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| Thomas James Gadsby as a young man |
Proudly he set off wearing his tall black furry hat and
red uniform.....He was a career soldier.
Thomas James Gadsby b 1889 would have joined the “Busby's”
as they were called around 1905. This was after their return from South Africa to England in 1905.
Officially they were known as the 7th (Queens Own ) Hussars. They
also had the nickname “The Saucy Seventh “.
When Thomas enlisted they were to spend a fairly quiet 6 years in England before the
Regiment returned to the subcontinent of India for another tour of duty. A world war was a long way off.
Thomas was the eldest of 14 children born to Thomas and
Selina Gadsby. At the time he left for the Army he had not even known all his
siblings. By the time he was reunited they would be living in another country
on the other side of the world, Many years would pass and a Great War would
intervene.
At the start of World War I in August 1914, the 7th
Hussars were stationed at Bangalore later, moving to Secunderabad in February
1915 with detachments keeping order in Delhi.
Having been in the Asiatic theatre of war since
13/9/1915 the 7th Hussar regiment
were keen sail to the River
Tigris near Basra in November 1917 to fight against the Turks. They then moved
to Baghdad from where the first attack was launched in March 1918 against the
enemy in Khan Baghdadi.
The 7th had the role of cutting off the enemy retreat,
which is said to have been managed very
efficiently. They first destroyed the baggage column, then routing the enemy
division in fifteen minutes. With the Turks withdrawal there was little
happening around Baghdad.
Another offensive was undertaken by the British where they encircled the enemy
at Sharquat. The 7th executed a brilliant piece of fire and withdrew. On the
30th October, as they were preparing to attack again, news came through that
Turkey had surrendered. The 7th remained as an occupying force not
arriving home until May 1919.
All memebers of 7th Hussars were issued the British War Medal &
Victory Medal and Acting Sergeant Thomas Gadsby of the 7th (Queens
Own) Hussars Corps was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. This was gazetted on 15/1/1920.
By the end of the War three Gadsby boys had done their
bit for the war effort. John returned home from the Army a little worse for
wear having been gassed in France and Harold
who had been on HMAS
Australia joined his father as a bricklayer. They began to anticipate the
arrival of their brother Thomas who would be returning after his long spell in
the army in India and Mesopotamia.
Thomas was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald as
arriving in Sydney on 9th August 1919 on the Steamer Janus from
Calcutta.
Upon his arrival after this long absence from his family
he was greeted by his sisters who had become women complete with war time
boyfriends and his brothers who had also had their own war time experiences.
Edie, his little Australian sister was 5 years old when he met her for the
first time.
A few adjustments had to be made. He had joined the Army
when he was a boy. He was 22 when the family had come to Australia and now he
was 30. Having led a life for 10 years or so in the Army in India, he was used
to having servants to attend to his needs. He saw no problem with getting the
same treatment at home and felt that his little brother William and little Edie
could fill in as “servants” when he left his shoes out for them to shine. This
created much resentment amongst the littlies.
Meanwhile Thomas, a deeply religious man was not happy
with what he saw when he returned to the family. His mother had taken up with
his sister Lena’s ex-fiance, Ben, Lena was left to tend to the girls and the
younger children. He told his sister Julia, before her wedding in 1921 that he
wouldn’t see any of his family again. True to his word, he didn’t and amazingly
given his beliefs, in 1921 he married a young divorcee, Violet Emma Harrison,
and moved with her to New Zealand.
You can’t help but think that Thomas’ life and
relationship with his family would ever be the same again when he arrived in
Australia in 1919 after a long stint in the Army. A new country and previously unknown siblings who
resented cleaning his shoes would have been difficult enough. His other
brothers and sister were almost strangers after his long absence away from the
family.
The Great War had changed everyone. Perhaps Thomas’
family would not have approved of his new love- a divorcee in the 1920s.
Certainly this was at odds with his opinion of his mother’s carry on with his
sister’s ex-fiance. Perhaps his mail
never quite caught up with a constantly moving family and contact could not be
made.
History can be unravelled but not undone. There is a
kind of comfort in knowing that he lived a long life in Waikumete NZ and
although childless he had created a good life with Violet probably living
through the memories of all the parts of the world he had visited and
experienced. Not bad for a poor kid born
in London in 1889!
