The AIF Project

Frederick TIGHE

Regimental number3923
Place of birthInverell, New South Wales
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationLabourer
AddressAlpha, Central Queensland
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation33
Height5' 8.5"
Weight154 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs Rebecca Tighe, Bukkulla, Inverell, New South Wales
Enlistment date11 August 1915
Place of enlistmentBrisbane, Queensland
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name25th Battalion, 9th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/42/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT Wandilla on 31 January 1916
Regimental number from Nominal Roll3923A
Rank from Nominal RollLance Corporal
Unit from Nominal Roll49th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 3 September 1916
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
149
Family/military connectionsBrother: 160 Corporal Edward Victor TIGHE, 1st Light Horse Regiment, killed in action, 7 August 1915.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Taken on strength, 49th Bn, Serapeum, 2 April 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 5 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 12 June 1916.

Appointed Lance Corporal, 25 August 1916.

Killed in action near Pozieres, 3 September 1916.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

Base Records ruled, June 1922, that the soldier's medals be divided between his ex-nuptial daughter (to be held in trust for her) and his mother; the latter objected, arguing that she had been designated as next of kin and that her son 'to my knowledge .. never had a daughter. The Victory Medal and Memorial Scroll were given to the daughter, and the British War Medal to the mother.
SourcesNAA: B2455, TIGHE Frederick

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