The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2232) Private Henry Matthews, 46th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (2232) Private Henry Matthews, 46th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

2232 Private Henry Matthews, 46th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA 11 July 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Henry Matthews.

Henry Matthews was born in 1896 in Drysdale, Victoria, the eldest son of William and Lucy Matthews. He attended a local school and on leaving, became a farmer in the district. Before the war, Matthews spent two years in the Light Horse cadets.

In May 1916, Matthews travelled to Geelong and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He trained in Australia for three months before sailing for England on the transport ship Orontes. He arrived in October, and continued training at the army camps on the Salisbury Plain. During November, he contracted mumps in the crowded camp conditions, and spent two weeks in hospital.

Early in January, 1917, Matthews sailed to France. There he joined his unit, the 46th Australian Infantry Battalion. His first experience of battle was in April at the French village of Bullecourt, which formed part of the German fortifications known as the Hindenburg Line. The 46th Battalion captured its objectives, but in the face of German counter-attacks, it had to withdraw, having suffered heavy casualties.

Matthews and the 46th Battalion fought in another major battle, at Messines in southern Belgium, in June 1917. The following month, Matthews was evacuated to hospital with the skin diseases eczema and impetigo. His treatment and recuperation took nearly three months. When he returned to his unit in early October, it was preparing for that year’s final major battle, the push to capture Passchendaele and the high ground outside the Belgian city of Ypres.

Following the fighting at Passchendaele, the men of the AIF spent the winter of 1917 and 1918 training, resting, and conducting trench raids in the relatively quiet sector of the front near the Franco-Belgian border. As the weather warmed up in March, the German army launched what would be its final attack of the war, known as the German Spring Offensive. The AIF was brought south to defend against the main German thrust towards the important rail-hub city of Amiens.

The 46th Battalion met the Germans at the village of Dernancourt on the river Ancre in early April 1918. Despite being outnumbered by the attackers, the Australians were able to hold the village and the high ground around it. Allied forces had stopped the German advance, and in the summer months, they counter-attacked with a major offensive of their own.

In early July, at the French village of Hamel near the Somme River, the men of the 46th Battalion and other Australian soldiers fought alongside American soldiers for the first time. Although a small battle by the standards of the First World War, their conclusive victory at Hamel marked the beginning of the process towards the final defeat of the German army.

Matthews had fought in and survived five significant actions against German forces. However, death during the First World War did not only come in major battles. Enemy artillery, machine-gun and sniper fire meant that the men in the trenches were in constant danger. Matthews was a runner for D Company, relaying orders and messages from battalion headquarters to his company commander. On the afternoon of 11 July 1918, Matthews was leaving his company’s headquarters when a German shell landed nearby, killing him instantly. He was 21 years old.

Matthews was buried at Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, alongside more than 2,100 Commonwealth soldiers of the First World War. His father had the simple epitaph inscribed on the headstone: “For King and Empire”.

In Australia, Matthews was survived by his parents, his six sisters, Violet, Emily, Lilly, Lucy, Florrie, and Stella, and his brothers Jack and Jim. His grieving mother Lucy died less than a year after Henry’s death, unable, it was said, to recover from the loss of her son.

Two of Matthews’ uncles also served in the AIF. Private Harry Lock, of the 38th Battalion, and Private Horace Matthews, of the 2nd Pioneers Battalion, also fought on the Western Front. Both returned to Australia in 1919.

Private Henry Matthews is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Henry Matthews, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section