The AIF Project

Harry Fenton STEAD

Regimental number539
Date of birth22 April 1895
Place of birthGlebe, Sydney, New South Wales
SchoolArncliffe Public School, Sydney, New South Wales
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationClerk
AddressCarrington Avenue, Mortdale, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation20
Next of kinFather, Samuel Stead, Carrington Avenue, Mortdale, New South Wales
Previous military serviceServed as Lieutenant, 38A.D. Company, with Senior Cadets at Arncliffe, New South Wales.
Enlistment date17 August 1914
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll17 August 1915
Rank on enlistmentSergeant
Unit name3rd Battalion C Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/20/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 20 October 1914
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll3rd Battalion
FateKilled in Action 3 July 1916
Miscellaneous details (Nominal Roll)Served in the Junior and Senior Cadets at Arncliffe. (Lieutenant O.C. 38A D Company, Senior Cadets). His Cousin, Leslie Hobson was killed at Longatta near Bahune on 20 March 1917. No. 5356 21st Battalion, 6th Infantry Brigade. (Information supplied by Samuel Stead - uncle - "Gade Hill" 62 Allen Street, Leichhardt, Sydney, New South Wales).
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Age at death21
Age at death from cemetery records22
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
38
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Samuel and Amelia STEAD, 62 Allen Street, Leichhardt, New South Wales
Family/military connectionsCousin: Leslie Hobson No. 5356, 21 Battalion, 6th Infantry Brigade, killed on 20 March 1917.

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