The AIF Project

Walter Godfrey HUGHES

Regimental number1137
Date of birth26 July 1893
Place of birthSouth Melbourne, Victoria
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationStation overseer
Marital statusMarried
Age at embarkation43
Next of kinWife, Mrs Lydia Bertha Hughes, 511 Dowling Street, Moore Park, New South Wales
Enlistment date29 September 1914
Place of enlistmentRosehill, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentSergeant
Unit name2nd Battalion, 1st Reinforcement
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A32 Themistocles on 22 December 1914
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll54th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularMarried Lydia Bertha James, 7 November 1907.
FateKilled in Action 19-20 July 1916
Age at death from cemetery records43
Place of burialRation Farm Military Cemetery, La Chapelle d'Armentieres (Plot VI, Row D, Grave No. 48), France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
159
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Henry and Mary HUGHES; husband of L.B. Hughes, 31A Charles Street, Forrest Gate, Sydney. Native of Melbourne
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Embarked Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, 5 April 1916.

Detailed permanently to Beach Party, Dardanelles, 8 July 1915.

Returned to 2nd Bn from Beach Party, then attached Assistant Provost Marshal, Camp Commandant, ANZAC Headquarters, Ismailia Administration, 23 December 1915.

Joined 54th Bn from Details, Canal Zone, 10 June 1916.

Reply to letter, 23 February 1916, by Commanding Officer 2nd Bn, stated Corporal Hughes 'did not rejoin 2nd Bttn from Beach Party upon evacuation from Gallipoli Peninsula'.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 19 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 29 June 1916.

Posted missing, 20 July 1916.

Identification disc received from Germany. No particulars afforded except that soldier is dead. To be reported as 'Killed in Action, 19/20 July 1916'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 1390205 , 3011 Pte R.J. BOON, 54th Bn (patient, Grayligwell Hospital, Chichester, England), 6 March 1917: 'I saw Cpl Hughes killed outside our own trench 20th July/16 by rifle fire, the Battn was between Fleurbaix and Fromelles.'

Handwritten note on same file:' German D.L. 4/11/16'.

Copy of Death Voucher: 'Australian soldier Hughes [underlined], W.G. 1137, 2nd Battn. fell on 19/7/16 in the neighbourhead of Fromelles.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, HUGHES Walter Godfrey
Red Cross file 1390205

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