258 Pte Arthur Thomas Reynolds 7 Bn, was
back in Australia in time for Christmas 1915. He now suffered from persistent
headaches, giddiness and fainting attacks, and would experience these types of issues
for the rest of his life. He was discharged as medically unfit on 1 April 1916 and
granted a pension. He attempted to work, serving with the Home Guard at
Government House, Melbourne from September 1916 but had to be discharged in
December that year due to the head pain he suffered. Subsequent medical
examinations eventuated in him being declared unfit to work, and he stayed
living with his parents in Davies St., Brunswick.
Around 1921 Arthur met Ruth Helen Noak and they married on 11 February 1922 at Christ Church in St Kilda, both aged 27. Arthur has spent some time bayside in late 1921 and believed his health issues had benefited from the “change in air”, so perhaps this is why Arthur left Brunswick and he and Ruth moved in with her parents in Carlisle Street, St Kilda. Ruth had been born in England and emigrated with her family as a child. Her older brother, also Arthur, had been killed at Bullecourt in France in 1917, so one could assume that she and her family had compassion for what Arthur had suffered.
Around this time, Arthur’s parents also
moved from Brunswick to the bayside area, living in Mordialloc until their
deaths.
Later in 1922 Arthur and Ruth moved to Maxwell
Street, Glen Iris where they bought a house in which they raised three sons –
Gilbert (born 1923), Keith (born 1925) and Robert (born 1933). Despite his
ongoing health issues, Arthur resumed working when he was physically able to,
as a french polisher, while receiving regular medical care at Repatriation
hospitals. Despite this regular care, Arthur’s condition continued to worsen,
and between 1931 and 1944 he had three operations and other various medical
treatments to attempt to alleviate the head pain he lived with, with limited
success. He was again declared unfit to work and given a war pension.
During World War Two, the family moved back to Carlisle Street, St Kilda. Ruth passed away in 1947, aged 53, and Arthur continued to live in the house, now with his son Kevin and, later, his wife. His three sons all married and between them gave Arthur seven grandchildren. In 1956 Arthur married Isabella Stiddard, a widow, and moved to Windsor.
Arthur died on the 16 February 1961, aged 67, at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, from renal failure that doctors believed was due to the war injury that he had suffered from for 45 years. He was cremated and his ashes interred at Springvale Cemetery next to his first wife Ruth.
In 1992 Arthur’s eldest son Gilbert, who had served in World War 2, claimed his father’s Anzac Commemorative Medal, which was issued in 1967 to those that survived Gallipoli.
Researched and written by Vicki Skidmore, Brunswick Community History Group (BCHG) volunteer.
This work was completed as part of a BCHG project looking into the lives of the 55 Brunswick 7th Battalion men who left Melbourne with the first convoy on board the Hororata on 19 October 1914.
