Ralph Alfred Medlam Hull (1886-1959)
Bishop Auckland son of mineral water manufacturer served with 10th Australian Light Horse
During times of peace, Ralph Alfred Medlam Hull worked as a bar steward. He served, however, both in the Boer War and in First World War, in cavalry units, first of the British Army, then the Australian.
Ralph came from Bishop Auckland, born in 1886 to relatively prosperous parents. His father, also Ralph, owned a small mineral water manufacturing company in Bishop Auckland, whilst his mother, Margaret Ann (nee Cleminson), from Spennymoor, always had a servant to help her look after her four boys and the household. At various times, various grandparents and uncles also lived with the family.
By 1914, Ralph had emigrated to Australia and was working as a steward in the WA Club in Perth, Western Australia; a gentlemen’s club whose membership included many of the business and political leaders of the day. Ralph’s father died and his mother followed him to Perth, but, when he enlisted in 1915, she moved back to England for the duration of the war.
On 25 November 1915, Ralph volunteered to join the Australian Army in Perth. Having previously served for a year with the Imperial Yeomanry (a volunteer cavalry regiment which saw action primarily during the Second Boer War), Ralph enlisted as a trooper in the 10th Australian Light Horse Regiment.
After basic training in the 38th Depot, Ralph was sent to a Signals School in Western Australia before finally embarking for the war on 22 January 1917, on the “Bulla”, from Fremantle.
He arrived in Suez on 18 February, and two months later, passed his training as a gunner. For the next three years, Ralph would remain in the Middle East, seeing action both in Palestine and in Egypt, at the Battle of Beersheba and in Damascus where the Regiment received the formal surrender on 1 October 1918.
There was a long delay in repatriation to Australia for the men of the 10th Light Horse Regiment, and in the meantime, they were used to suppress a national uprising in Egypt in 1919.
Ralph finally returned to Western Australia on 16 April 1920, to be discharged from the army two months later. He settled again in Perth and, by 1925, had become a builder. His mother returned to Australia and lived out her life with her son and his new wife, Florence Thelma.
During the Second World War, Ralph again undertook military duties; he served with the territorial Army Citizens Military Forces. He died in Perth in 1959. Florence lived on until 1967.
Civil Parish: Bishop Auckland
Birth date: 1886
Death date: 1959
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 19 Southgate Street, Bishop Auckland (ecclesiastical parish of Auckland St Peters 1891 census)
9 Low Durham Street, Bishop Auckland (ecclesiastical parish of Auckland S Peters (1901 census)
17 Grosvenor Road, Mount Lawley, Perth, Western Australia (WA) (1915 attestation papers)
762 Beaufort Street, Perth, WA (electoral roll 1925)
774 Beaufort Street, Perth (electoral roll 1943)
Employment: Bar Steward, Builder
Family: Parents: Ralph Hull (b 1857), Margaret Ann Hull (nee Cleminson b 1861)
Siblings: Joseph Hull (b 1887), Ernest Hull (b 1897), Frank Hull (b 1896)
Grandparents: Jane Hull (b 1814 in Norfolk, Joseph Cleminson (b 1834)
Wife: Florence Thelma Hull
Military service:
Pre-war Service: 1 year in Imperial Yeomanry (2nd Boer War)
Service Number 3058
Private
10th Australian Light Horse Regiment
Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal
Gender: Male
Contributed by Kelloe Visitor, Trimdon Station