b. 21/05/1893 Collingwood, Victoria. d. 12/01/1970 Heidelberg, Victoria.
William “Rusty” Ruthven (1893-1970) was born on 21st May 1893 at Collingwood, Melbourne, Victoria. He was known commonly as Rusty. His father, Peter, was a carpenter born in Collingwood, who married Catherine Charlotte “Shawl” Bedwell in 1883. William had six siblings. William was educated at Vere Street State School, Collingwood, Victoria.
Ruthven was employed in the timber industry when he enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force on 16th April 1915. He left Australia in August with reinforcements for the 22nd Battalion which he joined in October on Gallipoli. Late in March 1916 the 22nd went to France. On 17th April, during his first tour of duty in the forward area near Fleurbaix, Ruthven was wounded with a gunshot to the leg. He was admitted to 8th Stationary Hospital on 20th April, before being transferred to the Australian Voluntary Hospital, Wimereux on 25th April. He rejoined his battalion in August on the Somme and was promoted lance corporal. On 26th January 1917 he was confirmed in the rank of sergeant.
On 18th May 1918 Ruthven took part in an attack near Ville-sur-Ancre. When his company commander was wounded, Ruthven assumed command but soon the advance was held up by heavy machine-gun fire. Unhesitating, he ran at the machine-gun post, bombed it, bayoneted one of the crew and captured the gun. Then, encountering enemy coming out of a shelter, he wounded two and captured six. Having reorganized his men and formed a post, he noticed further enemy movement in a nearby sunken road. Armed only with a revolver, he shot two men and captured thirty-two. He spent the rest of the day, under fire, supervising consolidation and encouraging his men. He was awarded the Victoria Cross (LG 11th July 1918).
On 11th June near Méricourt Ruthven was wounded again, and on 1st July was commissioned second lieutenant. He was transferred to the AIF Headquarters in London on 2nd August 1918. The VC was presented by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 16th August. He returned to Australia in October with several other Victoria Cross winners to assist recruiting and received a hero’s welcome in Melbourne. He was promoted lieutenant and on 11th December his A.I.F. appointment ended.
Ruthven resumed work as a wood machinist and on 20 December 1919 married Irene May White at St Philip’s Anglican Church, Abbotsford; they had a daughter, Ailsa and a son, Noel. In the mid-1920s the family moved to a soldier-settlement block at Werrimull. Bad seasons and poor health forced Ruthven back to Collingwood in 1931. In 1932, he was one of the pallbearers at the funeral of Albert Jacka VC MC at St Kilda Cemetery, Melbourne. He became a carrier and later worked with the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission. In 1938, he was in Russell Street, Melbourne, when he heard two boys calling for help from a lift that had broken down. He immediately grabbed the rope, which was travelling so fast that it burned his hands, and managed to slow it down. He was elected to the Collingwood Council and became mayor in 1945.
During World War II, from December 1941 Ruthven served with the 3rd Australian Garrison Battalion and other garrison units, including those centred at Murchison, Victoria’s largest prisoner-of-war camp. In August 1944 he ceased full-time duty, as major. He sat in the Victorian Legislative Assembly during 1945-55 as the Labor member for Preston, then following a redistribution represented Reservoir until his retirement in 1961.
‘Rusty’ Ruthven retained close links with other Victoria Cross recipients and the Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia. He attended the 1956 Victoria Cross Centenary Celebrations in London. He also attended the third and sixth VC and GC Association Reunions at the Cafe Royal, London in 1962 and 1968. In 1964, he was with 18 other Australian VCs at the opening of VC Corner at the Australian War Memorial. On 25th April 1965, he was one of 77 veterans who travelled to Anzac Cove, Gallipoli for the 50th anniversary. He was president of the Werrimull and Collingwood R.S.S.I.L.A. sub-branches, a life member of the Preston sub-branch and a trustee of Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and the St Kilda Memorial Hall. Ruthven was also official timekeeper for the Collingwood Football Club and a foundation member of its social club. The war, however, had severely affected his health; illness forced his retirement from politics.
Survived by his wife and children, he died on 12th January 1970 in Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and was cremated with military honours at Fawkner Memorial Park, Fawkner, Victoria, Australia. The Ruthven Soldiers’ Club had been opened at Broadmeadows in 1959 and in 1963 a new railway station near Reservoir was named after him. He is also commemorated with Ruthven Primary School named after him in Reservoir, on the VC Memorial at Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne, with Ruthven Avenue in Wodonga, Victoria, Ruthven Street in Canberra, on the VC monument in St Kilda, on the VC Recipients Wall at North Bondi War Memorial, and with a VC commemorative stone at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.
In addition to his VC he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19, War Medal 1939-45, Australian Service Medal 1939-45, George VI Coronation Medal 1937, Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953 and the Efficiency Decoration with “Australia” clasp. His medals and a portrait by George Bell are displayed in the Australian War Memorial’s Hall of Valour.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL, CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA.
BURIAL PLACE: FAWKNER MEMORIAL PARK, FAWKNER, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.
(ASHES HAVE NOW BEEN REMOVED FROM LOCATION)
Section 1 Compartment X Niche 127
Acknowledgement:
Steve Lee www.memorialstovalour.co.uk – Image of the Ruthven VC Medal Group at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.