HENDY, Edward Percival (1894-1915).JPG)
E P Hendy (War Service)
Edward Percival Hendy was born on 2 July, 1894, the son of Ebenezer Edward Hendy (1870-1936) and Minnie Ethelwyn nee Higgins (1868-?) of Belmont. He was educated at Belmont State School, then Geelong Grammar Preparatory School (1904-1907), and Geelong College, attending there from 1908 until 1911.
At Geelong College he won the following awards:
1908 2nd English Lower 4th Form
1908 1st Scriptur Lower 4th Form
On leaving school he undertook a practical course in farming, with the intention subsequently of returning to the land after the war. He enlisted (No 541) as a trooper in the 8th Light Horse AIF on 12 January, 1915, and embarked for Egypt on
HMAT A16 Star of Victoria on 25 February 1915. He sailed from Alexandria for the Dardanelles on 19 May, and served with the 8th Light Horse. Hendy was wounded on 7 August at the Battle of The Nek, or Walker’s Ridge, in the fateful charge of the 8th Light Horse, subsequently dying of his wounds aboard the Hospital Ship Delta on 9 August. He was buried at sea.
Major A McLaurin, 8th Light Horse, wrote to the Red Cross Information Bureau telling of the circumstances of his death:
‘Hendy successfully took part in the charge from Walker’s Ridge on 7 August and was returning to Secret Sap when he was shot through the back of the shoulder. Informant saw him as he was being taken to the Dressing Station. He was put on board a hospital ship on which he died and was buried at sea. Informant, who was his squadron leader, states he was one of the best men he had.’ Hendy’s name is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial. Of the Australian troops named on the Memorial, the Light Horse lost 472 men whose graves are not known, 161 of these belonged to the 8th Light Horse Regiment which attacked The Nek and Baby 700 on 7 August.
Hendy’s father re-married to Beatrice Maud Adamson in 1909, and they had three children, Alan Hendy, Mary Winsome Hendy and Kenneth Roy Hendy (1915-1942). His half-brother, Pilot Officer K R Hendy, who was born on 20 June 1915, seven weeks before Ted Hendy died, was killed in action during the Second World War, on 3 October 1942, while serving with 100 Squadron in the Solomon Islands.
His younger brother,
James Clarence Hendy (1896- 1973) was also educated at Geelong College.
Sources: Based on an edited extract from Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. p54 (citing Commonwealth War Graves Commission; Photo Pegasus December 1915.)