Lieutenant 23 september 1922
Born 17 September 1864 Glasgow Scotland
Died December 1947 Gardenvale Vic.
Entered Victorian Navy 11 March 1886
China contingent 1900
Entered RAN 28 March 1912
WW1
Retired Lieut 22 Sep/1922
Details and photo supplied by Ken Booth.
On 7 August 1886 the Argus reported the court martial of William Monteith, Training Seaman, and Francis Young, Able Seaman.
The Argus, 8 November 1889
WILLIAM GEORGE MONTEITH 1864 - 1947
William George Monteith was born on September 17 1864 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the son of James William Monteith and his wife Mary Ann née Kinlay. Both parents were born in Ireland, but their families had moved to Glasgow in search of employment. William, and his siblings Martha, Ambrose and Louisa Kate, grew up in the districts of St. Rollox, Calton and Hutchesontown, the industrial heartland of the city noted for its iron foundries, textile mills, and chemical and railway works. William was more interested in the Clydeside bustling wharves and shipyards, which led him to seek 'the sea' as his trade. Life for Glaswegian working class members was tough but a camaraderie existed amongst them which stood William in good stead wherever he journeyed throughout the world.
When and how William worked his passage to Australia is not known, but on March 20 1886 he enrolled in the Victorian Naval Force at Williamstown, as a Training Seaman on HMVS Cerberus. He passed as Trained Man in July and qualified as an Able Seaman in August. He then proceeded to work his way through the ranks and in August 1899 he was promoted to the rank of Petty Officer 1st Class, and was passed and rated as a Torpedo Instructor two months later. In July 1900 he sailed with the Victorian Naval Contingent to China to help quell the Boxer Rebellion, and was based with the naval landforce at Tientsin. On his return in 1901 he worked as a Torpedo Instructor at Williamstown. until he was promoted to Warrant Officer Gunner in March 1909 and appointed as the Naval Officer at Port Fairy. There he was responsible for training the Cadets and Naval Reservists of that area.
In July 1911 Gunner W. G. Monteith was appointed to the Administrative and Instructional Staff as an Assistant to the Melbourne District Naval Officer. In March 1912 he was then transferred to a sea-going appointment as Gunner on the HMAS Protector during which period the vessel travelled from Williamstown to Sydney, Launceston, Hobart, Adelaide and Fremantle, training cadets and Reservists at each port for their compulsory 'service at sea'. In October 1913 the Protector was recommissioned as Tender to the Gunnery School at Williamstown, but after a short spell William was appointed in March 1914 to the light cruiser HMAS Pioneer Training Vessel with further instructive cruises in Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide. The Pioneer was in dry dock at Williamstown when war broke out on August 5, 1914. She was ordered to Fremantle, and was the only warship in Western Australia, the rest of the fleet having assembled on the east coast, their task to locate and destroy the German Squadron in the Pacific. After capturing two German steamers off Rottnest Island, the Pioneer proceeded to patrol the coastline between Fremantle and Darwin. On December 24 the Admiralty 'requested the urgent aid of the Pioneer' to participate in the blockade of the German raider Königsberg in the Rufigi delta in German East Africa. She was the only Australian ship serving on the blockade, and with the British Cape Squadron vessels played an active part in the destruction of the German cruiser, and in a number of bombardments of enemy ports including Dar es Salaam. Her African deployment kept her away from Australia for one year and ten months during which she earned the following WWI summation: Strangely enough, the Pioneer, obsolete and too light for anything but minor work, has been the most actively engaged vessel of the Australian fleet.1 Her Gunnery Lieutenant and the two Gunners Monteith and Pickett would certainly have had their work cut out!
On December 11 1917 William Monteith was reappointed as Gunner to the Protector, the tender to the Gunnery School and on March 18 1919 he was promoted to Commissioned Chief Gunner. With the decision to change the Westernport Naval Base to that of a Naval Depot and the portending closure of the Williamstown Naval Depot, the Protector's work orientation became increasingly involved with the Flinders Naval Depot. In July 1920 she serviced working parties at the site, and on September 1 transferred 100 ratings from Williamstown for the Commissioning Service of the Depot as 'HMAS Cerberus III'. SMS Königsberg HMAS Pioneer.
In late March 1921 the Cerberus was transferred to Corio Bay to serve as tender to the submarines and the mother-ship HMAS Platypus, and was renamed Platypus II. The Protector was renamed Cerberus II and recommissioned as tender to the Flinders Naval Depot. On September 1922 William Monteith retired from the Royal Australian Navy with the rank of Lieutenant. His naval career had begun on the ironclad monitor Cerberus, where he had been well trained as a Cerberus sailor, of which he was very proud. The wheel had turned full circle when thirty six years later his last ship again proudly carried the Cerberus
name.
William George Monteith died peacefully at his home on December 26 1947, and he was buried in the Brighton Cemetery, Church of England ZF Grave 384 with his daughter Irene Florence who died in 1925. His wife Lily [née McGee], whom he married in 1888, died two years after William and was buried with them. Their four other children were Mary Josephine, William James, Louisa Kate and Eunice May.
1. 'The Argus' November 21 1918: article 'Australia's Navy War Service'
Photograph: Warrant Officer Gunner W.G.Monteith R.A.N. June 4 1912 Courtesy of the Monteith family.
Article provided by Janette Williams, wife of the late Ian Monteith Williams, grandson of William and Lily Monteith.
Reproduced with permission of Janette Williams and the Brighton Cemetorian, Issue 30, December 2012.
|
Religion
|
Height
|
Chest
|
Build
|
Hair
|
Eyes
|
Tatoo
|
Comment
|
| Prot |
5' 7½" |
37½" |
Prop |
Brown |
Blue |
|
|
From Volunteer Listing kept by CPO Goding & held by grandson Lawrence Dilks, Williamstown. Compared with China Contingent List. Prepared by Ada Ackerly, Directory Williamstown Museum, c 1987.
Profile in The Australian Illustrated Enclclopaedia of The Boxer Uprising 1899-1901, Justin Corfield, Slouch Hat Publications, McCrae Australia, 2001.
Received a Long Sercice & Good Conduct Medal in 1903 - Long Service & Good Conduct Medals to the Permanent Members of the Royal Australian Navy 1902 to 1956, A.O. Chaffey, West Launceston, Tasmania.
More details on this person can be found in the Victorian Navy Certificates of Service This is a very large pdf file of 109 mb and takes 13 minutes to download with a 1.5 mbps internet connection.
