Regimental number | 1508 |
Place of birth | Tamworth New South Wales |
School | Public School, West Tamworth, New South Wales |
Religion | Church of England |
Occupation | Labourer |
Address | c/o P O Tamworth, Tamworth, New South Wales |
Marital status | Single |
Age at embarkation | 23 |
Next of kin | Mother, Mrs Liza Browne, P O West Tamworth, West Tamworth, New South Wales |
Previous military service | Nil |
Enlistment date | |
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
Rank on enlistment | Private |
Unit name | 19th Battalion, 1st Reinforcement |
AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/36/2 |
Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A32 Themistocles on |
Rank from Nominal Roll | Corporal |
Unit from Nominal Roll | 19th Battalion |
Fate | Killed in Action |
Miscellaneous details (Nominal Roll) | *Headley spelt Hedley |
Place of death or wounding | Pozieres, Somme Sector, France |
Age at death | 24 |
Age at death from cemetery records | 24 |
Place of burial | No known grave |
Commemoration details | Australian 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 | 88 |
Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: John and Eliza BROWNE. Born at Tamworth, New South Wales |
Family/military connections | Brother: 1949 Driver Joseph Cupples BROWNE, 5th Division Artillery Column, returned to Australia, 22 May 1919; 1934 Corporal John Cullen BROWNE, DCM, 10th Field Artillery Brigade, returned to Australia, 20 January 1919. |