| Regimental number | 1216 |
| Place of birth | Guildford, Western Australia |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Address | 72 Brown Street, East Perth, Western Australia |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 23 |
| Next of kin | Step-Brother, George Fairbrother, 72 Brown Street, East Perth, Western Australia |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 32nd Battalion, D Company |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/49/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A2 Geelong on |
| The 32nd Bn (Headquarters, Signallers, A, B, C, and D Companies) embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, on two ships, HMAT A2 'Geelong', on 18 November 1915, and HMAT A13 'Katuna', on 24 November 1915. The Embarkation Roll does not distinguish between these ships, and it is therefore not possible from the Embarkation Roll to ascertain on which ship an individual embarked. | |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A13 Katuna on |
| The 32nd Bn (Headquarters, Signallers, A, B, C, and D Companies) embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, on two ships, HMAT A2 'Geelong', on 18 November 1915, and HMAT A13 'Katuna', on 24 November 1915. The Embarkation Roll does not distinguish between these ships, and it is therefore not possible from the Embarkation Roll to ascertain on which ship an individual embarked. | |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Sergeant |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 32nd Battalion |
| Other details from Roll of Honour Circular | Enlisted 15 July 1915. Taken on strength, 32nd Bn, 22 September 1915. Promoted Sergeant, 1 October 1916. |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Date of death | |
| Age at death | 25 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 23), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 120 |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Western Front Disembarked Suez ex HMT 'Geelong', 18 December 1915. Appointed Lance Corporal, 31 March 1916. Admonished, 8 June 1916, for failing to remove his mess tin from the mess hut. Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 17 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 23 June 1916. Appointed Temporary Corporal, 18 August 1916; reverted to Lance Corporal, 30 September 1916. Promoted Sergeant, 1 October 1916. Admitted to 5th Australian Field Ambulance, 6 December 1916 (influenza); transferred to 6th General Hospital, Rouen, 14 December 1916; transferred to Base Depot, 27 December 1916; rejoined 32nd Bn, 16 January 1917. Detached to 5th Division Gas School, 4 February 1917; rejoined Bn, 14 February 1917. Admitted to 15th Australian Field Ambulance, 17 March 1917 (mumps); transferred to 6th Australian Field Ambulance Mumps Station, 20 March 1917; rejoined Bn, 10 April 1917. On leave to England, 10 April 1917; rejoined unit from leave, 3 May 1917. Admitted to 8th Australian Field Ambulance, 11 June 1917 (suspected venereal disease); transferred to 39th General Hospital, Havre, 14 June 1917; discharged to Base Depot, 7 August 1917; rejoined Bn, 1 September 1917. Killed in action, 22 October 1917. Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal Personal dossier gives apparently conflicting details re ship of embarkation: stated to have embarked from Australia on board 'Katuna' 28 November 1915, and to have disembarked at Suez from HMAT 'Geelong', 18 December 1915. |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
