Oscar McKechnie CHILVERS
Oscar Chilvers was born on 12 May 1891 in Clifton Hill, Victoria. His parents were George James and Elizabeth Eleanor (née McKechnie) Chilvers. He attended Scotch from 1905 to 1907. He was a member of the 1sts Athletics team in 1905, 1906 and 1907. He was a fine middle distance runner, who also won the Old Collegians’ Cup in 1909.
Oscar was a Union Bank clerk in Melbourne when he enlisted on 18 August 1914 at Blackboy Hill, Western Australia. He served in the 11th Battalion and 51st Battalion with the rank of Lieutenant. His Regimental Number was 762.
Oscar died on 15 August 1916 at Mouquet Farm, Pozieres, France. He was 25 years of age.
Service record
Oscar enlisted as a private in August 1914 and was allotted to the 11th Battalion, a Western Australian unit. The AIF Project suggests that on enlistment he was a ‘Lance Sergeant Pay and Orderly Room Corporal’, which in fact probably followed soon afterwards. In October 1914 he became a Lance Corporal and on the first day of 1915 became a Company Quarter-Master Sergeant. He was wounded at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 (though his service record leaves some evidence that this may have been in early May), receiving a bullet wound to the left arm and side. He was hospitalised in Alexandria, Egypt, but returned to his unit on 1 July. He was out of action with a fever for several days in August, and was hospitalised with diarrhoea in September. He did not return to his unit until November.
On 29 February 1916 he was transferred from the 11th to the 51st Battalion. Sixteen days later he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. He arrived at Marseille, France, on 12 June 1916. On 15 August he was reported ‘Missing in Action’. His Red Cross Wounded and Missing file includes several eyewitness accounts. It seems that Oscar was wounded near Mouquet Farm, Pozieres, during an attack and got into a shell hole. A Private in his battalion (probably Walter Kerridge) reported going out to the hole, which was just a few yards from the trench, and being wounded himself before crawling back to the trench. He later heard that Chilvers had been killed and his body lost. Private Cockman reported that he saw Oscar lying wounded in the front line trenches and that ‘he seemed to have lost his head’ and would not let anyone touch him. This was a ghastly location which would try any man’s nerves to the limit: Cockman himself was buried by a shell soon afterwards, but survived. Private Dawson said he saw Chilvers wounded in the thigh in no man’s land, about 150 yards from the German trench, that he refused help from men, including Dawson, and that although he could walk, ‘seemed to have lost heart.’ Most sources refer to him as being wounded in a shellhole, waiting for help rather than trying to crawl back to the trenches. Two say he refused help from stretcher-bearers. One, Private Sutcliffe, suggested that Chilvers refused help from a party (presumably with a stretcher) so that others could be helped first. Corporal Deane said ‘he could stand up but lost his nerve and would not face getting in himself.’ He said he must have been blown up by one of the many shells. This seems the most certain fact about his death.
His company commander wrote of Chilvers as ‘a very efficient and gallant officer’. A Court of Enquiry determined in April 1917 that he had been killed in action on 15 August 1916. A letter of 1920 says he was killed at Mouquet Farm, Pozieres. His body was found in 1922 and buried at Courcelette British Cemetery. The personal effects found in his travelling bag after his death included a concertina and a fez.
Oscar Chilvers is buried in the Courcelette British Cemetery, France.
Sources:
- Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour
- Mishura Scotch Database
- National Archives of Australia – B2455, CHILVERS O MACK
- Scotch Collegian 1917
- The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=51886
