10th Light Horse Regiment Trooper Maurice Joseph Barry

Maurice Joseph Barry was the third child of Edward Blackburn and Mary nee McMahon. Devoutly Roman Catholic, they had three sons and five daughters born between 1887 and 1904. Maurice was born in 1892 in Barcaldine, Queensland, before the family came to WA in the late 1890s. Here they settled in West Guildford where Maurice attended the local school and, as a young man, worked as a shearer.

Maurice’s father, Edward (59), died in October 1913 and his mother Mary (then 53) did not fare well on her own. Her mood deteriorated after the death of her aged grandmother in the approach to the second anniversary of her husband’s death. She spent a couple of weeks in care at St John of God Hospital in Subiaco, but it doesn’t appear to have eased her mind. In visits to family, they said she suffered ill-health and was “a little queer sometimes”.

Even the birth of her first grandchild, a boy, on 2 September 1915 did not lift her spirits...

And then, in some of the saddest and most gruesomely detailed circumstances this researcher has yet encountered, on the night of 6 September 1915 Mary walked down a steep slope to the railway tracks near West Leederville. She then calmly placed her hat and gloves neatly on the ground and, at the time of her choosing, stepped forward onto the tracks.

The train driver never knew he’d hit her; her chosen method of death being so effective that tiny, mangled parts of her, and her belongings, were scattered along the tracks all the way to the Thomas Street bridge where they were discovered the following morning.

Her now-orphaned children then ranged in age from 11 to 26. Perhaps unsurprisingly Maurice (22) enlisted for duty in the AIF not long afterwards, on 19 November 1915 in Perth. As next of kin he nominated his older brother William who had moved away from West Leederville and was then residing at Lord Street, West Guildford. Three of Maurice’s sisters, Mary Ellen ‘Molly’ (28), Margaret ‘Dolly’ (25) and Norah (19) were nuns with the Sisters of Mercy so Maurice allotted his pension to his two youngest sisters; Maria Jane (16) and Eileen Bridget (11). Both were then at the Convent of Mercy; Maria at Midland Junction, and Eileen at Victoria Square, Perth.

Maurice underwent training at Blackboy Hill, Claremont and Rockingham and, before he embarked with the Light Horse Reinforcements from Fremantle on HMAT Warilda on 16 February 1916, had these four beautiful portraits taken at the Dease Studio in Barrack Street, Perth.

On 9 March, in Egypt, Maurice was taken on strength as a private with the 3rd Light Horse Training Regiment at Heliopolis. On 12 October he transferred to the 10th Light Horse Regiment at Et Maler.

Just over a fortnight later, at Romani, he was absent without leave from 28-29 October. Found guilty, he received seven days’ Field Punishment No: 2 (hard labour, untethered) and, as he was absent for less than 24 hours, forfeited just one day’s pay. On 15 February 1917 he was absent again - missing from Reveille that day to 7:30pm the next. Once more found guilty, this time he forfeited 9 days’ pay.

Eight weeks later, in action in Gaza, Palestine, on 19 April 1917, Maurice received a gunshot wound to the abdomen and was treated by the 6th Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance. A series of transfers saw him eventually admitted three days later, dangerously ill, to the 24th Stationary Hospital, Kantara. He died the next day, aged just 24, and he was buried at Kantara War Memorial Cemetery in Kantara, Egypt. Maurice’s effects, including trinkets, a bible and his identity disc, were recovered and sent to his sister, Maria.

Of his family, Maurice’s older brother, William, began working for the railways in 1903, aged 15. He became a station master and married Ada Keenan in 1913. It was their son who was born four days before poor Mary Barry stepped onto those train tracks.

With Ada perhaps not yet knowing she was expecting their second child, William enlisted in Northam on 27 February 1917, aged 28.

As a Company Sergeant Major Warrant Officer Class II, William trained and embarked from Melbourne on board HMAT Ascanius to England on 1 May 1917, a week after Maurice died. After a bout of influenza he was deployed to France on 5 September 1917 with the 16th Light Railway Operating Company.

Back home, two months later, Ada gave birth to their second son and, in remembrance of her lost brother-in-law, named him William Maurice.

In action in France on 21 March 1918 William was gassed and subsequently hospitalised in England. When he recovered, he was transferred to the 2nd Light Railway Operating Company and rejoined his unit in May.

After serving out the rest of the war, in April 1919 William returned to Australia, Ada, and his work in the railways. In time, he received Maurice’s medals, King’s Memorial Scroll and Plaque. He and Ada had a daughter in 1921, but sadly lost their first son in Papua New Guinea during WWII.

Despite having been gassed William lived a reasonably long life and died in March 1967 in Doubleview, at the age of 78. Ada outlived him by nearly 20 years and died in 1986, aged 92.

Maurice’s younger brother Edward was born in 1900 and too young to go to war. He married Alma Wright in 1921 and raised a family of four. Like William, he also worked in railways and lived a good, long life. He died in 1981, aged 80.

Incredibly, all five Barry daughters became nuns with the Sisters of Mercy; Mary (Sister Monica), Margaret (Sister Regis), Norah (Sister Mary Carmel), Maria, and Eileen (Sister Vianney). Apart from Norah, who was at the Foundling Home in West Leederville and died in 1923 aged just 27, all lived long, productive lives. Maurice likely would have, too, had he not died in the war.

https://www.thesoldiersofbarrackstreet.com/private-maurice-joseph-barry-10th-light-horse-regiment?rq=barry