Herbert Abraham Ansell was born on 1 October 1878 in Hobart, Tasmania, to Hanna (née Cohen) and Henry Ansell, a footwear commercial traveller and the reader plus secretary of Hobart Hebrew Congregation. Herbert attended prestigious The Hutchins School, where he was a cadet for three years: “All through his School career he showed great ability in his studies, and was always near the top of his class, while his high spirits and bright personality made him popular, both with boys and masters. He qualified for a University Scholarship in 1896 and was the best all-round athlete we had; a smart wicket-keeper, a dashing bat, an excellent footballer, and a good tennis player.”

The family moved to Melbourne in 1903, and he became known as Bert. By July 1915, he was an executive at the Vacuum Oil Company. Nonetheless – aged almost 37 – he enlisted in the AIF. After training, he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant Herbert Abraham Ansell on 17 January 1916 and sailed with the 5th Reinft. 29th Battalion in March to England, spending two of five months there at the Cyclist Training Depot. Bert deployed to France and, on 25 September, transferred to the 8th Australian Machine Gun Company near Armentieres to lead its No. 4 section. The unit participated in some raids on enemy trenches before moving south to the Somme battlefield during October to prepare for an attack from Mametz Wood towards Bapaume, as part of the 5th Division.

Official war historian C.E.W. Bean recorded that: “The night of 21 October was dry but bitterly cold, and the men could warm themselves only by digging the mud from their trenches and cutting fire-steps;” while the company’s billeting officer wrote that: “Wounded [are] dying in the field from exposure.” The 8th MG Coy unit diary entry for 22 October describes how they: “relieved the 89th Machine Gun Company [of the British 30th Division]. Four sections and Headquarters marched to trenches. Transport moved to Mametz Hill to join Brigade Transport. No. 4 section to front line, No. 1 support trenches, 2 & 3 sections and Headquarters to Company Headquarters ‘Grove Alley’.”

But the diary has just one brief line for 23 October 1916: “3pm - 2/Lieutenant Ansell H.A. Killed in Action” - less than a month after he joined the company. Witnesses, some of whom were working with Bert on a machine gun, told the Red Cross later that: “It was his first day in the trenches,” he was hit “by a Dud shell,” and that: “His body had to be left out for a few days, but a party belonging to my No.3 section buried him just behind the front line [on the left of Flers], and a cross was erected on his grave.” The First Battle of the Somme petered out during November 1916 as the first snowfalls of autumn arrived and the conditions continued to deteriorate.

2/Lt Herbert Abraham Ansell was reinterred in the AIF Burial Ground, Flers, Somme, in 1920. Evelyn chose the epitaph for her brother’s headstone: TO LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WE LOVE IS NOT TO DIE Fourteen men and one woman (Dr Eveline Cohen RAMC) from the small Tasmanian Jewish community served in WW1: see separate entry for Felix Bloch, KIA 17 August 1918.

Herbert Abraham Ansell was born on 1 October 1878 in Hobart, Tasmania, the second son of Hanna (née Cohen) and Henry Ansell. Henry was born in Hobart to Henry and Rose Ansell, and returned there from Melbourne and Birmingham, England, as a commercial traveller for a footwear firm, marrying Hannah in 1874 at the Hobart Hebrew Congregation (HHC) synagogue, in a ceremony conducted by Rev. Abraham Myers. She was the daughter of Moses and Elizabeth Cohen and Henry became reader as well as secretary of the HHC. A daughter, Evelyn, was born in 1883 and the family must have lived quite comfortably, residing at 95 Collins Street, as both sons, Montague Moses (b. 1874) and Herbert, attended prestigious The Hutchins [Church of England Grammar] School from 1886 and 1887, respectively.

Herbert was a school and senior cadet for three years, and the school magazine said of him in 1916: “All through his School career he showed great ability in his studies, and was always near the top of his class, while his high spirits and bright personality made him popular, both with boys and masters. He passed both the Junior and Senior Public Examinations with distinction, qualifying for a University Scholarship in 1896. During this last year at the School he was the best all-round athlete we had; a smart wicket-keeper, a dashing bat, an excellent footballer, and a good tennis player. He was captain of the first eleven, and quite the best man in the football team.”

Although Dux of The Hutchins School, ‘Bert’ - as he became known - does not seem to have pursued studies at the University of Tasmania, where Montague had been in the first enrolment of thirteen students in 1891, and later graduated. The family moved to Melbourne in 1903, living in St Kilda, and Henry returned to Hobart regularly for visits, retaining his HHC roles, only to suddenly die there in 1911. Herbert worked as an assistant manager for the Vacuum Oil Company in Melbourne and, by the time he enlisted, had “an executive capacity, principally handling important Government Railway & Defence contracts” and was living at ‘St Margarets’ Punt Hill, South Yarra.

On 7 July 1915 and – presumably motivated by the stories from Gallipoli – despite being almost 37 years’ old, Bert joined the AIF - noting his sister, Evelyn, as next-of-kin. After basic training at Broadmeadows and attending the Port Melbourne Musketry School, then the 3rd and 5th Officers’ Training Schools, he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant Herbert Abraham Ansell on 17 January 1916, attached to the 5th Reinforcement of 29th Battalion. They embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT A68 Anchises on 14 March 1916 for Egypt and arrived at Suez on 15 April, then sailed to England. There, he went to the main Australian base camp on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, and on 28 May transferred to the Cyclist Training Depot until 6 August, then was briefly in the 8th Training Battalion. Bert re-joined the 29th Battalion on 29 August and likely caught up with Evelyn, who had moved to London, before he sailed to France and awaited deployment at Étaples.

