The AIF Project

Thos William ALSBURY

Regimental number4353
Place of birthMount Morgan, Queensland
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationBoxer
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21
Height5' 3.25"
Weight109 lbs
Next of kinFather, James Wm Alsbury, 124 Langridge Street, Collingwood, Melbourne, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date23 November 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll23 November 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name23rd Battalion, 11th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/49/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board RMS Malwa on 23 April 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll31st Battalion
FateKilled in Action 10 October 1917
Age at death from cemetery records20
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe 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
118
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: James and Annie ALSBURY, 162 Langridge Street, Collingwood, Victoria. Native of Barcaldine, Queensland
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Melbourne, 21 March 1916; disembarked Suez, 19 April 1916.

Found guilty, 6 June 1916, of failing to wear life belt aboard HMT Huntsgreen: forfeits 3 days pay.

Found guilty, 29 July 1916, of overstaying leave from 12.00am, 27 July 1916 to 6.00pm, 29 July 1916, Rollestone, England: forfeits 7 days pay total.

Proceeded overseas to France, 16 September 1916; marched in, 2nd Australian Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 17 September 1916.

Found guilty, 21 September 1916, of leaving ranks without permission, Etaples: awarded 14 days confined to camp.

Marched out to join unit, 3 November 1916; taken on strength, 23rd Bn, in the field, 5 November 1916.

Admitted to hospital, France, 14 November 1916; rejoined unit, 16 November 1916.

Transferred to 31st Bn, in the field, 31 January 1917.

Admitted to 8th Field Ambulance (tarslgia), 17 March 1917; transferred to Casualty Clearing Station (rheumatism), 22 March 1917; admitted to 11th Stationary Hospital, Rouen, 23 March 1917; embarked Havre for treatment in Britain, 30 March 1917; admitted to 5th Southern General Hospital, Portsmouth, 31 March 1917; commenced furlough in Britain, 27 April 1917; reported from furlough, No. 3 Command Depot, Hurdcott, 12 May 1917.

Found guilty, 21 May 1917, of being absent without leave, 3.30pm, 12 May 1917 to 1.00pm, 14 May 1917, No. 3 Command Depot, Hurdcott: awarded 4 days confined to camp, forfeits 3 days pay.

Found guilty, 15 June 1917, of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline in that he was creating a disturbance in No. 5 Camp Lines at 9.00pm, 13 June 1917, Hurdcott: admonished by Lieutenant D. Chalmers.

Marched out to Overseas Training Depot, Perham Downs, 16 June 1917.

Proceeded overseas to France, 9 July 1917; marched in, 5th Australian Divisional Base Depot, Havre, 10 July 1917.

Marched out to unit, 29 August 1917; rejoined 31st Bn, in the field, 31 August 1917.

Killed in action, 26 September 1917.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, ALSBURY Thos William

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