Apprentices' Stories
William Hamilton (Part 1)
In the churchyard at the rear of the Campsie Parish Church in Lennoxtown, Scotland, you will find the grave of a soldier named William Hamilton. Although he was born in Glasgow and died in Glasgow, William is buried in a World War I Australian Infantry Force (AIF) grave. Read on if would like to find out how this came to be…
Photo courtesy Rena Shirreffs, Lennoxtown
William was born to Joseph and Mary Ann Hamilton at 37 Cavendish Street, Glasgow on 29 June 1895. William’s father died on 27 December 1907 (when William was 12 years old) and he soon began working as a pantry boy on a steam ship, presumably to support his family. A few years later, William was convicted of stealing two watches from his brother and sister, pawning them and spending the proceeds in music halls. He was sentenced to a reformatory school until the age of 19 years and was consequently admitted to the Kibble Institute in Paisley, on 18 March 1910. The Institute identified the cause of his delinquency as “frequenting the company of older boys of vicious tendencies”.
Whilst at the Kibble Farm School, William learnt skills in agriculture, such as milking, ploughing, driving and riding. When it came time for his discharge in June 1914, it was observed that his widowed mother had become a midwife and had no fixed abode, as she generally lived with the expectant mothers in her charge. William’s sister had emigrated to Australia and Mary Ann had plans to join her there in the near future. As William had no home to return to and his mother wanted him to eventually join the family at the new home in Australia, it was decided that William would be a suitable candidate for the assisted passage scheme for agricultural labourers being offered by the South Australian Government. William embarked for Adelaide on the SS Orsova with four other Kibble pupils. It was assumed that they would never see Scotland again, as such a journey was a once in a lifetime event in those days.
The Orsova arrived in Adelaide on 11 July 1914 and on the next day William was sent to farmer Pattullo’s property, ‘Glenburnie’, at Clare in South Australia’s mid-north. However, William returned to Adelaide almost immediately. When farmer Pattullo asked him to commence his work, William declared that he was suffering from pneumonia. Upon examination at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the doctor’s diagnosis was that he was in fact “malingering”. Rather than returning him to Clare or transferring him to a farm elsewhere, the State Government decided to temporarily employ him at the State Children Department’s Magill Reformatory (now part of the University of South Australia’s Magill Campus), until it could be arranged for him to join his sister in Brisbane, Queensland. William left South Australia owing more than nine pounds to the Government (approximately 12 weeks’ wages for first year farm apprentices).
William Hamilton's story continued...