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Note: t going to hold this young man and his job with an International Insurance company soon led him to the exotic far east at a time when very few westerners would only dream of such places.As early as December 1905 a twenty one year old Harry is pictured at the ruins of a temple in Japan or China formally dressed in bowler hat and overcoat.
In August 1906 in Japan he took a photo of a fishing village in Obama where he "daily promenaded kimono clad", he also hiked to the top of a mountain 3000 feet above sea level at Unzen, rode his horse to Uki and in August 1908 posed with Bill Llewellyn and friends at Kuchinotsu.
He was reportedly working for the Yokahama insurance company and it would seem his office was in the southern part of Japan near Nagasaki and no doubt frequent sailings across the East China sea to the Shanghai office were part of his life. Japan had defeated China in the 1894/95 war and had opened many factories and offices in Shanghai.
In Shanghai, Harry is pictured with many friends, no doubt ex patriot British workmates, sailing in a boat called the "peacock" with the ruins of a Chinese fort in the background. He took a picture of "big horse road" (today's prestigous Nanjing road) which he noted was the Main street at the time in Shanghai.The Shanghai office consisted of at least four westerners and twelve local chinese staff.
There is a wonderful shot of Harry posing on the office steps along with his workmates "Hutchison,Poppa and Souza and two oliviera's".Harry was a keen horseman and went on long rides with his friends (one day riding 25 miles to Uki in japan), picnics, exploring ruins and sailing adventures. There are stories of him playing polo in China and there are pictures of him mounted on a fine white spirited steed and a Piebald horse that he said "goes like a steam engine". From his "Goh" in Shanghai he overlooked the anchorage and all the chinese sailing junks.
On the 28th June 1913 immigration records show Haryy arriving back in London port onboard the vessel " Nile " on a voyage fron Yokohama. Harry stated his last place of permanent residence as China. His ports of call had been Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore & Penang. His profession was recorded as " Merchantile ? "
A story goes that Harry contracted typhoid and was sent to Australia for re-couperation.Harry was obviously determined to fight for king and country, and did not let an earlier rejection because of his height hinder his determination to enlist for the great war that had embroiled Europe. At the age of 30 years 9 months, he was accepted in Melbourne on July 5th 1915 and assigned to the 4th reinforcements / 22nd Battalion ( 6th Brigade 2nd Division) at Seymour.Perhaps the publicity of Gallipoli in the earlier April had caused both a stirring in Harry and a more relaxed physical standards criteria from the Army powers.Harry's papers state he was 5' 2 1/2" weighing 9 stone 7 lbs with a chest of 31" expanding to 33", with a fresh complexion , blue eyes and light brown hair.
He gave his calling as insurance, demonination as church of England and a natural born British citizen.After two months of intense training the 4th/22nd Battalion departed Melbourne on the 27th September 1915 onboard the HMAT Hororata also konown as the A20. The vessel was a 3 masted single funnel steamer of some 9178 tons with a cruising speed of 14 knots and had only been launched 2 years before. (* Hororata later sunk in Atlantic by torpedo in WW11 April 1943)The Hororata would have arrived at the port of Alexandria, Egypt around the end of October 1915. Harry got off to bad start with both gastritis and bronchitus when he reached Cairo, Egypt. His medical sheet shows he was at the number 1 AGH at Heliopolis , and then on the 7.12.1915 he was admitted to the convalescent hospital Helouan and discharged on the 28.12.1915 .
On the4.1.1916 he was again admitted to the No 2 Australian general hospital at Ghezireh and discharged on the 6.1.1916.Records show he rejoined his unit on 10th march 1916 where he was transferred to the 5th Division Headquarters and obviously impressed someone as on the 22nd of March he was promoted to Corporal.The records are a little hard to decipher but it appears there was an embarkation and disembarkation in June, from the troopship Transylvania. Harry was now in France on the western front.
On one day alone in July 1916 the A.I.F suffered 5,533 casualities at Fromelles on the Somme and by the end of the year 42,270 Australians had been killed or wounded on the Western front.
In any case by the August Harry was in the thick of things at the western front in France and the pressures of war and perhaps the burden of responsibilty that came with being a Corporal may have taken their toll, as Harry was found drunk while on active service in the field. At a field general court martial held on 22.8.1916 he was found guilty and broken to the ranks with 14 days in F.P. no 2. On the 9.9.1916 Harry was was transferred to another Victorian formed Battalion, the 29th.(part of the 8th brigade, 5th Division) In October he was given a further 14 days for failure to appear on parade.One story he related to his son Vivian was about being in a fox hole under attack when another soldier in a frantic dash to find cover in the same hole, threw his rifle with bayonet attached ahead of him into the hole, only missing Harry by centimetres. Harry gave his comrade a very strong opinion of what he thought of his actions.By November Harry had contracted bronchitis and was admitted to
Hospital at Amiens and sent by train to Rouen , he was discharged to duty on the 8th December 1916 and remained with the Australian Divisional Base Depot at Etaplas until rejoining the 29th battalion in the field on the 22nd april 1917.
Whatever horrors Harry had witnessed and suffered had fully taken their toll by late july 1917, when he was again admitted to the field hospital and then at Rouen.On the 8th August 1917 his file was marked "To England: Debility" , and Harry was admitted to the Duston war hospital at Northhampton and on then 18th october 1917 was transferred to the No 1 Australian Auxilary Hospital at Harefield *.Harry was given furlo from the 25th October to 8th November 1917 and one could be sure that he would have caught up with his elderly mother Sarah and brothers and sisters living in and around London.On the 8th november Harry reported to the No 2 depot at Weymouth but went A.W.L for five days from the 23rd to 28th November 1917 and was forfeited 15 days pay .On the 21st December 1917, Harry finally sailed for Australia on the vessel * A34 "Persic", he had obviously made the decision that Australia was to be his home. He was discharged from the Army on the 18th march 1918 and was later awarded the 1914/1915 star no. 20281, the British War Medal no. 20191 and the Victory medal no. 20061.Harry Hayden Llewellyn had no doubt changed forever, and so had Australia, from a pre-war population of less than five miilion, 300,000 men had enlisted of which 60,000 were killied and 156,00 wounded, gased or taken prisoner.Harry's daughter Robin remembers most fondly that he spoke with a proper english accent, insisting on proper table manners at all times and would not allow "common peoples" food such as tomato sauce, cabbage or beer in the house, however spirits were acceptable !
He told of stories in England attending musical concerts and of his hob nail boots "sparking" on the pavement as he happily skipped along.Harry died in tragic circumstances on the 20th November 1953 when hit by a car on the way home from the local shop after buying some milk. His grave is at the St.Kilda cemetery , grave 269 in the Churh of England section.
* denotes photo's available on the Australin War Memorial website www.awm.gov.au
Note: The 1901 Census recorded Harry Llewellyn 16 years old Born London Clapham, County London, Parish Lambeth, Occupation Clerk.Harry Hayden LLEWELLYN was a traveller, an adventure seeker and no doubt a bit of a dasher in his younger days.London was no
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