Frank William Scrivens’s Anzac Medallion.Frank William Scrivens’s Anzac Medallion.

This year marks the 99th anniversary of the ill-fated attempt by the Allies to knock the Ottoman Empire out of World War I early in the conflict. What had initially been designed as a naval operation, to force the stretch of water known as the Dardanelles and bombard the capital into submission, ended up becoming a land battle to try and facilitate the passage of the allied fleet.

As part of the British Empire, Malta played its part by servicing the ships in its dockyard and providing men. But it is for its role as ‘the nurse of the Mediterranean’ that the island is much better known.

Thanks to the foresight of the Governor, Lord Methuen, steps were taken to drastically increase the number of beds to cater for casualties. To this end, various public buildings around the island were converted into hospitals. One of the men who were to end up in Malta was an Englishman by the name of Frank William Scrivens.

Scrivens was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and at age 20 had made his way to Western Australia where he obtained employment as a farm labourer at Katanning. When the war began, Scrivens decided to join the Australian Imperial Force and enlisted on October 6, 1914. After taking the oath to serve for the duration of the war and a further period of four months, he was appointed to ‘A’ Squadron of the 10th Regiment, Australian Light Horse, with regimental number 79.

According to the description preserved in his service records, Scrivens was a bachelor, aged 24 years and five months, at the time of enlistment.

The regiment departed Australia on the Mashborba in February 1915 and on arrival in Egypt was encamped at Mena near Cairo. With the urgent need for reinforcements, after the landings at Gallipoli on April 25 it was decided to use the Light Horse Regiments in a dismounted role. On arriving in mid-May, the Third Brigade Australian Light Horse, which included the 10th Regiment, were assigned to the trenches at Russell’s Top in the northern part of the Anzac sector.

The intensity of the fighting, together with the unhealthy and cramped conditions imposed by the limited ground held by the allies, saw many men being evacuated. Things got so bad that a truce was declared on May 24 to bury the large number of decaying bodies that lay scattered in no man’s land between the Allied and Ottoman trenches.

On June 28, Scrivens was admitted to hospital with diarrhoea and released back to his unit on July 9. Then, on July 20, he was hospitalised with influenza for 10 days.

It was hoped that the stalemate in the campaign would be broken by a number of attacks, all along the Allied line, planned for early August. The one on Russell’s Top, at a point known as ‘The Nek’, to be made by the 8th and 10th Regiments, Australian Light Horse, was destined to become an avoidable bloody and futile exercise. This attack became immortalised in the 1981 Peter Weir film Gallipoli, which starred Mel Gibson and Mark Lee.

Four waves of 150 men each were to charge the Ottoman trenches on August 7. Due to human error, the attack did not start as soon as the preliminary bombardment ended. Scrivens was in the third wave of troops to go over the top. His squadron was located in the centre of the line. Just like the previous two waves from the 8th Regiment, it was cut down by a swath of machine-gun and rifle fire. They simply did not stand a chance, especially with the supporting attacks further along the line being repulsed.

As part of the British Empire, Malta played its part by servicing the ships in its dockyard and providing men

Scrivens had been wounded in the chest and was evacuated to Malta on board the HS Itonus. On landing, on August 14, he was admitted to the Floriana Military Hospital. This was made up of military barracks that had been converted for use as a hospital, to cater for the flood of casualties. He died of his wounds six days later and was buried at the Pietà Military Cemetery by the Rev. M. Tobias. His medals, memorial plaque and scroll were all forwarded to his father back in England.

In 1967 the Australian government issued a commemorative medallion for those servicemen who had served at Gallipoli or, if deceased, to be given to their nearest next of kin. The obverse depicts stretcher-bearer John Simpson taking a wounded man to an aid post on a donkey – together with the year 1915. Below this image is a scroll bearing the word ‘Anzac’. The reverse depicts Australia, New Zealand and the Southern Cross. Below this image, a similar scroll is reserved for the name of the serviceman who was entitled to the medallion.

Last year, Scrivens’s 85-year-old nephew, Kenneth Scrivens, attended the Anzac Day Service at Pietà Military Cemetery while on holiday. After hearing about the Anzac Medallion and discovering that his uncle’s service record had no mention of the item being issued, he submitted an application. This met with success and he duly received a medallion inscribed with his uncle’s name just before Christmas.

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