Due to his battle injuries, Toll was evacuated to England in early 1918 to receive ongoing medical attention. He served with the AIF Administrative Headquarters in London until he returned to Australia on HT Ulysses in January 1919.

Frederick’s Family

Frederick’s parents were both from England. His mother was London-born Esther Agnes (Annie) Richards (1845-1916) while his father, Benjamin Toll (1849-1925) was born in Wilshamstead, Bedfordshire. Ben Toll emigrated to Australia with his parents and siblings probably in the mid-1860s. He became a prominent businessman and councillor in far North Queensland.

Annie Richards and Ben Toll married in Bowen, Queensland in 1871. They had at least six children with Frederick William, the eldest, born in 1872 – apparently named for his grandfathers (Frederick Toll and William Richards). One child died in infancy.

Frederick married Emma Bone in Townsville in 1894. Emma was born in St. Blazey, Cornwall in 1868, daughter of Josiah Bone and Mary Bray. She arrived in Brisbane aged 16 aboard the Duke of Westminster in 1884. Their first child, Frederick Vivian Edward Ernest Toll was born in 1895 in Charters Towers and in 1898 their daughter Stella Maud Toll was born in Paddington, New South Wales.

In March 1901 aged only 33, Frederick’s wife, Emma, died at her father’s home in Charters Towers. Her death was unexpected, and Frederick had sailed for South Africa only the week before. In 1903 Frederick married Yorkshire-born Maria Louisa Berry in Charters Towers and it appears that they had no children to that marriage.

Frederick’s daughter, Stella Maud, married Herclus Roy Clement Simpson Radeski (known as Roy Clement Radecki) in 1925 but later divorced in 1934. She did not remarry and died aged 47 in 1945. Stella had a son, Roy Vivian, who also went on to join the armed forces, serving in Korea. His death in Queensland in 1979 is registered under Roy Fred Vivian Radecki.

Frederick’s son Frederick Vivian (known as Vivian or Viv), enlisted in January 1915 aged 19 years 6 months, with his stepmother’s consent. About seven months later, aged only 20, he was killed in action at Gallipoli on 8th August 1915.

Viv has no known grave but is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial (Panel 50). He is also commemorated in the north Queensland town of Mareeba where a street was named Toll Close in his honour as one of about fifteen local First World War soldiers who lost their lives.

Returning to Australia in March 1919, Frederick Toll’s appointment to the AIF was officially terminated in May. He later became Commissioner for war service homes and also followed his father’s construction and timber interests by managing timber businesses in Queensland including in Brisbane and Mackay.

Colonel Toll was a foundation member of the Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia, later to become the RSL. He was its Brisbane vice-president in 1924-27 and Mackay president in 1928-30. In 1939, he was awarded an M.B.E. for his extensive social and charitable work with ex-servicemen and their dependents. In addition to his work with the RSL, Colonel Toll was secretary of the Brisbane Legacy Club for some time.

In poor health, Colonel Toll returned to Brisbane in 1930 for medical attention and settled at Woody Point. Toll had remained on the reserve of officers but his placement on the Retired List was officially gazetted in February 1932 after which he remained an honorary colonel with permission to wear the prescribed uniform. However, with the outbreak of World War II, he was back in service as district manpower officer for Queensland, then services liaison officer.

In his later years, Colonel Toll began collecting material for a book on the Boer War. At least some of these papers – together with some World War 1 material - were donated to the State Library of Queensland.

Colonel Fred Toll died aged 83 in 1955 having outlived his two children and his two wives – leaving his grandson, Roy Vivian Radecki, his only surviving descendant. After his long life of service, Frederick Toll’s ashes are interred with those of his daughter, Stella, and second wife, Maria, in the Mt Thompson Memorial Garden at Holland Park in Brisbane.

The Fromelles Association have been working with the Maryborough Historical Society on this research project, and many others, and are delighted to confirm that at the time of writing, they are in communication with the wider Toll family.

The 31st Battalion Association have also invited members of Fred Toll’s wider family to 31st Battalion church services in Townsville in recent years. In addition, Colonel Mark Plath (retd) – great grandson of Fred Toll’s younger brother – gave the address at the Association’s Battle of Fromelles commemoration at the Ipswich General Cemetery on 19 July 2020.

Colonel Frederick Toll’s service remains remembered and honoured to this day.