Skip to Content

William Cuthbert Hawkins

William Cuthbert Hawkins.jpg

William Cuthbert Hawkins was born on 4 July 1897, the son of Robert John Hawkins and Violet Mary Cuthbert. He was the grandson of the Colonel-Sergeant Joseph Cuthbert and Captain Hawkins, the Superintendent of the South Bruny Light House.

William did his initial training at Claremont on the site of the present day Cadbury factory.

William left Hobart on 20 June 1915 for Brisbane on the Ascanius. He joined D Company of the 26th Battalion, which comprised Tasmanian and Queenslanders. By now the Gallipoli campaign was well underway and soon after arriving in the Middle East, William headed off, landing at Anzac Cove on 12 September 1915. The 26th Battalion played a purely defensive role being responsible for the defence of various outposts. Toward the end of the campaign the troops at Anzac Cove were suffering greatly from dysentery due to the insanitary conditions in the trenches. William spent the Christmas of 1915 at the No. 3 Army Hospital. Following the evacuation of Gallipoli he contracted mumps but he recovered quickly and within a week was back with his unit.

Eventually, on 21 March 1916, William left the Middle East for the Western Front arriving at Marseilles. He was involved in a major offensive undertaken by the Australian forces at Pozieres in France. He was killed in the initial phase of the action on 29 July 1916 only 15 months after enlisting, aged 19 years old.

‘Soldiers in the first waves discovered the German barbed wire uncut. Some hacked their way through using rifle butts and wire cutters, while others wrenched out the corkscrew stakes with their bare hands. Wire snagged uniforms and flesh while the Germans sprayed them with fire. Men were dropping killed and wounded everywhere.’[1]

William Hawkins posthumously received the British War Medal, Victory Medal and 1914/15 Star Medal. William’s brother, Robert Gordon Hawkins, also served in World War One.

Footnote

[1] Pozieres – The Anzac Story by Scott Bennett page136

Reference

Weekly Courier - 15 July 1915 page 24  and 28 September 1916 page 23

Acknowledgement

Bruny Island Historical Society