John Simpson Research Paper

John Simpson Kilpatrick was born on the 6th of July, 1892 at South Shields, County Durnham; the north east region of England. He came from a big family: one of eight children born to Robert Kilpatrick and Sarah Simpson. As a child, he worked as a donkey-lad on the sands of his hometown as he had a 'great affinity with animals, in particular donkeys'. After attending the Barnes and Mortimer Roads schools, he volunteered to train as a gunner in the Territorial Army when he was 16. Following in the footsteps of his father, who was a merchant seaman, Simpson joined the merchant navy in 1909, at the age of 17.

Simpson deserted ship in Australia after hearing of the war with Germany, travelling around Australia to find work. It is rumoured he was a cowardly person due to his desertion from the merchant navy. Additionally, he dropped his last name (Kilpatrick), simply enrolling as John Simpson to avoid being discovered as a deserter. After some time, he eventually became a coalminer in the Illawarra district near Wollongong. In 1911 he went to the Yilgarn goldfield in Western Australia, and for the next three and a half years he worked as a steward, fireman and greaser on vessels around the Australian coast. …show more content…
He may have wanted to desert the AIF when they disembarked on the English coast as a means of safe transportation from Australia. Instead, they headed to Anzac Cove in Gallipoli, Turkey (at the time part of the Ottoman