Harry Chauvel - Early Life

Early Life

Henry George Chauvel was born in Tabulam, New South Wales on 16 April 1865, the second child of a grazier, Charles Henry Edward Chauvel, and his wife Fanny Ada Mary, née James. By 1884, Charles Henry Chauvel's station at Tabulam consisted of 96,000 acres (39,000 ha), on which he raised 12,000 head of cattle and 320 horses. From an early age Henry George Chauvel was known as "Harry". He was educated at Mr Belcher's School near Goulburn, before going to Sydney Grammar School from 1874 to 1880, and Toowoomba Grammar School from 1881 to 1882. While at Sydney Grammar, Harry served in the school cadet unit, rising to the rank of lance corporal. In 1886, Charles Henry was given permission to raise two troops of cavalry. On 14 March 1886, he was commissioned as a captain in the Upper Clarence Light Horse, with his sons Arthur and Harry becoming second lieutenants, while his two younger sons became troopers. The unit escorted Lord Carrington, Governor of New South Wales, when he formally opened the railway at Tenterfield, New South Wales in 1886.

Following a series of severe droughts in northern New South Wales, Charles Henry Chauvel sold his property at Tabulam in 1888 for £50,000. After paying his debts, he bought a much smaller 12,000-acre (4,900 ha) property at Canning Downs on the Darling Downs in Queensland. In 1889, Harry Chauvel embarked on a solo tour of Europe, visiting Venice, Rome, Florence, Paris and London. While in the United Kingdom, he watched military manoeuvres near Aldershot in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany. Harry resigned his commission in the New South Wales Military Forces when he moved to Queensland, but on 9 January 1890 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Queensland Mounted Infantry. After completing his examinations for the rank, he was confirmed as lieutenant in June 1890.

Chauvel's unit was called up in March 1891 during the shearers' strike that had begun earlier that year. Leading his troops and a small detachment of Queensland Police, Chauvel was given the task of escorting a party of strikebreakers to a station north of Charleville. Near Oakwood, Chauvel's troops were confronted by a crowd of around two hundred mounted sheep shearers. When the inspector in charge of the police detachment arrested four of the shearers who were wanted by the police, the crowd became agitated, but Chauvel managed to disperse the crowd peacefully, and bring his charges safely to their destination. During the 1894 Australian shearers' strike, the Queensland government enrolled special constables rather than calling up the militia. Chauvel was appointed a temporary sub-inspector in Clermont, and later the district around Longreach.

On 9 September 1896, Chauvel transferred to the Queensland Permanent Military Forces with the rank of captain in the Moreton Regiment. He was sent to the United Kingdom with the Queensland contingent for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Sporting the emu feathers worn by Queensland units, he marched with the colonial troops through London behind Lord Roberts on 21 June 1897. Chauvel qualified at the School of Musketry at Hythe, Kent, and served on exchange with the 3rd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps and 2nd Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment at Aldershot. On returning to Australia, he became a staff officer at Headquarters, Queensland Defence Force.