2nd CORPORAL JOHN YARROLL
1400 – Australian Electrical & Mechanical Mining & Boring Company
Born about 1892 at Edinburgh, Scotland, John Yarroll was the son of Ernest C. and Margaret Yarroll.
The 1901 Census records the family of Ernest, a Joiner, (43); Margaret (38); James (18); Willliam (14); John (9) and Mary (1), living at 40 Dundee Street, Edinburgh. John is recorded as a scholar.
John completed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ on 2 May 1915. A single Carpenter of Sydney, New South Wales, he recorded previous military service as 4 years with the 9th Royal Scots and 2 years with the Bathurst Militia.
A medical examination on the same day recorded that he was 24 years and 9 months of age. He stood 5ft 5½ins tall and weighed 126 lbs. He had a dark complexion, brown eyes with good sight, and brown hair. His faith was recorded as Church of England, although this was later changed to Presbyterian.
He named as his Next-of-Kin his mother, Mrs. E. C. Yarroll of 121 Gilmore Place, Edinburgh, Scotland.
On 12 May he signed the Attestation, and the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’, at the Australian Light Horse Depot, Liverpool, New South Wales, and was appointed to the Miners Corps, 1st Reinforcements.
John embarked on Ulysses with the 1st Reinforcements to 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’.
On 22 May John was detached for duty with the 177th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers.
He was taken on strength of the AEMMBC on 7 October 1916.
John was promoted to Lance Corporal on 21 May 1918, and to 2nd Corporal on 3 August the same year.
John reported sick on 1 October 1918 and was admitted to the 2nd Australian General Hospital at Boulogne the same day, rejoining his unit on 16 October.
He was admitted to the 32nd Stationary Hospital on 9 November with synovitis of the right knee.
John enjoyed some leave in England from 25 November 1918 to 9 December 1919. Whilst on leave he was admitted to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital (3rd AAH), Dartford with synovitis of the knee.
On 3 January 1919 John completed an ‘Application for a Discharge in a Country other than Australia’ stating his reasons as: “To enter into partnership with my father in the business of E. C. Yarroll & Son, Cabinetmakers & Upholsterers, Young Street Lane, Edinburgh, Scotland. This business has suffered considerably during the past four years & I am most anxious to assist in reorganising it. Most of my relations are in Scotland.” The application also recorded that his deferred pay amounted to £55/2/-. His application was approved 6 March 1919.
On a pre-discharge medical report prepared at the 3rd AAH on 11 January, it was stated: “Twisted knee while lifting heavy weight. Swelled up same evening and was admitted to hospital a week later, was left in bed in a splint for three weeks. Since then knee has always swollen on exertion.” The injury was deemed to be ‘Attributable to service in present war’ and was caused ‘on field service’.
John was discharged from the A.I.F. in England on 18 March 1919 as ‘medically unfit’. On the same day, he signed for his Silver War Badge and certificate, stating his address as 12 Hillsea Street, Lower Clapton, London. His discharge certificate records that he had served for 3 years 236 days, 3 years 311 days of which were served abroad.
On his discharge medical report, in reference to his claim for a pension, the examining doctors recorded: ‘Derangement of Rt. Knee joint. He twisted the Rt. Knee, July 1918. Was in hospital for one month. On one occasion 4 months ago it locked. He has no effusion or any objective signs. He has a little discomfort on going up stairs.’ The doctors recorded the injury as an ‘accident on duty’ and assessed him to be partially incapacitated for a period of six months, and that his earning power was reduced by one eighth.
His Discharge Certificate also recorded that: “I reserve all my Active and Deferred Pay over and above the sum of Twenty-eight Pounds (£28) Sterling received by me this Eighteenth day of March one thousand nine hundred and nineteen.”
He received his arrears of active service and deferred pay in Edinburgh on 15 August 1919.
© Donna Baldey 2013