33rd BATTALION AIF
Lance Corporal: 2648 Thomas SCOTT
Born: 1886. Galashiels Scotland
Married: 1912. Glen Innes, New South Wales, Australia. Marriage Cert:9798/1912.
Wife: Berttie Scott. nee: Chenery.
Died: 30th August 1918. Killed in Action. Curlu, France.
Father: Joseph Burt. (1834-1917) Died at Re Range, Glen Innes, N.S.W.
Mother: Janet Burt. nee: Blackstocks. (1842-1920) Died at Re Range, Glen Innes, N.S.W.
INFORMATION
No.2648 Thomas Scott was born at Galashiels, Selkirk, in Scotland, in about 1886. He was a 29 year old Farmer from Red-Range in NSW when he enlisted in the AIF on the 31st of August 1916. He embarked from Australia as a member of the 5th Reinforcements to the 33rd Battalion on board the HMAT ‘Port Napier’ which sailed from Sydney on the 17th of November 1916, and disembarked at Devonport in England on the 29th of January 1917. On the 30th January 1917 he marched in to the 9th Training Battalion at Durrington Camp in Wiltshire.
• Offence – on the 12th of February 1917 he was charged with: “AWL from mid 8/2/17 till 6:30pm 12/2/17”. As punishment he was awarded 14 days of Field-Punishment No.2 and forfeited 17 days pay.
On the 5th of April 1917 he deployed from England across to France marching in to the 3rd Australian Division Base Depot at Etaples.
On the 23rd April 1917 he marched out to the front, and was taken on strength at Armentieres by the 33rd BATTALION AIF on the 28th of April. He was posted to “D” Company.
On the 10th May 1917 he reported sick and was admitted to the 11th Field Ambulance. On the 11th May he was transferred and admitted to the Divisional Rest Station, diagnosed with influenza. On the 17th of May he was transferred to the Divisional Rest Camp to recuperate. He then rejoined the 33rd Battalion on the 18th of May 1917.
He was with the 33rd Battalion on the 7th of June for the attack on ''MESSINES''. The attack commenced at 3:10 a.m. with the detonation of 19 'mines' that had been dug under key German positions along the Messines and Wychaete Ridges.
On the 2nd July 1917 he again reported sick, this time with bronchitis. On the 13th July he was admitted to the 53rd General Hospital, Boulogne where he remained until 17th September 1917. He was then he was transferred to the 1st Convalescence Depot, at Boulogne. He was discharged to the Base Depot on the 18th September, and on the 24th of September he marched in to the 3rd Australian Division Base Depot. On the 5th of October 1917 he marched out to the front and rejoined the 33rd Battalion at ‘Calvary Farm’, near Passchendaele on the 11th of October 1917.
On the 12th of October 1917 during the Attack on ‘PASSCHENDAELE’ he was WOUNDED-IN-ACTION. He was evacuated to Etaples on the French coast where he was admitted to the 53rd General Hospital. On the 18th of October he was transferred to the 7th Convalescence Depot to recuperate and on the 3rd of November 1917 he rejoined the 33rd Battalion.
Thomas was appointed a Lance-Corporal on the 8th February 1918. On the 28th February 1918 he proceeded on leave to England and then rejoined the Unit from Leave on the 16th March.
In late March of 1918 the 9th Infantry Brigade was rushed south to ‘the Somme’, in response to a huge new German Offensive (known by the Germans as Operation Michael), and used as a mobile formation being thrown in to strengthen the line wherever needed. He was with the Battalion for the “1ST BATTLE OF VILLERS-BRETONNEUX” on the 4th of April 1918, when the 9th Australian Brigade, and a few tired elements of the British 5th Army, were instrumental in stopping the German advance toward Amiens and then successfully defended the village for the next two weeks. On the 17th of April the Germans concentrated their artillery fire on the village itself, firing an estimated combination of 12,000 High Explosive and Mustard-Gas shells into the village over two days. Some men didn't feel the effects of the gas until several weeks later.
On the 30th of April 1918 he was recorded as WOUNDED-IN-ACTION by the poison-gas. He was treated by the 11th Field Ambulance and then admitted to the 4th Casualty Clearing Station. He was then transferred to Rouen on the French coast where he was admitted to the 8th General Hospital. On the 11th of May he was transferred across to England where he was admitted to the Reading War Hospital. In early June he was transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital and then discharged to the no.4 Command-Depot at Hurdcott.
On the 8th of August 1918 he deployed back overseas to France marching in to the Base Depot at Rouelles. He marched out to the front on the 12th and he rejoined the 33rd Battalion on the 14th August 1918.
On the 30th August 1918 Lance-Corporal Thomas Scott was serving as the 2ic of a Machine Gun Section with “D” Company, when he was KILLED-IN-ACTION while advancing during an attack east of ‘Curlu’ in France.
He was buried in the Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension.
Grave of Lance Corporal: 2648 Thomas SCOTT (1896-1918)
Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension.
In 1920 a ‘memorial window’ was dedicated to Thomas SCOTT, in the newly opened “Cameron Memorial Church” in Glen Innes, NSW. He is commemorated on the ‘Australian Roll of Honour’ at the Australian War Memorial and on the ‘Red Range Honour-Roll’.
Red Range Honour-Roll
Bill Durrant: October 2021.
9th November 1918.
Informant: Private: 3149 Andrew Matthew WILSON. "Lance Corporal: 2648 Thomas SCOTT, was hit by a Machine Gun Bullet while getting out of a shell hole. He was in a semi comatose state for about 10 minutes. He would be buried close by there, Sailly-le-Sec. He was a married man with one child and came from Red Oak, Glen Innes. He was very popular in the Coy. He was a Scotsman."
No: 4 Convalescent Depot, Hurdcott, England.
7th May 1919.
Informant: Private: 2522 William Harold BURT. D Company 13th Platoon, 33rd Battalion. "Lance Corporal: 2648 Thomas SCOTT, height 5'10", dark, age 26 years. Married. During the morning of August 31/18. I was alongside SCOTT, left of St Quentin and saw him hit by a Machine Gun Bullet. He never spoke and was killed instantly. We were advancing at the time. SCOTT being 2nd in charge of Machine Gun Section. We had to move on and did not see him again. Do not know anything of burial. It was 4 pm that day before we got our objective."
3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital.
Home address. Delungra, Inverell, N.S.W.
Military Records
© Commonwealth of Australia (National Archives of Australia)
Under Construction: 27/10/2021-04/05/2022..
I am one of Thomas’s grand daughters
Hello Margaret, I have just uploaded the rest of Thomas’s records from the National Archives and added them to his profile.
Regards
David Harrower ACM