Meet William Stubbings
William was born on 17th November 1890 at Lacey’s Creek near Dayboro to Moses Stubbings and Sarah Ann Stubbings (nee Strain), both of whom were pioneers and first British settlers in the Samford/Dayboro district.
Moses Stubbings was born in Felsted, Essex in England and came to Australia at the age of 14 years old, arriving in Melbourne in 1872 to work for family friends in their bakery business. In 1874 he moved to Brisbane arriving on the Winifred in Moreton Bay. Moses was first selector of land at Lacey’s Creek in 1879 at 19 years of age and settled on Portion 155 that to the current day remains in the hands of the Stubbings family. He would add many more acres to his holdings but the family would settle and build a house and raise their family on Portion 155.
Sarah Ann Strain was born in Killyman County Tyrone, Ireland and emigrated to Australia at 13 years old with her mother and sisters, arriving on the Windsor Castle in Brisbane on 21st August 1878. The Strain family were also pioneers in the district, her brother Hugh Alexander Strain becoming a prominent pastoralist and entrepreneur in the Samford Valley and greater Brisbane region.
Moses and Sarah were married on 26th December 1882 in Dayboro and would have seven children, five of whom survived into adulthood. William was the eldest of their three sons, with one older and younger sister, he was adored by all and a deeply loved member of the Stubbings family. He worked for his father Moses after leaving school and family records state they were breeding stud horses and taking out many prizes at local and Brisbane shows.
William enlisted for duty on 10th May 1916 in Brisbane and embarked via Melbourne on the Port Lincoln troop ship, transferring to the Ulysses in Sierra Leone before arriving at Devonport Dock in Plymouth, England on the 28th December 1916. William would undertake training with the 5th and 13th Machine Gun Companies at Perham Downs in England and it was during this time he would visit his father’s family in Bishops Stortford, Essex. (William Stubbings Family Letters 1917)
William wrote home often and described his adventures in England, visits to London and seeing a host of sights such as Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s statue, meeting family members and discovering cousins already fighting in the war. He eloquently described the honour of being an Australian soldier fighting for England in a letter to his father:
“I did not go to Felstead as the day I was going it snowed all day so I did not bother but put in my time in Bishops between the two. Will said that two of Amos’s boys have been killed at the front about six months ago so you see we are a fighting family and he has another boy fighting too. There is two of Uncle’s sons Harry and George so with me here that makes four (4) of us fighting for England and the honour of our name.” (William Stubbings letter to his father 28th January 1917).
In a letter to his sister Violet (my great-grandmother) William shares with her that he had been assigned as a driver when in training camp with the 5th Divisional Machine Gun Company and lamented the opportunity to be with his “mates on the gun all the time”. With a hint of irony, he jokes that the army was sending him to a “riding school…fancy teaching me to ride and drive, it all seems so funny for us for other mates too who are drivers are the same as myself...bush boys and know all about horses but it is military all over so when I come back you see a finished rider with a bit of swank”.
William was taken on strength at the 25th Australian Machine Gun Company A Section on 13th February 1917 and although he suffered a bout of mumps in March 1917, he was otherwise spending his time training for the war. He would embark for France in September 1917 and with his company joined the I Anzacs Corp as they carried out the “Flanders Plan” to drive the Germans back.
On the 22nd September 1917, the 25th Australian Machine Gun Company were in position adjacent to Polygon Wood preparing gun positions for the upcoming operations in the area.
William went missing in action on the 25th September and a court of inquiry was held in February 1918 to ascertain what had happened to him.
Historian and Military academic Jonathan Passlow (2018 pg. 89) describes the evening of the 24th September in his book The Battle of Polygon Wood 1917 as follows:
On the night of the 24th September, in the X Corp sector to the couth of the 1 Anzac Corp area, the 33rd Division moved up from the corp reserve to relieve the 23rd Division and occupy positions to the north of the Menin Road. The troops were harried by intermittent German shelling as they moved, their passage both difficult and dangerous. T 5.15 am the 98th and 100th Brigades just completed their relief on the front-line battalions when an intense and accurate bombardment opened up on the British and Australian lines, blasting the men with a mix of HE, shrapnel and gas shells.
The Australian and British lines were hit hard and by early morning front line battalions caught sight of the mass approach of German soldiers through the mist (Passlow 2018, p. 90). The barrage of artillery opened up from the Australian side and in combination with the German bombardment would have made for a deeply frightening encounter for young soldiers engaging in the war fighting for the first time.
On the night of the 24th September William is reported to have taken shelter with another soldier from his unit in a pillbox some distance from the company gun positions where he was supposed to have been. On the morning of the 25th September, he assisted wounded soldiers to a dressing station some 4.5km behind the line, between Hell Fire Corner and Birr Crossroads. A sergeant from his unit encountered him here and instructed him to return to the lines, leading him out into the foray back across the fields and under the bombardment of artillery raining down on the Polygon Wood positions. William, it appears either drifted away or turned back within about 500 metres of the 25th Australian Machine Gun positions to the north of Polygon Wood. It is not known if he was killed at this point or somewhere further back behind the lines, but he was never seen again and his body was never found. The court of enquiry however concluded he was killed in action this day.
William’s family were deeply distraught and heartbroken by his death. His letters to the family when he was stationed in England kept safe and passed down the generations to ensure his life was remembered and celebrated.
For many years after his death, the family would post obituaries to remember what he had done and sacrificed his life for. They would always write personal poem in dedication to him:
Someday I hope to meet you, Someday I know not when
To clasp your hand in a better land, never to part again
And while the sad years vanish, your name we’ll oft recall
And proudly we will cherish, Your photo on the wall.
However long our lives may last, Whatever land we view,
Whatever joy or grief we have, Til death we’ll think of you.
William’s life and service is honoured at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Beligum Panel 31