Born in Lismore in 1895, Wootten was one of six children. He went to Sydney University to study modern languages between 1913 and 1915, and concurrently completed his Diploma of Education in 1915 at the Sydney Teachers College.In 1915 he joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and was assigned to the 55th Battalion, bound for the Western Front. Wootten was recently married and left his wife behind in Marrickville to board the HMAT Star of England on the 10th of September 1915. He was an acting corporal when he left.
When Wootten returned to Sydney after the war he joined the staff at Sydney Boys High and resumed his studies, obtaining a Masters Degree in Modern Languages in 1922. He worked in both country schools and Fort St Boys High before being appointed Principal of Grafton High in 1935. Over the next 10 years he was principal at several schools including Mudgee, Broken Hill and Goulburn. Appointed as principal to Canberra High in 1946 he was also instrumental in establishing Alliance Francaise in Canberra. Leaving Canberra High in 1948, Wootten worked at Gosford, Paramatta and Enmore High Schools. He died suddenly in Sydney in 1955, survived by his wife and two children.
Now, please allow me to take a tangent and share with you a brief history of the 55th Battalion, which Wootten lived through ...... it is both heroic and terrible.
The 55th Battalion was raised in Egypt in February 1916 as part of the “doubling” of the AIF. It was made up of Gallipoli veterans fresh reinforcements from Australia, including Wootten. The 55th arrived in France at the end of June 1916, and entered the trenches on the Western Front for the first time in early July. The first major battle was fought at Fromelles a week later. The battle was a disaster. There were heavy casualties across the division. Despite its grievous losses the 55th Division continued to man the front in the Fromelles sector for a further two months.
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| Some of the German machine guns captured by the 55th Battalion in the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26 September 1917. [AWM C01085] Source: Australian War Memorial https://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au |
that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. It defended gains made during the second battle of Bullecourt. Later in the year, the AIF’s focus of operations switched to the Ypres sector in Belgium, and the 55th’s major battle here was at Polygon Wood in late September 1917.
When Russia collapsed in October 1917, a major German offensive on the Western Front was expected in early 1918. This came in late March and the 55th Division moved to defend the sector around Corbie. When the German offensive was defeated, the Allies launched their own offensive in August 1918. The 55th fought its last major battle of the war, St Quentin Canal, between 29 September and 2 October 1918. One of Wootten's fellow soldiers, Private John Ryan, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his valour during this action.
Ryan was 28 years old, from Tumut. During the 55th's attack near Bellicourt on 30 September 1918, Ryan went forward with others under heavy fire and bombing, and was one of the first to reach the enemy trench. There was a fierce German counter attack and the Germans drove the Australians back. Ryan organised and led a party to attack the Germans with bayonets. Under heavy bombing only three men reached the the position, and then proceeded to kill three Germans. Ryan alone rushed the remainder and drove them back across no man's land. He fell wounded in the shoulder, and his action enabled the trench to be retaken.
The battalion was resting out of the line with the rest of the Australian Corps when the Armistice was declared on 11 November 1918. Shortly afterwards, demobilisation began and slowly men were repatriated back to Australia. During its active service, the 55th Battalion suffered 1,835 casualties of which 507 were killed.
