| Regimental number | 2479 |
| Place of birth | Sussex, England |
| Other Names | Furnrick Richard Charles |
| School | Coopers Company School, Bow, London, England |
| Age on arrival in Australia | 19 |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Address | Tallarook, Victoria |
| Marital status | Married |
| Age at embarkation | 27 |
| Next of kin | Wife, E M Furness, Tallarook, Victoria |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 17th Battalion, 5th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/34/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A32 Themistocles on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Lance Corporal |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 17th Battalion |
| Other details from Roll of Honour Circular | At sea for some time previous to going to Australia. ( E M Furness, wife) |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Flanders, France |
| Age at death | 29 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 29 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 17), 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 | 82 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Richard and Thelma FURNESS; husband of Eva FURNESS, 'Glen-Doon', Gisborne, Victoria. Native of Sussex, England. Served as 'Furnrick Furness'. True name 'Furnrick Richard Charles FURNESS'.~ |
| Other details |
War service: embarked from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 17 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 23 March 1916. Wounded in action, France, 26 July 1916 (bullet wound, face); admitted to 13th Stationary Hospital, Boulogne, 27 July 1916.; discharged to Base Details, 29 July 1916; rejoined Bn, 4 August 1916. Admitted to hospital, 6 November 1916; transferred to 51st General Hospital, Etaples, 11 November 1916; discharged to duty, 27 December 1916; total period of treatment for venereal disease: 52 days. Appointed Lance Corporal, 7 April 1917. Wounded in action, 3 May 1917 (gun shot wound, left arm); admitted to 32nd Stationary Hospital, Wimereux, 4 May 1917. Transferred to England, 6 May 1917, and admitted to Edmonton Military Hospital, 7 May 1917. Discharged on furlough, 28 June 1917; marched in to No. 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 12 July 1917. Proceeded overseas to France, 28 July 1917; rejoined Bn, 1 September 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 20 September 1917. Buried in the vicinity of Westhoek and Anzac Ridge, Passchendaele, Belgium. Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal Widow wrote to Base Records, 15 October 1921: 'I must inform you that I have left Tallarook some time now & the above ["Glen-Doon", Gisborne] is my present address. I was wondering if you could tell me how I could stop a very ignorant and wicked woman who is always insulting me by saying I am no soldier's widow, do you think some of the Returned Soldiers could write to her for me, it is cruel when I have lost my poor husband and they are the people that are benefiting by our loss and sufferings. Hoping something can be done in the matter.' |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
