The AIF Project

William Edwin GRAVELL

Regimental number2856
Place of birthWoodend, Victoria
SchoolState School, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationLabourer
Address69 Merton Street, Albert Park, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation28
Height5' 6.5"
Weight155 lbs
Next of kinFather, William T Gravell, 69 Merton Street, Albert Park, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil (member, Tramway City Rifle Club for 9 months)
Enlistment date3 August 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll20 July 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name23rd Battalion, 6th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/40/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A38 Ulysses on 27 October 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll60th Battalion
FateKilled accidentally 30 June 1916
Place of death or woundingLa Clayette, France
Age at death29
Age at death from cemetery records29
Place of burialMussy-sous-Dun Communal Cemetery, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
170
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: William amd Emily GRAVELL, 27 Barrell Street, Albert Park, Victoria
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Taken on strength, 58th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 23 February 1916.

Admitted to No 2 Australian Stationary Hospital, 29 February 1916 (meningitis); discharged to duty, 12 March 1916.

Transferred to 60th Bn, 15 March 1916.

Admitted to 8th Field Ambulance, Ferry Post, 12 May 1916; transferred to 14th Field Ambulance, 13 May 1916 (influenza); to Australian Casualty Clearing Station, 14 May 1916; discharged to unit, 18 May 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 18 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 29 June 1916.

Accidentally killed, nr La Clayette Station, 30 June 1916.

Court of Enquiry, 1 July 1916, found that (a) No 2856 Pte. W. Gravelle met his death by misadventure. He fell from the train near La Clayette Station while attempting to urinate through the open window of the carriage door. (b) That no blame whaever can be attached to any Officer, NCO or man of 60th Bn, as on account of the lack of sanitary conveniences on the train and the small number of haltes repas, men were compelled to urinate through the windows.

For reasons that are unclear from the records, he was originally listed as 'No known grave', and his name inscribed on the Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, even though details of the accident and the post-mortem were communicatd to the Australian authorities. People from Mussy-sous-Dun notified the CWGC in 2005 that his body had been recovered shorty after the accident and buried according to Catholic rites in the local cemetery.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Miscellaneous detailsName incorrectly entered on Embarkation Roll as William Edward GRAVELL .
SourcesNAA: B2455, GRAVELL William Edwin

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