Carter, Geoffrey Grant

No.2641 – Private Geoffrey Grant Carter – 16^th Battalion AIF

Geoffrey Grant Carter was born in Blackburn England in 1894 to Richard & Lucy Carter. The family immigrated to Western Australia when Geoffrey was 6 years old and took up residence in Perth and then 126 Queen Victoria Street Fremantle. He was educated at Christian Brothers Colleges in Perth and Fremantle and after leaving school began working as a Draper. He worked for a time in this trade at Dongara.

After the outbreak of the Great War, his elder brother Stan enlisted, joining the 8^th Battery of the 3^rd Field Artillery Brigade. Geoffrey enlisted on the 17^th June 1915 and after being given a medical examination in Perth was found to be 5 feet 7 ¼ inches in height; weight of 133 lbs; chest measurement of 33-35 inches; dark complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair. His religious denomination was Church of England.

He was allotted to the 8^th Reinforcements to the 16^th Battalion and this group trained in Western Australia until the 2^nd September 1915 when they embarked from Fremantle on the H.M.A.T. “Anchises”. Before his departure, Geoffrey would have learnt of the death of his elder brother Stan on Gallipoli.

After their arrival in Egypt, Geoffrey and his reinforcement group were soon sent to join up with the 16^th Battalion at Gallipoli. He was officially taken on strength of the Battalion on the 23^rd October 1915. As the 16^th Battalion was stationed to the north of the Anzac battlefield it is unknown if Geoff was able to visit Stan’s grave to the South near Shrapnel Green. The Gallipoli campaign was winding down for the winter and the decision had been made to withdraw from the peninsula so Geoff did not face any major actions while he was there. The withdrawal was a gradual process and over time more men were taken away from the peninsula. The 16^th Battalion withdrew there men in different sections over three different periods. The first party of the 16^th left on the 18^th December; while Geoff in “A” Company left in the second party at 520pm on the 19^th December 1915. The last party of the 16^th Battalion left in the early hours of December 20^th. The evacuation was a complete success and pulled off under the noses of the Turks.

The 16^th Battalion regrouped on Lemnos and boarded the transport ships back to Egypt. For the first five months of 1916 the 16^th Battalion would train in Egypt in preparation for service in France. Arriving at Marseilles in early June, the 16^th Battalion was sent to the north of France in the region of Armentieres to gain experience of front line conditions.

In July they followed the 1^st and 2^nd Divisions down to the Somme battlefield. The 1^st and 2^nd Divisions had captured Pozieres and made their way towards Mouquet Farm when the 4^th Division took over from the 2^nd Division. A further advance was made towards Mouquet Farm though Geoff did not see much of the subsequent actions as on the 10^th August 1916 he was badly wounded when shrapnel smashed through his back hitting his spine. He was evacuated by the stretcher bearers and taken back to the Casualty Clearing Station. He was marked for evacuation to Hospital at Rouen and after reaching Rouen the wound was deemed serious enough for immediate evacuation to England. On the 13^th August he left France and on reaching England was sent to The King George Hospital in London. On the 14^th August he was diagnosed with a Gun shot wound with paralysis. The surgeons at the hospital operated, though they would not be able to fix his smashed spine and Geoff would become a paraplegic. Geoff was marked for an immediate evacuation to Australia and he left Southampton England on the Hospital Ship “Karoola”.

Geoff arrived at Fremantle on the 25^th November 1916 and was met by his family though he was taken straight to No.8 Australian General Hospital in South Terrace Fremantle. This would be Geoff’s final home as he spent the next four months here his condition slowly deteriorating, and he died on the 29^th March 1917. The official cause being Fractured spine, paraplegia and heart failure. Geoff was buried in Fremantle Cemetery Plot CE.AA.16. With two sons now dead and a third, No.6015 Pte Phillip Grant Carter in France with the 11^th Battalion & 3^rd Light Railway Operating Company, Mrs. Carter would have been an object of much sympathy.

With so much death around it was unusual for one soldiers death to be broadcast in the media, though the state papers covered Geoff’s funeral. The Western Mail of the 6^th April 1917 had the following;  

“Death of Private G Carter

Much regret was felt at Fremantle when it became known that Private Geoffrey Carter, a son of Cr. R.B Carter of Fremantle had died of his wounds at No.8 Base Hospital after a long illness. Private Carter was well known at Fremantle where he received his education and his manly bearing and fine character endeared him to a large circle of friends. He went away early in the war with the 16^th Battalion and fought on the Western Front where he received a bullet in his spine. As a result he became partly paralysed. He was invalided home and returned in the best of spirits, showing cheerfulness under great pain and discomfort. The late Private Carter appeared to be recovering but a few weeks ago he began to sink, and when he lapsed into unconsciousness it was known that the end was not far off. Great sympathy is expressed for his parents, brothers and sisters, whose experience of the sorrows of war is indeed severe.

Seldom has Fremantle witnessed a more spontaneous expression of sympathy and sorrow than that evoked on Friday afternoon at the funeral of the late Private Geoffrey Grant Carter, a returned soldier of the 16^th Battalion AIF and third son or Cr. R.B. Carter, a well known citizen at the Port. Private Carter was born at Blackburn England, and arrived in this state when six years of age, and was educated at the Christian Brothers College. At the age of 17 he managed a branch of the firm Messrs. Carter and Co. at Bullfinch and later achieved great success as manager of the Geraldton business. In June 1915, when at the age of 21, he enlisted and was attached to the 16^th Battalion. He served at Gallipoli for two months, and was there at the evacuation, having the distinction of being one of those to leave on the last day. Those left of the famous 16^th served in Egypt for six months prior to going to the Western Front where they arrived on June 12^th 1916. It was at the taking of Pozieres on August 10 that Private Carter received his wound that caused his death – a fractured spine. He was removed to St George’s Hospital London, where the doctors, recognizing that his case was hopeless, allowed him, at his own request, to be sent to Western Australia to spend the last few months of his life with those dear to him. He arrived at Fremantle on November 24^th four months later, and on March 29 he passed away at the No.8 Australian General Hospital Fremantle at the age of 23 years. Prior to enlisting he sang for many years in St George Cathedral Choir and was touring member and a prefect of the Young Australia League, of which organisation he was one of the first selected for the 1912 world’s tour, which however, he was prevented from participating in on account of business. He was a young man with a promising career and was very popular with his fellows on account of his honest and manly disposition. The long funeral cortege moved from the residence of his parents, No.126 Queen Victoria Street Fremantle, yesterday afternoon and proceeded to St John’s Church, Adelaide St where a choral service was held and thence to the local Church of England Cemetery, where the remains were interred. En route the Blackboy Hill band rendered the Dead March in “Saul” and the Y.A.L. Band played the “Funeral March” by Chopin. In the course of an address at the graveside the Rev. Canon R.H. Moore said that the young life that had been cut off had not been lived in vain. He had answered his country’s call which was the call to defend right and truth. He had left an example which might prompt others to follow; as he had given his life fighting for what was right and true. They knew of the heroic end of Stanley Carter, his brother, and how the men of the 8^th Battery could die. It was that which made Geoffrey more determined to go to fill his brother’s place and take up the burden of service for his fellow men and he had done it. At the conclusion of the address St. John’s choir sang “Now the labourer’s task is over”. Three volleys were fired and the “Last Post” sounded. Members of the Y.A.L. then deposited three wreaths in the grave, and the ceremony was concluded with an appropriate selection by the Y.A.L. Band.”