Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

15/12/1914

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

18/01/1894

Place of Birth

Marrickville NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Mary Ellen Elliott (mother), Notting Hill Road, Auburn NSW

Burial Place

No known grave

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

60 Battalion AIF

Died (killed in action), 19 July 1916, Fromelles, France aged 22 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 169, Canberra ACT
VC Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial, Fromelles, France
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT

Elliott entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 7 March 1912 and was a member of the guard of honour formed by the cadets at the naming ceremony for Canberra on 12 March 1913. He was graduated early on 2 November 1914 and enlisted as a Lieutenant in charge of a troop in B Squadron of the 7th Light Horse Regiment. The 7th Light Horse landed on Gallipoli in May 1915 as infantry and served mostly at the southern end of the front line. He was the Regimental Observation Officer until July 1915 when he became the Machine Gun Officer following the death of fellow ex-RMC cadet Alan Thorne. Elliott was evacuated to hospital in Malta in September 1915 with enteric fever and after returning to Egypt in January 1916 he was promoted to Captain as the 2nd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Officer.

Following a reorganisation of the AIF in March 1916, Elliott was specially requested by Brigadier General H.E. (Pompey) Elliott (no relative) to lead a Company in the newly formed 60th Battalion. Pompey wrote: "His personality was of such sterling value that from a mere formation the company speedily became a well disciplined and trained fighting unit." In France Tom Elliott was promoted to Major (in June 1916) and acted as second in command of the 60th Battalion and was responsible for most of the arrangements for the attack made by his Battalion at Fromelles on 19th July. The 60th Battalion (part of the 15th Infantry Brigade of the 5th Division) were attempting to capture the Sugarloaf Salient during the Battle of Fromelles. Elliott lead the second wave when, according to a witness, he "dropped about 80 yards from our line. We saw him go down. Shortly after he stood up and tried to get his tunic off he got it off after a little while and then pitched forward in to his face. He has a big gash in his back, as from high explosive. He remained there all bunched with his body in the air and his head on the ground as we went past in our wave. We did not see him as we came back next morning."

Pompey Elliott thought highly of Tom Elliott and predicted he would become an 'Australian Kitchener'. Pompey had tried to keep him out of the Battle of Fromelles by temporarily transferring him to his headquarters, but Tom Elliott's battalion commander begged for him to return because of his 'real military genius' and he himself wanted to be included. Pompey Elliott regarded the death of Tom Elliott as "the greatest individual loss the Brigade has suffered since its formation."

Description - height 5 feet 10½ inches, weight 160 pounds, chest 35-37½ inches, Church of England.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM Collections Record : A03049, P08624.343
Charles Bean, 'Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18' (Vol. III)
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
Ross McMullin, 'Farewell dear people; biographies of Australia's lost generation', 2012
Ross McMullin, 'Pompey Elliott', 2002
The Canberra Times - 21 April 2012
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'Hell Opened at Fromelles', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial