Harold Pope CB (1873 - 1938)

Born 16 Oct 1873 in London, Middlesex, England

Died 13 May 1938 at age 64 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia

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CB

• Visit : VWMA Virtual Memorial Harold Pope CB MiD . . . and photo . .
  

Biography

Harold Pope ^[1] (1873-1938), railway administrator and soldier, was born on 16 October 1873 at Ealing, Middlesex, England, son of Edward Pope, solicitor, and his wife Mary Jane, née Pope. He was raised by a nanny, educated at Thanet Lodge, Margate, and at St Saviour's College, Ardingly, Sussex, and at 16 joined the clerical staff of the Great Northern Railway.
In August 1895 he arrived in Western Australia where he joined the railways. On 23 October 1896 he married Susan Matilda Slater at St John's Anglican Church, Albany. He joined the Western Australian Military Forces in July 1900 as a second lieutenant, and by 1908 he was a lieutenant-colonel.

1914-1915 Star AIF Attestation p.80

On 13 October 1914 Pope was appointed lieutenant-colonel commanding the 16th Battalion, 4th Brigade, Australian Imperial Force. At dusk on 25 April 1915, at Gallipoli, he led part of his battalion and some New Zealanders to a vital unguarded gap, soon known as Pope's Hill. There, exposed to Turkish fire from both front and rear, the 16th began its work on Gallipoli. This included the failed 2 May attack on Bloody Angle where the unit had its numbers halved, the holding of Quinn's Post where on 29 May Pope commanded an attack, the 7 August night advance on Sari Bair and the 8 August attempt to take Hill 971. On 9-17 October Pope was temporary commander of the 4th Brigade, nominated by Brigadier General (Sir) John Monash who held him in the highest regard. Pope also led his battalion in 1916 at Fromelles; a disaster imposed from the British heirarchy. He was later commanding officer of the 52nd Australian Infantry Battalion.

• KB00059301 Karrakatta Burial

People – LifeTree

• Digging in at Pope's Hill (1918)
• Ellis Luciano Silas (1885 - 1972)
• An artist at The Landing—Signaller Silas (various tabs) DVA
  The 16th Battalion AIF at Anzac, Gallipoli

Sources

1. ↑ Suzanne Welborn, Pope, Harold (1873–1938), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University,
   published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 14 January 2019.