The AIF Project

Albert Burchnell DEANS

Regimental number2008
Place of birthColac, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationCarpenter
AddressHearne Street, Colac, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation24
Height5' 7"
Weight158 lbs
Next of kinJames Deans, Cororooke, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date6 August 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name29th Battalion, 3rd Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/46/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A70 Ballarat on 18 February 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll29th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 19-20 July 1919
Miscellaneous details (Nominal Roll)*Spelt Albert Burdnell Deans on NR
Age at death from cemetery records24
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsV.C. Corner (Panel No 1), Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
115
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parent: Mrs Margaret SELL, Hearn Street, Colac, Victoria
Family/military connectionsCousin (1st): 2075 Pte John Hogarth LEE, 32nd Bn, returned to Australia, 22 May 1919.
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Melbourne, 18 February 1916; disembarked Suez, 22 March 1916.

Taken on strength, 29th Bn, Brighton Beach, 1 April 1916.

Admitted to 8th Field Ambulance, 5 June 1916 (enteritis); discharged to duty, 10 June 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 16 June 1916; dismbarked Marseilles, France, 23 June 1916.

Missing in action, 19-20 July 1916.

Court of enquiry, held in the field, 23 August 1917, pronounced fate as 'KILLED IN ACTION, 20 July 1916'.

Handwritten note on Form B103: 'Believed buried in vicinity of Fleurbaix Sh 36'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 900907, 633 Sergeant F.H. SIMPSON, 29th Bn, 16 September 1916: 'I was this man's Sergt and the last I saw of him was when he was on a fatigue carrying bombs across no-man's-land to the German trench which we had captured in theearly part of the 19th July. He started a journey in a sap across no-man's-land and I know the Germans had machine guns playing along this sap, and Private Deans has never been seen again.'

Second statement, 2075 Pte J.H. LEE, 29th Bn, 5 January 1917: 'When last seen Deans was carrying ammunition to the front line captured from Fritz and never returned to the party.'

Note on file: 'No trace Germany. Cert. by Capt. Mills. 10.10.19.'

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Miscellaneous detailsJames DEANS listed as father (add notation on Attestation Form). Mrs Margaret SELL wrote to Base Records, 9 January 1918, stating that she was Albert Deans's mother, and that James Deans was his grandfather. According to Mrs Sell, her son never knew of this relationship, and regarded Mrs Sell as his sister.
SourcesNAA: B2455, DEANS Albert Burchnell
Red Cross files 900907 and 630106

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