1 Australian Horse Trooper No. 894
2nd NSW Mounted Rifles Lance Corporal No.18
3rd NSW Imperial Bushmen No. 204 Lance Sergeant
Samuel Curtis Masters was born at Gundaroo on 19 April 1880, the son of Charles and Mary Ann Masters of Gundaroo who had 12 children.
He was only nineteen years and seven months old when he sailed with the 1st Australian Horse as Trooper No.894 in November 1899. He must have put his age up to enlist.
The Queanbeyan Age 27 August 1900 published the following extract from a letter received from Curtis, written from Kroonstad on 23 May 1900:
“I have a bit of spare time as, owing to my horse being unfit, I have been left behind with a lot more of the 1st AH. boys, whose horses either died or were shot on the march here. I can tell you it was a great disappointment for me to be unable to go on, as this is the first time I have had to be left behind.
We marched from Bloemfontein to Kroonstad. Seven days weary march. The fifth day we had a battle in which …..there was one officer and four men taken prisoner and three wounded, they were all out of the second lot that came out, but the other regiments that were with us lost much heavier for the Inniskillens had nine men killed, and thirteen wounded, and the Carbineers and Scots Greys also lost a good many men and horses. But after that we saw very little more of the Boers and as we advanced on this town they fled, blowing up the railway line as they went- I hope by the time you get this letter the war will be ended for I have had enough of it, so I think has everyone else. Jack Heydon was quite well when we parted yesterday morning on the march and I can tell you I was very sorry to have to part, for he has been as a brother to me right through. Owen Taylor is in the hospital, so is Mr Jim Osborne, but we hope to see them both well again soon. You can if you think fit publish this letter as I would like some of the Australians to see what our Bungendore boys will do.”
He was invalided home on 16 November 1900, having suffered pneumonia and enteric fever. At his official welcome home to Bungendore 1900 at the Lake George Hotel he was he was almost fully recovered. He was discharged on 17 December 1900.
He re-enlisted as a Lance Corporal No.18 with the 2nd NSW Mounted Rifles and sailed to South Africa on 15 March 1901.
He subsequently transferred to the 3rd NSW Imperial Bushmen, with whom he was promoted to Lance Sergeant No.204.
He was awarded the Queen’s Medal with four clasps: Transvaal, Dreifontein, Paardeberg, Relief of Mafeking; and the King’s Medal with two clasps: South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902. His medals are on display in the Boer War Gallery of the Australian War Memorial.
The 1906 and 1908 Electoral Rolls showed him employed as a groom at ‘Currandooley’ near the eastern edge of Lake George. In 1909, he married Ethel A. Smith.
The 1917 Electoral Roll showed that Samuel was still working as a groom at ’Currandooley’, where his brother Elias was the manager. Following the death of his father in 1923, Samuel took over managing ’Currandooley’ from his brother Elias. When Elias died in 1953, Samuel was living in Goulburn.
Samuel Curtis Masters died in 1967.
Notes:
1. William Alfred Masters, an older brother of Samuel, born in 1874, also served in the Boer War with the 2nd NSW Mounted Rifles as Trooper No.1027. Why he was not included on the Bungendore Roll of Honour Board in the Memorial Hall is not known.
2. Another brother Albert Harold ,born 1890,served in the Great War as a Gunner No. 1816 with the8th Company Division Ammunition Park and died of wounds received at Gallipoli on 30 June 1915. He is remembered on the Bungendore Great War Roll of Honour.
See also: BUNGENDORE & DISTRICT WAR MEMORIAL SOUTH AFRICAN (BOER) WAR 1899-1902 ROLL OF HONOUR ISBN: 978-0-646-55612-3 Peter John Hugonnet 2011
