Bruford, Harry Russell Beamish ASC1893-8. Date of death: 3 October 1918, France Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France Photo: Tony Cable 2/1/15., Hobart. Born in Melb. Brought up in Hobart.
69th Infantry Battalion (Queensland and Tasmania) Formed England 19 March 1917 and attached to 16th Infantry Brigade. Disbanded19 October 1917. England. (Source: Ross Mallett First AIF Order of Battle 1914-1918 ) His transfer back to 26 th. All Saints' College. ANNUAL DISTBIBUTION OF PRIZES AND ENTERTAINMENT. The attendance in the School of Arts Hall last evening to witness the annual distribution of prizes and entertainment in connection with All Saints' College was very large------. Best pass in Junior Examination, H.R. Bruford. Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal 21/12/1899. P.2 Records below indicated treated for mumps Jan. 16 Treated for Parayng Oct 16 Gunshot wounds leg and shoulder. Hospital England
MILITARY MEDAL FOR RUSSELL BRUFORD. Miss Bruford, of Lane Street, has received information of the death, in France, from wounds, of her nephew, A. T. Beamish Bruford. Bruford was engaged
in the attack on Pozieres, and was severely wounded in a subsequent battle on the Somme. A brother, Russell Bradford, formerly of Broken Hill, where he was in the service of the Zinc Corporation, has just been awarded the military medal for exceptional gallantry in the field. Barrier Miner Broken Hill 28/4/17 A W M has a file ID number 2DRL/0416 of documents titled Harry R (Lieutenant, MM, 25th Bn b: 1893 d: 1918) c 1931 'After the attack on GIRD Trench and the MAZE he did exceptionally good and consistent work through the days of 5th and 6th November, 1916, under severely trying conditions. He searched the German trenches for our wounded and also the original No Man's Land, bringing them in under severe sniping fire. He alone was responsible for bringing in 3 wounded men to the original front line trenches from No Man's Land.' Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 103 Date: 29 June 1917 Copy of orders for the operation in which Harry was killed: ROLL OF HONOUR 441th CASUALTY LIST. THE TASMANIANS. The following are the names of the Tasmanians included in the 444th casualty list, which has been released for publication. KILLED IN ACTIONLieut. Bruford Harry Russell B. (MM), Mid Brighton, Vic. 3/10/18 The Mercury 23/11/1918 y P.7
AUSTRALIANS ON SERVICE. BRUFORD, Lieut. H. Russell, M. M. News has just been received of the death in action of Lieutenant Russell Bruford. Last year his brother was also killed in action on the West front. Russell and Beamish Bruford were sons of Mr. H. B. Bruford, retired inspector of the bank of Australasia, and nephews of Mr. F. H. Bruford auditor general of Victoria, grandsons of the late Archdeacon Beamish, and grand nephews of the late Field Marshal Earl Roberts. The Argus 26/10/18 MILITARY MEDAL FOR RUSSELL BRUFORD. Miss Bruford, of Lane Street, has received information of the death, in France, from wounds, of her nephew, A. T. Beamish Bruford. Bruford was engaged in the attack on Pozieres, and was severely wounded in a subsequent battle on the Somme. A brother, Russell Bradford, formerly of Broken Hill, where he was in the service of the Zinc Corporation, has just been awarded the military medal for exceptional gallantry in the field. Barrier Miner Broken Hill 28/4/17 From Official history: 18th Sept., 1918 HINDENBURG OUTPOST-LINE. 919-20 The platoon and company leaders seemed to be faced by an impossible task. But bout II o clock it became known that the 10th Battalion was getting into the German line through the captured trenches farther north, and Wadsworth, Mackay, and their juniors, after conference, decided to follow the same Mackay s company would be withdrawn (34) and pass round through the trenches taken by the 10th and bomb southwards along the German front line
and at the same time eastwards to the support line. The company s place would be taken by Chubb s company, which would keep down the enemy s heads by intense fire from its Lewis guns. (34) Mackay and Lt. Bruford (Support Company) first reconnoitred the way. (Reference; 2DRL/0415 - Bruford, Alex T (Private, 26th Bn b: 1888 d: 1917) [Private Record] Bruford, Alex T; BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE RE BRUFORD. LETTERS RE BURIAL SITE http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/2drl/0415.) Extracts from P. 1023 Official History Vol V1. C.E. W. Bean Death of Lt. Bruford Mentioned So widely extended were the troops that few parties this day few knew what others were doing. But fire reaching parts of the 19 th and 20th from la Motte Farm on the le Cateau road and even from the rear showed them that something was wrong in the centre. The 26th had seen nothing of the 20th though their flanks were not far apart. The right of the 26th was forced back, first to Bellevue Farm and later behind it, and the left to behind Prospect Hill. The 28th tried to send two patrols on to that hill, but the Germans reoccupied it and Bellevue Farm, and began to trouble Cameron in Kukri Valley..Just then a tank came from the northwest of Beaurevoir, shelled a machine-gun at Bellevue Farm, and crawled down the valley it was the Mudhook under Lieut. Martin. As the machinegun at the farm still fired, (45) ---------- (45) from an open window Stokes mortars might have silenced it LT H.R.Bruford (Melbourne) was killed near the farm in the afternoon. Like most AIF battalions, the 26th fought to turn back the German spring offensive in April 1918, and in the lull that followed mounted peaceful penetration operations to snatch portions of the German front line. In one such operation in Monument Wood on 14 July the 26th Battalion captured the first German tank to fall into Allied hands - No. 506 Mephisto. In another, on 17 July, Lieutenant Albert Borrella was awarded the Victoria Cross. Later in the year the 26th participated in the great offensive that began on 8 August, it s most notable engagement being an attack east of Mont St Quentin on 2 September. The Battalion s last action of the war was the capture of Lormisset, part of the operation to breach the Beaurevoir Line, on 3 October 1918. (Ed. Note the tragically; Harry killed this last day) The 26th Battalion was disbanded in May 1919. AWM (Reference; 2DRL/0415 - Bruford, Alex T (Private, 26th Bn b: 1888 d: 1917) [Private Record] Bruford, Alex T; BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE RE BRUFORD. LETTERS RE BURIAL SITE http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/2drl/0415.)(extracts from P.1023 Official History, Vol V1. C.E. W. Bean Harry became Editor of the C Company journal a few months before his death. This was one of the two Tasmanian Companies serving alongside the Queensland component of the composite battalion.
A melancholy interest attaches to a new publication, "The Standard of C Company," a copy of which has reached us from France. It is the first number of the company newspaper of the C Company of the 26lth Battalion, A.1.F., and was issued in July "in the Field. The title page contains a list of.the officers and senior noncommissioned officers of the company, the first name being that of Captain A. O. Woods, and the third that of Lieut. R. H. Monteith. Both those gallant gentlemen have since been killed in action. The editor is Lieut. H. R. Bruford, and over his name appear several poems, of which the fallowing, "To a Mate hailed in Action," is typical: The Queenslander, 21/12/1918 Ref. WRC 525 Cambridge Univ. Library. Sourced from State Library of NSW
AWM
Mrs Harris (mentioned above) was the sister of Alex and Harry.