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Pompey Elliott

Pompey Elliott was a remarkable Australian. During the Great War he was a charismatic, controversial, and outstandingly successful military leader. An accomplished tactician and ‘the bravest of the brave’, he was renowned for never sending anyone anywhere he was not prepared to go himself. As a result, no Australian general was more revered by those he led or more famous outside his own command.

A man of unimpeachable integrity and unwavering commitment, he was also forthright and volatile. His tempestuousness generated a host of anecdotes that amused his men and disconcerted his superiors.

Yet surprisingly little had been written about Elliott until the original edition of this book appeared in 2002. Now in a new format and with a foreword by Les Carlyon, this comprehensive, deeply researched biography tells Elliott’s fascinating story. It vividly examines Elliott’s origins and youth, his peacetime careers as a lawyer and politician, and his achievements — as well as the controversies he aroused during his years as a soldier.

Ross McMullin’s masterly work retrieves a significant Australian from undeserved obscurity. It also judiciously reassesses notable battles he influenced — including the Gallipoli Landing, Lone Pine, Fromelles, Polygon Wood, and Villers-Brettoneux — and illuminates numerous aspects of Australia’s experiences during his lifetime, particularly the often-overlooked period of the aftermath to the Great War.

Reviews:

'For readers interested in military history, and more broadly the society that shaped the first AIF, the book is close to a masterpiece of traditional biography, specific in scope and monumental in structure... McMullin’s book provides a great deal — at 700 odd pages, a great, great deal — to delight in.' — Stephen Matchett, Sydney Institute Quarterly

'In the ultimate sentence of the book McMullin says: “an Australian as famous, inspirational, and historically significant as "Pompey” Elliott deserves to better remembered.“ With this book, the first fully researched account of Elliott’s life and times, McMullin makes a significant contribution to ensuring that this happens.’ — Geoff Pryor, Canberra Times

‘A striking aspect of Ross McMullin’s scrupulous biography is how little Elliott has been exaggerated by posterity... Pompey Elliott is a large book, and rightly. It encompasses a period and individuals of more than mere military significance. It is difficult to dissent from McMullin’s judgment that Fromelles — an engagement not one in a thousand Australians would know of today, because it hasn’t occasioned a movie or mini-series — remains “perhaps the most tragic 24 hours ever experienced by Australians”, its losses being equivalent to the entire Australian casualties of the Boer War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War put together.’

The assiduous McMullin has scored several scoops, including the revelation that Elliott argues successfully against an appallingly misconceived advance on St Denis Wood shortly after the battle of Mont St Quentin in September 1918 — in the lives preserved, an achievement as considerable as any great battlefield coup.' — Gideon Haigh, The Age

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 718
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9780908011704
  • Genres
  • biography
  • Release date
  • 2002