The AIF Project

Henry ADAMSON

Regimental number564
Place of birthFairlie, New Zealand
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationSlaughterman
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation23
Height6' 0"
Weight182 lbs
Next of kinFather, Adam Adamson, Waimate, New Zealand
Previous military serviceServed 2 years in Senior Cadets, 1 year Tumbarumba, New South Wales, Rifle Club, and 2 years 2nd Regiment, New Zealand Infantry.
Enlistment date31 August 1914
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll31 August 1914
Place of enlistmentSydney, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name3rd Battalion C Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/20/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 20 October 1914
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll3rd Battalion
FateKilled in Action 25 July 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Date of death25 July 1916
Age at death25
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
35
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Commemorated on Tumbarumba Roll of Honour ('Advance Australia').
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Embarked Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 5 April 1915.

To hospital, sick, 12 May 1915; transferred to Egyptian Government Hospital, Alexandria, date not recorded (rheumatism); discharged to Convalescent Camp, 26 May 1915; embarked Alexandria to rejoin unit at Gallipoli, 8 June 1915; rejoined unit, 13 June 1915.

Admitted to 24th Casualty Clearing Station, Mudros, 28 June 1915 (influenza); disembarked Alexandria, 9 July 1915 (enteritis), and admitted to No 1 Australian General Hospital, Cairo.

Embarked Alexandria to rejoin unit at Gallipoli, 1 August 1915; rejoined unit, 16 August 1915.

To hospital, sick, 10 September 1915; admitted to 3rd Australian General Hospital, Lemnos, 15 October 1915 (diarrhoea); discharged from hospital, 3 November 1915.

Embarked Mudros on board HT 'Mauretania', 4 November 1915; disembarked Southampton, 11 november 1915, and admitted to 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth.

Embarked with 22nd Draft, Devonport; disembarked Alexandria, 5 March 1916; rejoined unit, Serapeum, 11 March 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 22 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 28 March 1916.

Detached to School of Instruction, 24 April 1916.

Killed in action, 25 July 1916.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, ADAMSON Henry

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