John Simpson Kirkpatrick

John Kirkpatrick (6 July 1892 – 19 May 1915), commonly known as John Simpson, was a stretcher bearer with the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance during the Gallipoli campaign – the Allied attempt to capture Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, during the First World War.

After the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, Simpson used donkeys to provide first aid and carry wounded soldiers to the beach, from where they could be evacuated. He continued this work for three and a half weeks – often under fire – until he was killed by machine-gun fire during the third attack on Anzac Cove. Simpson and his donkey have become part of the Anzac legend.

Early life Simpson was born on 6 July 1892 in Eldon Street, Tyne Dock, South Shields, County Durham, England, to Scottish parents: Sarah Kirkpatrick (née Simpson) and Robert Kirkpatrick. He was one of eight children, and worked with donkeys as a youth, during summer holidays.

At 16, he volunteered to train as a gunner in the Territorial Force, as British Army reserve units were known at the time, and in early 1909 he joined the British merchant navy.

In May 1910, Simpson deserted his ship at Newcastle, New South Wales, and travelled widely in Australia, taking on various jobs, such as cane-cutting in Queensland and coal mining in the Illawarra district of New South Wales. In the three or so years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War, he worked as a steward, stoker and greaser on Australian coastal ships.

Simpson held, or developed, left wing political views while he worked in Australia, and wrote in a letter to his mother: "I often wonder when the working men of England will wake up and see things as other people see them. What they want in England is a good revolution and that will clear some of these Millionaires and lords and Dukes out of it and then with a Labour Government they will almost be able to make their own conditions." According to former union leader Alf Rankin, there is anecdotal evidence that Simpson belonged to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies"), a radical international labour union, although that has never been confirmed by historical documents or other sources.

Military service Simpson enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force after the outbreak of war, apparently as a means of returning to England. He was assigned to the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance and the regimental number 202. He and the donkeys soon became a familiar sight to the Anzacs, many of whom knew Simpson by the nicknames such as "Scotty" (in reference to his ancestry) and "Simmy". Simpson himself was also sometimes referred to as "Murphy". However, his donkey service spared him the even more dangerous and arduous work of hauling seriously wounded men back from the front lines on a stretcher.

On 19 May 1915, during the third attack on Anzac Cove, Simpson was killed by machine gun fire.

Private Victor Laidlaw, with the 2nd Field Ambulance, wrote in his diary of Simpson's death:

He was survived by his mother and sister, who were still living in South Shields.

Commemoration, depiction and myth Conflation with Richard Henderson Wallace Anderson (1935) The Man with the Donkey, bronze. 78 × 66 × 42 cm. Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne Soon after his death, Simpson was being conflated with at least one other stretcher bearer using a donkey around Anzac Cove, Richard Alexander Henderson, of the New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC). has often been wrongly assumed to portray John Simpson Kirkpatrick. The image originated in a photograph taken by Sergeant James G. Jackson of the NZMC on 12 May 1915 (a week before Simpson's death). The image became famous after Horace Moore-Jones, a New Zealand artist, who had been a member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli, painted at least six versions of it.

Moore-Jones' paintings have usually been referred to by titles such as Private Simpson, D.C.M., & his donkey at Anzac and/or The Man with the Donkey. Many derivatives of the image, including sculptures, have appeared and a variation of it was included on three postage stamps issued in Australia in 1965 to mark the 50th anniversary of Gallipoli – on the five penny, eight penny and two shillings and three pence stamps. thumb

Growth of legend The legend surrounding Simpson, sometimes under the misnomer "Murphy", grew largely from an account of his actions published in a 1916 book, Glorious Deeds of Australasians in the Great War. This was a wartime propaganda effort, and many of its stories of Simpson, supposedly rescuing 300 men and making dashes into no man's land to carry wounded out on his back, are demonstrably untrue. In fact, transporting that many men down to the beach in the three weeks that he was at Gallipoli would have been a physical impossibility, given the time the journey took.

Popular culture A silent film based on Simpson's exploits, Murphy of Anzac, was released in 1916.

In 1965, in the lead up to the fiftieth anniversary of Gallipoli, there were calls for a commemorative medal for veterans of the Gallipoli campaign and/or the award of a late Victoria Cross to Simpson. Both proposals were rejected by the Australian Federal Government in 1965. In January 1966, Robert Menzies, who had been Prime Minister of Australia since 1949, retired and was replaced by Harold Holt. The new government soon announced that Australia would present to Australian Army and Royal Australian Navy veterans of the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, an Anzac Commemorative Medal. Both living veterans and next of kin of deceased veterans could apply for the medallion but only living veterans would receive a lapel badge. The first medallions were issued to Gallipoli veterans shortly before Anzac Day 1967. The medallion and lapel badge featured Simpson and his donkey. They were also portrayed on a series of Anzac postage stamps issued on 14 April 1965.

In 1977, a donkey "joined" the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, under the name "Jeremy Jeremiah Simpson", with the rank of Private and the regimental number MA 0090. In 1986, this particular donkey was permanently adopted as the official mascot of the corps.

Simpson featured in an episode of the television show Michael Willessee's Australians called "Private John Simpson" in 1988.

At least two songs have been written about him: "John Simpson Kirkpatrick" by Issy and David Emeney with Kate Riaz, on the album Legends and Lovers, and "Jackie and Murphy" by Martin Simpson on the album Vagrant Stanzas.

The Australian RSPCA, in May 1997 posthumously awarded its Purple Cross to the donkey Murphy for performing outstanding acts of bravery towards humans.

In 2011, a play by Valerie Laws entitled The Man and the Donkey premiered at the Customs House in South Shields. The part of John Simpson Kirkpatrick was played by local actor Jamie Brown.

On 19 May 2015, the Australian High Commissioner, Alexander Downer, visited South Shields as part of special celebrations marking 100 years to the day that John Simpson Kirkpatrick was killed in action.

Campaign to award Simpson the Victoria Cross There have been several petitions over the decades to have Simpson awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) or a Victoria Cross for Australia. There is a persistent myth that he was recommended for a VC, but that this was either refused or mishandled by the military bureaucracy. However, there is no documentary evidence that such a recommendation was ever made. The case for Simpson being awarded a VC is based on diary entries by his commanding officer that express the hope he would receive either a Distinguished Conduct Medal or VC. However, the officer in question never made a formal recommendation for either of these medals. Simpson's Mention in Despatches was consistent with the recognition given to other men who performed the same role at Gallipoli. The tribunal for this inquiry was directed to make recommendations on the awarding of decorations, including the Victoria Cross. Concluding its investigations in February 2013, the tribunal recommended that no further award be made to Simpson, since his "initiative and bravery were representative of all other stretcher-bearers of 3rd Field Ambulance, and that bravery was appropriately recognised as such by the award of an MID."