Hulloch-St Eloi and Vermelles areas with a detachment at Armentieres.

Samuel reported sick in France on 9 January 1918 and was admitted to the 1/2 North Midlands Field Ambulance with pleurisy. He was transferred to the 1st Casualty Clearing Station on 11 January and then transferred by Ambulance Train 23 to the 7th Stationary Hospital at Boulogne.

He was evacuated to England on Hospital Ship Jan Breydel on 13 January 1918 and was admitted to Horton County London War Hospital at Epsom with pleurisy. On 30 January he was transferred to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford and on 6 March he marched in to No.2 Command Depot at Weymouth from furlough. Samuel left London on 12 May on board D8 Ruahine for return to Australia for discharge due to phthisis. He disembarked at Sydney on 5 July 1918 and was discharged from the A.I.F. on 2 January 1919, entitled to wear the British War Medal (34079) and the Victory Medal (33645).

Samuel married Mary Elizabeth Ball at Auburn, Sydney, New South Wales in 1919.

His war service medical history was forwarded to the Repatriation Commission in Sydney in June 1934.

The Electoral Roll for 1930 records:

Samuel Orford, plumber, and Mary Elizabeth, home duties, Walker at Isler Street, Gladesville.

1933, 1936, 1943, 1949 & 1954 Rolls record:

Samuel, plumber, and Mary living at Capilana, Blacktown Road, Blacktown.

Samuel Orford Walker died in 1958 aged 76 at Heidelberg, Victoria. The BDM records his parents as ‘Unknown’.