Theophilus Hunn Procter

PROCTER, Theophilus Hunn- – – – SPC 1905

DoB:- – 1886, Maryborough, VIC

Father:- – Thomas Procter

Mother:- – Elizabeth, nee Hunn

Service No:- 1872

Rank:- – Driver

Unit:- – 8th Battery Field Artillery

Theophilus Procter enlisted on 17 August 1914, 20 days after war was declared. He was 27 years and nine months old, five feet seven and a half inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark hair. He claimed on his attestation papers that he was a single man, but there is a record of him being married in 1908 to Mildred Hart (or Harriet) Withers. Mildred Harriet Procter turns up in the electoral rolls in NSW, and is recorded as having died in 1956 in Mosman. It seems that Mildred did not remarry. It is more than likely that for some reason, Mildred and Theophilus separated prior to his enlistment.

Theophilus was a bank clerk, and named his father Thomas, of Drummond Street Ballarat, as his next of kin. Private Procter embarked from Perth, Western Australia on 2 November 1914, aboard the Medic. After some weeks training in Egypt, he proceeded with the MEF (Mediterranean Expeditionary Forces) to Gallipoli in April 1915. He would have been amongst the first troops to arrive on the peninsula.

On 7 December 1915, Private Procter was admitted to hospital ship Glenart Castle suffering from frostbitten feet and a fractured ankle. He was transported out to Cairo and after moving between several hospitals around the city, was finally put aboard the Runic for his return to Australia for a three month -‘change’.

He arrived in Melbourne on 12 May 1916, and was discharged as permanently medically unfit for active service on 29 July. It seems Theophilus returned to Ballarat for several years, as the electoral rolls have him at 11 Drummond Street. But from 1937, he had relocated to Western Australia. It is likely that he remained in Ballarat to look after his parents. His mother, Elizabeth died in September 1934 aged 81 years, and his father, Thomas died in March 1936 at the age of 84. They are buried together in the Ballarat New Cemetery.

After moving to Perth, Theophilus got married to Majorie Frances, and they remained in that city for their entire lives. Theophilus Hunn Procter died in 1963 at the age of 78.