Eustace TENNANT

Regimental number2417
Place of birthLondon, England
Age on arrival in Australia17
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationFarmer
AddressGorge Rock via Corrigin, Western Australia
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation22
Height5' 7.25"
Weight145 lbs
Next of kinFather, George Tennant, Gorge Rock via Corrigin, Western Australia
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date22 May 1915
Place of enlistmentNarrogin, Western Australia
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name12th Battalion, 7th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/29/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A51 Chilka on 18 June 1915
Rank from Nominal RollLance Corporal
Unit from Nominal Roll12th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularHad served in the Church Lads' Brigade, London, England.
FateKilled in Action 22 August 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Age at death23
Age at death from cemetery records23
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
67
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Commemorated in St Peter's Church, Thorner, nr Leeds, England. Parents: George and Elizabeth TENNANT, Corrigin, Western Australia
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Taken on strength, 12th Bn, Gallipoli, 6 August 1915, and reverted to the ranks.

Admitted to 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance, 13 October 1915 (dysentery); transferred to No 1 Casualty Clearing Station, 15 October 1915; to HS 'Delta', 14 October 1915; embarked for Alexandria, 20 October 1915, and admitted to No 1 Auxiliary Hospital, Helipolis, 23 October 1915; to Montazah Convalescent Hospital, 12 November 1915; to Overseas Base, Mustapha, 11 December 1915.

Found guilty, 28 January 1916, of being absent from all parades from 6.30 am, 22 January, till 9 am, 24 January 1916: awarded 7 days' confined to barracks.

Found guilty, 1 February 1918, of being absent from Defaulters' Roll Call at 5 pm: awarded 3 days' confined to barracks.

Rejoined 12th Bn, 18 March 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British expeditionary Force, 29 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 5 April 1916.

Appointed Lance Corporal, 5 August 1916.

Posted as Wounded and Missing, 19-22 August 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 23 June 1917, pronounced fate as 'Killed in Action, 19-22 August 1916'.

Note, Red Cross File No 2710910K: 'No trace Germany[.] Cert. by Capt. Mills. 10.10.19.'

Statement, 2680 Pte J.T. ROBERTS, C Company, 12th Bn, 16 January 1917: 'I saw him about 22nd. Aug. at Mouquet, in our front line, on his way to the D.S. He was wounded. The D.S. was about a mile away. It was an exposed way and there [was] H.E. shelling going on. I never heard of him again.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, TENNANT Eustace
Red Cross File No 2710910K