The Arts and Battledress
The Ithaca ANZACS Part 4… by Kieran McCarthy
211 Company Sgt Major Albert Edward Henley (b. Brisbane 1885) was the sixth child of John and Hazel Henley, of Cochrane St, Paddington, on the corner of View St. The vista there is like the balcony seat in a grand theatre, looking back to the City of Brisbane.
When Bert Henley enlisted in Melbourne on 17th August, 1914, he was destined for one of the AIF’s most decorated battalions at Broadmeadows: the 7th, raised by Lt Col HE “Pompey” Elliott, who was soon to win fame with four VCs at Lone Pine.
Henley gave his occupation as ‘musician’ and was not referring to his militia stint as reputedly the “best bugler in the Moreton Regiment”. He was an accomplished flautist and lived in Melbourne for some years before the war, playing in the orchestra at the Princess Theatre in accompaniment with the likes of Melba.
Soldiers in the Trenches, WW1 Thanks to AWM Archives
Many years after the war, it was the memory of those years at the Princess Theatre that prompted a Mrs L. Seery to write to Base Records in 1952: “… we were very good friends, tho not engaged, as he would not agree to that as he was going overseas.”
Mrs Seery acknowledged that, according to official casualty lists, he did not return: “… but I have heard rumours time after time that he did come back. I married but am a widow and he is constantly in my mind and I am not sleeping, so if you could let me know anything, I would be forever grateful.”
Base Records replied on 7th April 1952: “… regret to advise that CSM AE Henley .. was killed in action at the Gallipoli Peninsula on 11 May, 1915.”
Three lines that did not convey that CSM Henley was mentioned in dispatches for “conspicuous gallantry and valiant service” in the fighting around Krithia. Like many of comrades in that action Henley was denied a known grave and is recalled on the Helles Memorial, one of 20 960 Allied missing.
#ithaca100 #lestweforget
Proudly Sponsored by Brisbane City Council
