Josiah Symon a strong supporter of World War I, conscription despite South Australia 'No'; four sons serve, survive

An Adelaide newspaper's tribute to Josiah Symon and his four sons who enlisted and survived in the armed forces in World War I. The sons' names were listed on on a honour roll in the Upper Sturt village chapel (inset) near the Symon family's summer residence in the Adelaide Hills  At right: Eleanor Symon, pictured being "presented at Court" around 1901, was one of two daughters engaged in war work in England.
Images courtesy State Library of South Australia

Eminent leader of Adelaide’s legal fraternity, Josiah Symon campaigned vigorously for the World War I effort and conscription, although South Australia, joined New South Wales and Queensland, in the “No” side’s narrow win, 1,160,033 to 1,087,557, on the issue in a referendum.

In 1917, Symon became vice president of the Royal Empire Society (he was already president of the Adelaide branch) and of the Anglo-Saxon Club. But the commitment of his family was even more tangible. All four of his sons enlisted – and survived –  in the armed forces for the war.

Eldest son Charles James Ballarat Symon, born aboard the SS Ballarat in 1886, was promoted to a second lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards in England. The second son and the only one to enlist in an Australian unit was Oscar Sturt Symon. Oscar served initially with the 27th Battalion and finished his military career as a lieutenant in the 1st Australian cyclist battalion.

Carill Hector Nicholson Symon served as a second lieutenant with the South Lancashire Regiment, while the youngest, Oliver Jose Lewers Symon, was a Royal Navy sub lieutenant on the destroyer HMS Penn. German claims to have sunk the Penn while she was picking up survivors from the HMS Nottingham proved to be false.

Two of the Symon daughters, one identified as Eleanor Dorothy Jean Symon, “engaged in war work” in England.

Josiah Symon encouraged the Law Society of South Australia to raise funds 11 for an ambulance for the war front and he was a key to setting up the South Australian Red Cross information bureau, organising it at the request of Marie Galway, wife of the South Australian governor and state president of the Australian Red Cross Society. Symon’s wife Mary worked as a Red Cross administrator in South Australia during the war. She also attended public engagements such as the unveiling of the honour board of enlisted locals at Upper Sturt village chapel in the Adelaide Hills where the family had their county residence.

The Adelaide Observer newspaper, praising its show of loyalty to the British empire, said the Symon family “has done its duty handsomely and helped to maintain the best traditions of the British race.”