The AIF Project

John William HUNTLEY

Regimental number2435
Place of birthColbinabbin, Victoria
SchoolFitzroy State School, Victoria
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer
AddressKoondrook, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation19
Height5' 6.5"
Weight112 lbs
Next of kinFather, Edmund Huntley, Koondrook, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil (previously rejected for enlistment on account of chest measurement)
Enlistment date3 June 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll16 May 1916
Place of enlistmentBendigo, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name58th Battalion, 5th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/75/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A9 Shropshire on 25 September 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll58th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 27 March 1917
Place of death or woundingFrance
Age at death20
Place of burialCanadian Cemetery No 2 (Plot XXI, Row A, Graves Nos 2 to 4 collective), Neuville St Vaast, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
165
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Edmond and Eliza HUNTLEY, 48 Booth Street, Golden Square, Victoria
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Melbourne, 25 September 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 11 November 1916; marched in to 15th Training Bn, 21 November 1916.

Proceeded overseas to France, 30 December 1916; taken on strength, 58th Bn, in the field, 7 February 1917.

Reported missing in Action, 27 March 1917.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 31 October 1917, pronounced fate as 'Killed in Action, 27 March 1917'.

Handwritten note on Form B103: 'Buried invicinity of Marchies near Bapaume'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 1391007, 2561 Pte L.T.A. HOLE, 58th Bn, 15 June 1917: 'I saw him the day after he was killed, probably by shrapnel, past Marchies at the end of March. I know nothing of his burial.'

Second statement, 2390 Pte J.E. CROPLEY, A Company, 58th Bn, 30 June 1917: 'My mates who went over in a raid on the German trenches told me when they came back that they saw Huntley lying dead, shot through the head up at Morchies, near Lagnicourt on the 27th March.'

Third statement, also by Pte HOLE, 1 August 1917: 'No. 2435 Pte Huntley J.W. 58th Btn was killed in [sic] the 27th March 1917. I am certain of this as I was close by at the time and saw his body.'

Fourth statement, 2441 Pte A.E. JEFFEREYS, C Company, 58th Bn (patient, 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford, England), 13 August 1917: 'This man was running messages at Morchies when a shell caught him, blowing him to pieces. I was only about 50 yards away but I did not see him actually killed. He was buried at place of casualty, but I did not see the grave.'MBV

Originally listed as 'No known grave', and name recorded on the Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France. Remains discovered in an isolated grave in 1955, and reburied in Canadian Cemetery No 2.
SourcesNAA: B2455, HUNTLEY John William
Red Cross File No 1391007

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