Lieutenant Geoffrey Besant Woodriff (7 January 1894 – 18 May 1918)
Geoffrey Besant Woodriff was born on 7 January 1894, the son of Francis Henry and Margaretta Mary (nee Tingcombe) Woodriff of ‘Combewood’, Penrith. His great great grandfather, Captain Daniel Woodriff RN, was granted 1,000 acres where Penrith now stands.
He enlisted in the AIF on 10 May 1915 and left Australia aboard the HMAT Ceramic on 25 June 1915 with his friend Don Lowe. Don wrote on board to Geoff’s sister Meta saying ‘Geoff was paraded sick yesterday and is down with a slight attack of measles, but is cheerful and the good food in hospital will not hurt him. We are both getting heavy weight and putting on lbs daily …I am keeping a diary, so is Geoff’. He finished this letter stating ‘You won’t know us when we return with our fancy moustaches’. Don wrote another letter to Meta after they arrived in Egypt. He said ‘The train trip from Alexandria was grand and opened our eyes very wide …the folks seem to live as they did in the year 1B.C. We see a lot of wounded from the Dardanelles and poor beggars they do look bad. I tell you straight Meta things are bad and more serious at the Dardanelles than Australians in Australia think … I am keen now and feeling very fit, so is Geoff’.
Their 18th Battalion landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 20 August and two days later the Battalion took part in a diversionary battle for Lone Pine (Hill 60). On 27 August, Geoff received shrapnel wounds to his arm, leg, back and hand. He was evacuated to Mudros and then to Hunt’s Green Hospital, Hampstead England. Geoff returned to Egypt in January 1916 and rejoined his battalion shortly before it sailed for France. On 5 November, Geoff was promoted to Sergeant. In June 1917, he attended Officer Cadets Training School in Oxford England and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant.
On 19 May 1918, Geoff took part in an operation designed to straighten a large bend in the Australian lines. He successfully led his men in an attack on a heavily defended crossroad. German machine gun fire on the platoon’s position killed several soldiers including Geoff who was hit in the chest and killed. The machine gun was destroyed. Leonard Robson wrote to Geoff’s father giving him a detailed outline of his and the company’s praise of Geoff and his leadership. He wrote ‘His cast are few and far between …May the realization that he has more than done his duty be some small salve to you and a very great comfort’. Geoff’s two brothers, Francis Henry and Daniel also joined the AIF and returned in 1919.
Two of many sympathy cards and letters sent to the Meta Woodriff and her family after Geoff was killed. (Woodriff Collection, Combewood, Penrith, NSW)
This letter from Geoff was sent from England to Meta Woodriff, Geoff’s older sister. The families mentioned are close family and friends of the Woodriff family.
Hilfield
16th Nov 1915
Dear Meta
I wonder what I can say to you I think I have pretty well exhausted all the news in the letters to the others. I have been having quite a royal time here and have visited several places of interest in the neighbourhood among others Windsor castle, Eton College and the Basilica where Napoleon III is buried. I went to Aldershot again a couple of weeks ago with Alice, Beatrice and Mary to see the flying. It is very interesting to see about a dozen or so up at the same time. I would have liked to have gone up in one but didn’t get the chance.
We had a couple of inches of deep snow here last night, and as today is a nice fine day with the sun shining warmly it is rather slushy to walk through. I have been down to the village with Ms Stilwell for dinner. Beatrice and I were going to ride over to meet Mary who was going to ride over from ‘The Pines, but we thought discretion was the better part of valour, and she also apparently as she came over on her bicycle.
Thank you for your letter; it was a nice long one. It would be nice to have your photo taken in costume with Fran. Glad to hear Dick is through at last. He must be jolly glad. I expect I wouldn’t know Nurse Lynham now if I saw her, but I remember her coming up perfectly well. I met a Miss Lillingston the other day over at Fir Grove who knew Allan at St Paulo College, but I think she was in her last year when he was doing his first. She is some sort of a cousin of the Tindalls I believe. Goodness knows what age she thought I was but she thought I was Allans elder brother and asked if I was at the Uni before she was and she must be over thirty.
Well! I think I must say au revoir now for as I said before I have exhausted all the news. A merry Xmas to you an a happy New Year.
With love from
Your affect. Brother
Geoffrey
Sources:
Woodriff Collection, Combewood, Penrith, NSW
National Archives Australia: B2455, Woodriff, Geoffrey Besant
Penrith City Library biography files
Lorraine Stacker
Researcher at Combewood, Penrith
Combewood House, Penrith 