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4) The background of many of the soldiers ensured that they had very
strong links to Britain; many had been recent arrivals from Britain,
many were Protestant, leaders like Billy Hughes were supportive of
Britain and the need to even supply more troops. Many volunteers,
especially from the Hunter Region, were miners from Protestant
England and Wales all keen to support the mother country. Many
family members, relatives and friends still lived in England.
5) It was very easy to label the German leadership as undemocratic
under the leadership of the Kaiser compared to the democratic
parliamentary Britain and members of the Commonwealth that
included the new democratic Australia; and
6) With regards to the protestant influence on the volunteering of
Australians for the AIF I have found that the “local” volunteers as
listed on the memorials mentioned, and the two local Victoria
Cross winners, plus local Redhead resident William Carr, a total of
twenty soldiers
all indicated their religion on the Embarkation Roll
as a Protestant church group.
This equates to a 100% enlistment
response to being a protestant.
Further Research
Why was this the case and did this trend exist
elsewhere?
The important influence of coal mining in the development of the Hunter
Region and the numbers from Northern England, many who still had
relatives in that area meant that the “Protestant numbers” would be very
strong. This Protestant influence would prove crucial in the votes against
conscription when the volunteer numbers declined later in war.
For all those researchers who have an ancestor in the First World War
use the same resources to find out the numbers and percentages of
protestants in your ancestor’s battalion.
Local researchers should be looking not only at the 34
th
and 35
th
Battalions but also in other battalions where your ancestor was a
reinforcement.
Later enlistments were added where required as
reinforcements
, to a
battalion where losses had been most numerous. For example, soldiers
could not enlist on a regional basis but to where the need for additional
soldiers was most required.
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