The AIF Project

Harry DUFFIELD

Regimental number4479
Place of birthCheshire England
SchoolSt Paul's School, Maclesfield, England
Age on arrival in Australia21
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer and tinsmith
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation24
Next of kinMother, Mrs C Duffield, 7 Burgess Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England
Enlistment date16 August 1915
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name2nd Battalion, 14th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/19/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board RMS Osterley on 15 January 1916
Rank from Nominal RollLance Corporal
Unit from Nominal Roll2nd Battalion
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)

Military Medal


'Courage, resource, and devotion to duty, enabling valuable services to be rendered. (Hermies 9 April 1917)'
Recommendation date: 14 April 1917

Other details from Roll of Honour CircularHe was awarded the MM only a few days before being killed and his brother who also served in France and was wounded is now in possession of the medal.
FateKilled in Action 4 May 1917
Place of death or woundingBullecourt, France
Age at death28
Age at death from cemetery records28
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian 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
32
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Thomas and Catherine DUFFIELD, 7 Burgess Street, Macclesfield, England
Medals

Military Medal

'At HERMIES on 9th April 1917 for gallantry in action and devotion to duty. Although wounded and exposed to heavy hostile shell fire, this man remained with his Lewis Gun throughout, as there was no one else to fire the gun. He handled his gun with great courage and resource and inflicted much loss on the enemy.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 174
Date: 11 October 1917

Other details

War service: Western Front

Medals: Military Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal

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