Chapter 45 – Ellis

Many of the details included in this chapter are taken from Uncensored Dardanelles , by Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett. The events of 25 April 1915 are covered on pages 48-51. Some of the key details included from this source include:

Wounded were brought of the shore in a “never-ending stream” and the single hospital ship allocated to the Australians was quickly filled. Ashmead-Bartlett observes that “As usual, with the start of all British expeditions, the medical arrangements were totally inadequate to meet the requirements of the hour.” Wounded were taken to warships, then moved to transports to be taken to Egypt and “many succumbed who might otherwise have been saved.” In describing the suffering of the wounded, Ashmead-Bartlett makes no mention any cheering in this account.

After watching the landing all day from the battleship London , Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, travelled by pinnace to the beach at 9:30pm. The scene of confusion that greeted him includes some of Ashmead-Bartlett’s wording, to illustrate his ability to write vivid descriptions.

He found a group of officers, and on approach he was arrested as a spy by the Australian Colonel Street, Chief of Staff to General Birdwood. However, he was released when someone vouched for him from the darkness. On finding that Ashmead-Bartlett had a pinnace, General Birdwood dictated the request to evacuate, and General Godley wrote it down. The Naval Landing Officer from the pinnace took the note and he left, with Ashmead-Bartlett to deliver the note to Admiral Thursby on the battleship Queen .

After delivering the note, Ashmead-Bartlett travelled with the Naval Landing Officer for the next two hours advising each of the transport ships to ready their boats to evacuate the Australians, however, many of the transports had not set a watchman and so there was no one to receive the message.  Following this the pinnace returned to the beach where Ashmead-Bartlett observed that the Australians’ situation appeared to have improved and that they were likely to hold on for the night. He and the Naval Landing Officer reported to General Birdwood again and then, after seeing the Principle Medical Officer of the London , returned the pinnace to the London .

Biographers Fred and Elizabeth Brenchley, in Mythmaker, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett – The Englishman Who Sparked Australia’s Gallipoli Legend , state that Ellis Ashmead Bartlett was “blessed with an extraordinary memory (p. 5). They also state (pp.73-74) that on returning to the beach after visiting the transport ships, he was again immediately arrested by the same officer whose nerves ‘seemed to have completely deserted him’. Also included in this biography is the full wording of Ashmead-Bartlett’s despatch describing the Australian landing which appeared in full in many Australian newspapers on 8 May 1915. The language of the article written for the press is vivid, and paints a more glamorous picture than the description included in Uncensored Dardanelles . This article became famous for its role in helping to create the Anzac legend, and included each of the phrases listed: “The Australians rose to the occasion… Though many were shot almost to bits, without hope of recovery, their cheers resounded. They were happy because they knew they had been tried for the first time in the war and had not been found wanting.”

The landing article written by Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, as printed in the Sydney Morning Herald, 8 May 1915, can be viewed online at:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/1275560

Kevin Fewster, in his article Ellis Ashmead Bartlett and the Making of the Anzac Legend , (Journal of Australian Studies, volume 6, 1982 – Issue 10, pp. 17-30), states that Bartlett and Lawrence tossed a coin to who covered which assault (p. 18).

Many of the above details are confirmed in Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett’s diary which he sold to the NSW State Library in 1916 for a sum in the range of £200-£300. This diary has been transcribed and can be viewed online at:

https://transcripts.sl.nsw.gov.au/content/item-01-ellis-ashmead-bartlett-diary-1915-1917

The wording of General Birdwood’s note to General Hamilton recommending evacuation is included in Charles Bean’s an account in Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 , vol I (p. 458).

Robert Rhodes James, states in Gallipoli , that “Birdwood landed soon after 10 o’clock, and met Bridges and Godley in the former’s dugout which was nothing more than a rudimentary hole in the hill-side, covered with a tarpaulin and illuminated by two candles.”