On 25 September 1916, just prior to his 38th birthday, Bert was transferred to the 8th Australian Machine Gun Company* whilst they were in the trenches near Armentieres and assigned to lead the No.4 section. As part of the 5th Division, the unit was rebuilding after the terrible losses at the Battle of Fromelles in July. Over the next couple of weeks, they – as well as Armentieres and its civilians - were subject to intermittent shelling, and participated with the 29th and 31st Battalions in raids on enemy trenches, evading gas attacks from both sides. On 13 October, the company moved with the 8th Brigade from their relatively comfortable billets in Armentieres to Strazelle, and then entrained at Bailleul on 17 October for Longpre. They were joining the other Australian divisions, who had survived Pozieres and Moquet Farm, on the Somme battlefield, for the next attack towards Bapaume.

Australia’s official war historian, C.E.W. Bean, recorded that, with the drenching rain increasing: “Two long communication trenches [saps] led down past the muddy positions in ‘Gun Valley’ and the ruined village of Flers, but the mud in these saps was in many places knee-deep, and most of the infantry had to make its way in the open beside them. After passing Flers, the Australians saw their first tanks, derelicts of the September fighting, in some cases with the crew still lying dead among the machinery.”

The 8th MG Coy alternately marched and were bussed to Dernancourt, arriving at Mametz Wood on 21 October. “The night was dry but bitterly cold, and the men could warm themselves only by digging the mud from their trenches and cutting fire-steps. By next day the two front-line battalions - which were detailed for the approaching attack - were so exhausted that it was decided to relieve them immediately by the 53rd and bring them back for a short rest in Pommiers Camp, which had then been improved by the addition of a few tents. The same night the 8th Brigade under similar difficulties took over the sector south-west of the 14th, immediately north of the ruins of Gueudecourt. Both brigades were greatly impressed by the continuity of the artillery-fire; on the British side each division was now supported by more than two divisional artilleries, and the normal fire of the British heavy batteries had enormously increased. The fire of the German artillery, however, did not approach that which had been normal at Pozieres.” The company’s billeting officer, Theodor Pflaum, wrote that: “Wounded [are] dying in the field from exposure.” The 8th MG Coy unit diary entry for 22 October describes how they: “relieved the 89th Machine Gun Company [of the British 30th Division]. Four sections and Headquarters marched to trenches. Transport moved to Mametz Hill to join Brigade Transport. No.4 section to front line, No.1 support trenches, 2 & 3 sections and Headquarters to Company Headquarters ‘Grove Alley’.”

But the unit diary has just one brief line for 23 October 1916: “3pm - 2/Lieutenant Ansell H.A. Killed in Action” - less than a month after he joined the company.

Witnesses, some of whom were working with Bert on a machine gun, told the Red Cross later that: “It was his first day in the trenches,” and he was hit “by a Dud shell.” 2/Lt Ansell was the only death that the company suffered during October, whilst 16 men were wounded. “His body had to be left out for a few days, but a party belonging to my No.3 section buried him just behind the front line [on the left of Flers], and a cross was erected on his grave. I supplied the wood to make his cross,” Cpl. J. Rundle stated some months later, whilst at No.12 General Hospital, Rouen. The First Battle of the Somme petered out during November 1916, as the first snowfalls of autumn arrived and the conditions continued to deteriorate.

Bert’s loss was deeply felt by his sister Evelyn and brother Montague. In February and October of 1917, two small parcels arrived for Evelyn, containing inter alia Herbert’s identity disc, a small trinket and a ‘Testament’.

Along with nine others buried about three miles SSW of Bapaume, in 1920 Second Lieutenant Herbert Abraham Ansell’s remains were exhumed and reinterred at the Grass Lane Cemetery: renamed the AIF Burial Ground, Flers, Somme. Evelyn – now Mrs E. Wilson of Kensington, England - chose the epitaph for her brother’s headstone: TO LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WE LOVE IS NOT TO DIE

POSTSCRIPT * 2/Lt Herbert Ansell’s service record does not mention whether he attended a Machine Gun Training School. This is in stark contrast to other members of machine gun companies that the author, Peter Allen, has researched for the Australian Jewish War Memorial’s narratives: e.g. Sgt Archie Saunders, Lt Dalbert Hallenstein. Montague Ansell was the University of Tasmania's Registrar from 1916 – when he learnt of his brother’s death - until 1922, and he was subsequently Registrar of the University of Melbourne. Fourteen men and one woman (Dr Eveline Cohen RAMC) from the small Tasmanian Jewish community, served in WW1: see separate entry for Felix Bloch, KIA 17 August 1918. A Roll of Honour was dedicated in the Hobart Hebrew Congregation synagogue at its Centenary of Anzac Remembrance Service on 30 October 2016: 100 years after the burial of 2/Lt Herbert Ansell. The principal and captain of The Hutchins School laid a wreath in his memory.