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Personal Histories
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Dispatches: “He is a
very reliable NCO and shows plenty of dash and pluck, and is very cool under fire.”
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Personal Histories
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Dispatches: “He is a
very reliable NCO and shows plenty of dash and pluck, and is very cool under fire.”
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Edward Benjamin
Picton, soldier and railway man, was born on 23rd July 1894 at Narrabri, NSW the eighth of
the twelve children of Thomas Edward Picton, a drover and grazier, and his wife Mary Jane
(nee Morrish). He attended the local one room
bush school, along with his brothers and sisters and a few other children, where he
received a simple education before finding work on local farms, in the shearing sheds, and
droving. He was working as a carrier when he
enlisted in the AIF on 29th October 1914. On
19th December, he embarked with the 7th Light Horse Regiment and following training in
Egypt, saw active service on Gallipoli with his Regiment during the following year. It was in the Light Horse’s
mounted campaigns in Sinai and Palestine that Ben Picton distinguished himself as an
exceptional soldier. He was promoted to Lance
Corporal in 1916, to Corporal in 1917 and was wounded in action during 1918. He was mentioned in dispatches and twice decorated
for his bold work in a campaign in which very few bravery awards were made. “He is a very reliable NCO and shows plenty
of dash and pluck, and is very cool under fire.” During the first battle of Gaza, on
26th March, 1917, Picton and three men galloped straight onto an enemy encampment and
captured 40 prisoners. In a similar incident
near Beersheba on 31st October, he led a charge into the enemy’s position while most
of his Regiment were held up by heavy shellfire. Again
he took about 40 prisoners.. For his bold and
courageous work on these two occasions he was awraded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and
the Military Medal. The ribbons for the
decorations were presented at a parade on 13th December 1917 by Major-General Chaytor,
G.O.C. of the Anzac Mounted Division. On 28th March, 1918, in the first
battle of Amman, Picton received a severe wound which was to leave him with a permanent
limp. During his Regiment’s withdrawal
he and another wounded man were left lying out in an advanced position which was over-run
by the enemy. Initially reported as missing
in action, it was subsequently learned that he had been taken prisoner of war and sent on
to Turkey. Following the armistice signed by
Turkey he was disembarked at Alexandria on 7th November 1918 for his return to Australia. On returning home, Ben Picton was
honoured by the citizens of Narrabri and eventually acquired a local property, “Rossmore”,
an unsuccessful soldier settlement. In 1920
he married Miriam Heather Annie Craig at St Lawrence’s Anglican Church, Narrabri. There were six children from the marriage. Failing to make good on the land, Picton worked as
a bootmaker in some country towns including Tamworth and Lithgow before settling his
family in Sydney where he joined the NSW Government Railways. During the second World War, he
enlisted in the Second AIF, being accepted despite his age and war disabilities. He embarked for overseas with the 1st Railway
Construction Company in September 1940. He
served as a Sergeant in Egypt and Syria before returning to Australia in 1942. Because of declining health, he was transferred to
the canteen service and for a while managed the Lady Bowen Hostel. He was a Warrant Officer Class 2 when
he was discharged on 16th October 1945. He resumed work on the railway but his
health deteriorated and forced his retirement in 1949.
Despite being one of the most decorated soldiers of the Australian Light
Horse’s famous 1917-18 campaign, Ben Picton remained a modest man who lived quietly
with his family, “a normal, everyday type of man who never expected anything more
from life than what he had”.. In his
later years he maintained an interest in gardening, fishing and ex-serviceman’s
activities until his death on 28th January, 1963 from heart disease and pulmonary oedema. His portrait by Sir John Longstaff is in the
Australian War Memorial. Peter Burness Gullet, H. S. Official History of
Australia in the War of 1914-18, Volume VII, Angus and Robertson Ltd, Sydney, 1939. |
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