Hartrick, William Lionel

Lieutenant William Lionel Hartrick - 51st Battalion AIF & 4th Division Train

William Lionel Hartrick was born in Walhalla Victoria in 1880 to John and Florence Hartick. He was one of seven siblings born into the family.

He was educated in Victoria and after leaving school took up work as a clerk before heading to Melbourne University to complete his studies.

William came over to WA in the 1900's and began work as an auctioneer.

In 1913 he married Ethel Annie Morcom in Fremantle and they were living at 27 Henry Street Fremantle.

On the 1st March 1916 William enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force in Fremantle. He was found to be fit for enlistment, with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 11 inches tall;

Weight - 168lbs;

Chest Measurement - 34-36 inches;

Complexion - Dark;

Eyes - Blue;

Hair - Dark.

Upon his successful enlistment, William was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp. He was initially assigned to the training depot and in May 1916 was assigned to the 5th Reinforcements to the 51st Battalion AIF. However he was then sent to a training school for Non-Commissioned Officers.

He passed this course for NCO's and in August 1916 was transferred to the 5th Reinforcements to the 44th Battalion. He was given the rank of Sergeant but only remained there for two weeks as he was then chosen to attend Officers Training at Duntroon College.

This training took place for three months and in November 1916 William had returned to WA and was put back in the Depot training unit to test his new leadership abilities.

On the 1st April 1917 William was appointed as a Second Lieutenant to the 11th Reinforcements to the 51st Battalion AIF.

On the 30th October 1917 William and his reinforcements group boarded the transport ship HMAT Aeneas and left Australia, arriving at Devonport England on the 27th December 1917. The men were then disembarked and were sent to the 13th Training Battalion at Codford Camp.

William spent a few weeks in camp but then fell ill with influenza. On the 16th January 1918 he was sent to the 3rd New Zealand General Hospital. This took him a few months to recover from and on the 26th April 1918 he was transferred to the 12th Training Battalion at Tidworth.

He took a few months to recover full fitness and William was only sent to France on the 3rd August 1918. After a few days in the Base Depot Camp, he was taken on strength of the 51st Battalion on the 10th August 1918.

He served with the 51st Battalion in the advance against the Germans, seeing action around Bray and then the drive to Peronne and the Hindenburg Line. He came through this time safely and the 51st Battalion saw their last action of the war on the 18th September 1918. They were then sent for a well-deserved rest period out of the front line.

When the Armistice was announced on the 11th November 1918, the 51st Battalion were preparing to return to the front. When the Germans withdrew to behind their own borders, the Australians were sent into what had been German occupied parts of Belgium and France.

William remained with the 51st Battalion till the 1st February 1919 when he was transferred to the 27th Company Australian Army Service Corps which was part of the 4th Australian Division Train. He worked with these units till the 9th May 1919 when he returned to England.

On arrival William was sent to No.4 Group Camp at Hurdcott. He then applied for a period of Non-Military Employment with a Motor Car firm HG Henly & Co of London which took place from June to August 1919.

William boarded the transport ship Plassy on the 5th September 1919 and set sail for home, reaching Fremantle in October 1919.

William was discharged from the AIF on the 17th November 1919.

After a short stay in Fremantle he headed to New South Wales before returning to Western Australia.

In 1925 William was living at Forrest House Perth, before moving to run the Tivoli Garage in St Georges Terrace Perth.

On the 9th June 1930, the Daily News published an article on William.

PEN PORTRAITS

Motors, Skating and Hunting

An interesting city personality is Mr. Lionel W. Hartrick whose chief business these days, after a somewhat varied career is motor cars and skating rinks.
Walhalla, Victoria, is his birthplace and his education was undertaken at Melbourne University College. On leaving school he came across to Western Australia and by far the greater part of his life has been spent in this State.
On his arrival he straightaway turned his attention for about twelve years to mining on the Murchison, where his father represented British interests, and later at Kalgoorlie, acting in an engineering capacity with several companies.

In 1913 Mr. Hartrick decided to try his luck in business and coming to Fremantle opened up as a general auctioneer and commission agent. He carried on in this way until March 1916 when he enlisted, and served with the 51st Battalion, returning to this State with the rank of lieutenant in 1919.
We next hear of him in Sydney, where for three years he engaged in the motoring business. At the end of this period he came to Western Australia again and opened the Tivoli garage.
This year roller skating has enjoyed one of those periodical revivals which we have seen here during the past thirty years. Mr. Hartrick having a large concrete floor space at his command decided to transfer the major
part of his garage to Murray-street, and once again the whirr of the skates was heard at the Tivoli Rink. He used to manage the Olympia Rink at Fremantle and himself is a good skater.
In his early days Mr. Hartrick achieved some success as an amateur rider, and both in Victoria and Western
Australia he has been a keen huntsman. At the present time he is a member of the committee of the W.A. Hunt
Club. In addition he is the owner of several racehorses. 
 
