Brian Colden Antill Pockley MB BS (1890 - 1914)

Ancestors

Biography

Captain Brian Pockley, 1914

Doctor Brian Colden Antill Pockley was born on 4th June 1890 in Willoughby, New South Wales (Australia). He was the second of three sons of Francis Pockley and Helen Hooke. ^[1] His great grandfather, Major Henry Antill, a magistrate and one-time ADC to Governor Lachlan Macquarie, was a pioneer of Picton, New South Wales on his property Jarvisfield.

Like his father and brothers, Brian studied medicine at the University of Sydney, graduating with the dual degrees Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (BS) and was a medical practitioner when the (First World) War broke out in 1914.

At the age of 24, Brian successfully applied for a commission in the Australian Commonwealth Military Force and was commissioned as a Captain in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF). ^[2] He departed Sydney aboard HMAS Berrima on 19th August 1914 to serve with the AN&MEF in German New Guinea. He was part of the first landing force of the Naval Brigade at Kabakaul on 11th September 1914. During the advance towards a German wireless station, Able Seaman William Williams was shot in the stomach, becoming the first Australian casualty of the First World War. After tending to Williams, Brian gave his Red Cross armband to another naval serviceman, Stoker Kember, so Kember could carry Williams to the rear. Shortly afterwards, Brian was also wounded, quite possibly due to his non-identification as a Medic. ^[3]

The two wounded men were taken aboard HMAS Berrima, where they both died that afternoon. They were buried at Herbertshohe Cemetery that same day. On 11th July 1919 Brian Pockley's remains were re-interred in Rabaul Cemetery, with full naval and military honours. In 1950 his grave was among the First World War graves that were relocated to Rabaul War Cemetery (Bita Paka), Papua New Guinea.

In his obituary in St Andrew's Church of England, Wahroonga, Reverend Langford Smith stated that Brian's, "death was a loss to the whole community, as a life of bright promise and brilliant prospects had been cut short in youth. Captain Pockley had been one of the earliest pupils of St Andrew's Sunday School, and for a number of years a worshipper at the church. His moral and upright character was largely the result of a good home influence, and by a noble example he had now passed the effect of that influence on to others. He had gone forth at the call of duty and in the cause of humanity, and had laid down his young life for his King and country." ^[4]

The author of The Australians at Rabaul, Seaforth Simpson Mackenzie, later wrote, "Pockley's action in giving up his Red Cross badge, and thus protecting another man's life at the price of his own, was consonant with the best traditions of the Australian Army, and afforded a noble foundation for those of Australian Army Medical Corps in the war."

Brian's youngest brother, John Graham Antill Pockley, would be killed in action in France in 1918, towards the end of the war.

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #32196/1890
2. ↑ Application for a Commission; accessed 31 Aug 2018
3. ↑ Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour: Captain Brian Colden Antill Pockley; accessed 31 Aug 2018
4. ↑ Pockley, Brian Colden A. (1890–1914). Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 1 Sep 2018

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission: CAPTAIN BRIAN COLDEN ANTILL POCKLEY Australian Army Medical Corps Died 11 September 1914 Age 24 years Buried or commemorated at RABAUL (BITA PAKA) WAR CEMETERY AA. A. 1. Papua New Guinea Son of Francis Antill Pockley, M.D., of Macquarie Street, Sydney