"This is the life," wrote Major C. R. Derrick from the front to a friend in Port Melbourne, who enquired of the former officer of this area whether he would prefer to be back in Bay street or on active service; And the reply was characteristic of the man, always a soldier; and when he penned his last epistle: destined to die a soldier.
Born 1878, the youngest of the twelve children of Clement Derrick and Elizabeth Sweetman.
On civvy street, Reg was a food analyst/manufacturing chemist
and uncle to the esteemed Australian medical researcher and doctor, the late Edward Holbrook Derrick (native of Blackwood, Victoria), son of Reg's big brother Clement H. Derrick.
A spiffing biography of young Ted can be read here at this link. Go ahead, have a read, I'll wait right here: ~
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/aasmemoirs/derrick.htmIt would not be
too far-fetched to say that the dashing Capt. Derrick, when visiting Blackwood, had received many an arched brow from my gaggle of Buchanan great-great aunts, all of them bonnie lasses with tongues sharper than cat's whiskers on a winter's night. However, Reg was to the soldiering life acculturated and not to be swayed from his destiny.
Serving with the 22nd Australian Infantry Battalion, Reg died from wounds received in Lone Pine Trench on the 18th September. Transferred to a hospital ship, he died aboard on 20th September with his remains committed to the deep of the Aegean Sea.
Elder brother - Theodore Clarence Derrick - had the unhappy task of completing the form circulated to families for the Roll of Honour of Australian in the Memorial War Museum at Canberra.
Memorial details: Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey
A song that Reg was fond of belting out was
All's Well, a duet from The English Fleet (1805) with lyrics by Thomas Dibdin and music by John Braham. The author Charles Dickens refers to the song in his novels
Our Mutual Friend (Bk 3 Ch.7), and in
The Old Curiosity Shop (Ch.56).
I have seen some never to be forgotten sights and I don’t like writing of them. It was a daily occurrence to see men blown to pieces, but the most marvellous thing of all I think was how one sometimes got missed. The closet shave I had was from a bullet and it was a shave too. It passed between my right ear and my head and cut a passage through my hair and just broke the skin on top of my ear. It was too close to be pleasant I can assure you. This is only one incident. There are dozens more I could tell you of if I had more time. ~ letter L/Cpl G.B. MuirAround 420,000 Australians enlisted during World War One, which was just under 40% of the male population between 18 and 44.
Throughout World War One, it became common practice for men to have a formal portrait taken in a studio before their departure. They were very important items, they symbolised the young mans’ transformation from civilian to soldier, and were most often left behind as a treasured reminder for much loved wives and mothers.
Australasian Quilt Convention April 2015 eye-candy
http://www.lucycarrolltextiles.com/thegallipoliquilt/
References
https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/people/286562
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/91167292
http://derrickfamilyhistory.tripod.com/derrickjoseph1836.htm
http://www.anzac-22nd-battalion.com/letters-diaries/