 
In the late 1930's William had moved to Belmont where he operated a Garage on Great Eastern Highway.

Sadly William died on the 23rd September 1939 in the Swan River aged 59. The Daily News on the 23rd September 1939 wrote a report on the incident.

Business Man Found

Dead In River

Clad only in silk pyjamas, the body of prominent Perth business man William Lionel Hartrick, was found in the river at Claremont today. Fifty-eight-year-old Mr. Hartrick, who was staying with well-known bookmaker P. B. Healy, was found in the water about 75 yards from the lawns of Mr. Healy's home which fronts Freshwater Bay. His throat was cut and a razor was found near the end of a small private jetty almost - below Mr. Healy's

home. Manager of the Tivoli Garage and committeeman of the W.A. Hunt Club, Mr. Hartrick was also ringmaster at the Royal Show for many years.
Police received a report about 9a.m. today that Mr. Hartrick was missing from Mr. Healy's Victoria- avenue house. Within, a few minutes they were informed by telephone that a man's body had been found floating face downwards in the river.
BOATBUILDER SEES BODY
Constable L. W. Menzel. of Claremont, went to the spot and found that the man, later identified as Mr. Hartrick, had been taken from the water by a boatbuilder named Overgaard and another man. Overgaard said today that he saw something in the water from his nearby premises early this morning. About the time Mr. Hartrick's disappearance was reported. Overgaard established that the object was a body.
A married man, Mr. Hartrick lived in the Great Eastern-highway, Belmont.
Born in Gippsland, Victoria, he came to this State before 1914 and was interested in goldmining at Cue, being one of the pioneers of the district.
IN A.I.F.
Enlisting from Western Australia, he served in the 51st Battalion, A.I.F. When demobilised he tried to obtain the site occupied today by the Tivoli Garage. Unsuccessful, he went to Sydney, but came back to Perth, and in 1923 secured the site and established the garage. More recently he became man- aging director of Crystal Park Ltd., the company which controls the parking area and service station at the foot of William-street. Always interested in horses, Mr. Hartrick acted as ringmaster at the Royal Show for many years.
He was a committee member of the Hunt Club.
 
 
Further information appeared in the newspaper after the coroner had the inquest.
 
 
13th October 1939 - Daily News
 
Last War's Reactions
Cause Suicide
 
The late 58-year-old Lionel William Hartrick, garage proprietor and well-known huntsman, was a victim of neurasthenia (brain and nerve exhaustion) suffered in the last war. This was revealed at the inquest into his death today.
Two friends of Hartrick's, Reginald Goyne Miller, his brother-in-law, and well-known bookmaker Patrick Joseph Healy, gave evidence that Hartrick had suffered from severe mental depression for the last 12 months.
Hartrick told both of them, it was said, that he was afraid of what he might do to himself. Reginald Goyne Miller said that Hartrick had no financial troubles. Thomas Overgaard, an engineer living at 154 Victoria-avenue, Dalkeith, told how, going to his workshop on the beach about 7.45 a.m. on September 23 he saw a white object floating near the end of the jetty but did not take any notice of it.
Later, he said two boys came running in and told him there was a man's body floating in the water. He told his wife to ring the police. In the meantime Mr. Healy came rushing down from his nearby home, he said.
Tows Body Ashore
He went out in a dinghy and towed the body ashore. The man's throat was cut, he said. Later he walked out on the jetty and found a blood-stained razor and its case. There was a trail of blood leading off the jetty into the water. Patrick Joseph Healy said that Hartrick was staying at his house at 168 Victoria-avenue. Healy said that about 7.30 a.m. on September 23 he noticed Hartrick was missing. He thought that Hartrick had most probably gone for a walk on the beach, he said, and went down after him.
No Trace
He asked some boys playing on the beach, but they had not seen him. He went back and scoured the bush and reserves around Dalkeith and rang all his friends but there was no trace of Hartrick. He was walking down to the beach again, he said, and saw Overgaard and two women looking at an object in the river. He rushed up, he said, and saw that it was Hartrick floating in the river with his throat cut. Hartrick had seemed almost continually depressed for the last twelve months, he said, and told him that he was frightened what he might do to himself.
Dr. D. S. MacKenzie gave evidence that Hartrick died from a cut throat and haemorrhage. Hartrick was still alive when he went into the water, he declared. Acting-Coroner J. P. Hennelly found that Hartrick died at Claremont on September 23 from a cut throat and haemorrhage self-inflicted while suffering from nervous
depression. [Mr. J. P. Hennelly was the Acting-Coroner and was assisted by Sgt.A. M. Campbell.]
 
 
William Hartrick was cremated at Karrakatta Cemetery.

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