SPITTLE, Archibald Andrew (1898-1968)Archibald Andrew Spittle was born on 15 April 1898, the son of John Spittle and Sarah Pringle nee Neyland. He was enrolled at Geelong College in February 1910 and left in December 1914. His address at enrolment was Karyrie Station, Birchip.
During World War I, he enlisted (No. 2613) in the AIF on 20 June 1916, and embarked on
HMAT A71 Nestor on 2 October 1916 for France for service with 59 Battalion (6th Reinforcement Group). He became a Lance Corporal.
In an introduction to
The War Correspondent: Letters from the Great War, written by Driver S G Spittle, MM, to his parents, and compiled by his son Graeme, a description is given of the Spittle brothers, cousins of the writer:
'Jim and Archie Spittle of Karyrie Station, Birchip, were my father’s cousins, Jim the older was wounded twice, and Archie when old enough to enlist became a Signaller, a dangerous job when running out communication line in No-Man’s Land.' His son wrote of his service many years later:
'As my grandfather’s only other son (James Spittle) had already joined up as a machine gunner, and been wounded several times, he decided to use what influence he had to get my father a safer job. He imagined that the signalling corps would be the way to go, and that he would be sitting back at Headquarters tapping out Morse Code. However horror of all horrors my father found himself running across ‘No Man’s Land’, reeling out telephone wire, sprinting thirty or forty yards, dropping into a shell hole, catching breath, working up courage to make another and yet another dash until the job was done. He survived the war without being wounded once.' The Australian War Memorial (AWM) Collection holds a group portrait of the Headquarters’ Details of the 59th Battalion, including Pte A A Spittle, who returned to Australia, embarking on 10 June 1919. The Collection also holds a portrait of A A Spittle, one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had the concession to take photographs at the Broadmeadows and Seymour army camps during the First World War. In the 1930’s, the AWM purchased the original glass negatives from Algernon Darge, along with the photographers’ notebooks. The notebooks contain brief details, usually a surname or unit name, for each negative. The names are transcribed as they appear in the notebooks.
His brother,
James Neyland Spittle (1896-1961), and sons,
Dr Malcolm Archibald Spittle (1926-2017) and William Spittle were also educated at Geelong College.
Sources: Based on an edited extract from Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. p316 (citing S G Spittle MM, The War Correspondent: Letters from the Great War; National Archives; AWM E03813; DA15858).