The AIF Project

Brian Harry ADAMS

Regimental number1805
Place of birthLaunceston, Tasmania
SchoolScotch College, Launceston, Tasmania
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationCarpenter
Address1 Berean Street, Launceston, Tasmania
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation19
Height5' 8.75"
Weight154 lbs
Next of kinFather, Charles Adams, 1 Berean Street, Launceston, Tasmania
Previous military serviceServed five years in the 92nd Infantry, Citizen Military Forces, Launceston; still serving at time of AIF enlistment.
Enlistment date21 January 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll21 January 1915
Place of enlistmentHobart, Tasmania
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name12th Battalion, 4th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/29/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A8 Argyllshire on 19 April 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll12th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularFought at Lone Pine, Gallipoli. Invalided to Egypt, served in Egypt and France.
FateKilled in Action 25 July 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Date of death25 July 1916
Age at death20
Age at death from cemetery records20
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
64
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Harry Ernest and Annie Lucy ADAMS, Corner of York and Grosvenor Streets, Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania. Native of Launceston, Tasmanis
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Taken on strength, 12th Bn, Gallipoli, 26 May 1915.

Sick to hospital, 14 June 1915; rejoined unit, 25 June 1915.

Admitted to 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station, 5 August 1915 (influenza), and transferred to Fleet Sweeper; disembarked Alexandria, 10 August 1915, and admitted to 3rd Auxiliary Hospital, Cairo (debility); discharged to Base Details, 16 September 1915; admitted to Convalescent Camp, Helouan, 12 October 1915 (debility); discharged to duty, 29 October 1915; rejoined Bn, Mudros, 27 November 1915.

Disembarked Alexandria, 6 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evacuation).

Admitted to 1st Australian Stationary Hospital, Ismailia, 2 February 1916 (perotonitis); transferred to 4th Auxiliary Hospital, Cairo, 3 December 1916 (mumps); discharged to duty, 23 February 1916; rejoined Bn, Serapeum, 16 March 1916.

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

Killed in action, 25 July 1916.

Handwritten notation on file: 'Buried'.

Handwritten notation on Form B103: 'No trace of grave on research'.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, ADAMS Brian Harry

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