100 Days of Heroes: Soldier a man of true courage

THERE was no doubting the heroism of William Jeffrey, who was living at Stanley, on Tasmania’s North-West coast, when he enlisted to serve in World War I.

Sergeant William Oakford Jeffrey is remembered at tree 24 on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue and on the Hobart GPO and Hobart Town Hall honour rolls.

THERE was no doubting the heroism of William Jeffrey, who was living at Stanley, on Tasmania’s North-West coast, when he enlisted to serve in World War I.

When he joined up in February 1916, William had already served for nearly five years as a volunteer with the garrison artillery in Hobart.

He was also a highly regarded footballer and cricketer at Stanley, where the local newspaper described him as a young man with a jovial disposition who was well-liked.

“This brave soldier enlisted from Stanley, and was well and popularly known in Circular Head. He was a telegraph linesman in the Post and Telegraph Department, and his work used to take him right through the municipality,” the Circular Head Chronicle wrote several years later.

The son of William and Mary Jeffrey was born in February 1888 and the family home was in Goulburn St, Hobart.

He sailed for the war in October 1916 and spent two months in England before proceeding to France with an Australian Field Artillery howitzer battery.

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Sergeant William Jeffrey, left, and his younger brother, Private Joseph Jeffrey.

Between March and August 1916 he was promoted through the ranks from private to sergeant, and in between bouts of illness requiring hospitalisation in July and September 1917, he earned bravery awards from two countries.

On the night August 13-14, 1917, northeast of Ypres, his unit came under heavy fire while moving into a new position in what had previously been “No Man’s Land.”

A heavy gas and high explosive bombardment was unleashed by the enemy, resulting in Jeffrey’s superior officer collapsing due to gas poisoning.

After ensuring his officer was cared for, Jeffrey took charge and completed the task of putting his unit’s guns in position.

This display of great courage, initiative and resource earned him the British Military Medal and the French Croix de Guerre (Cross of War).

A year later, William was killed in action at Harbonnieres during the Battle of Amiens, France, on August 10, 1918. Aged 30, he was buried in the Heath Cemetery at Harbonnieres.

William Jeffrey's grave in the Heath Cemetery, Harbonnieres, France. Picture: A. HOWARD/K. BLACK

His bravery medals were presented to his father during peace celebrations in Hobart in July 1919.

William and his younger brother Joseph, 22, had enlisted together in 1914, travelled on the same ship and served in the same howitzer battery.

Joe was wounded and gassed, and not quite the same model soldier as his brother, but returned home safely in 1919 and died in 1947.

Sergeant William Oakford Jeffrey is remembered at tree 24 on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue and on the Hobart GPO and Hobart Town Hall honour rolls. His Military Medal-winning cousin, Private Albert Taylor, is remembered at tree 328 on the avenue.

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