Welby Jackson LAMPLOUGH

Regimental number274
Place of birthCambridge, New Zealand
Other NamesLAMPLUGH, Wilby Jackson
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer
Address207 Victoria Street, West Melbourne, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation33
Height5' 9.25"
Weight181 lbs
Next of kinMrs E Lamplough, 207 Victoria Street, West Melbourne, Victoria
Enlistment date25 August 1914
Rank on enlistmentDriver
Unit name5th Battalion, Machine Gun Section
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/22/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A3 Orvieto on 21 October 1914
Rank from Nominal RollDriver
Unit from Nominal Roll5th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 4 October 1917
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), 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
44
Family/military connectionsBrother: [1066] Lt Frederick Flint LAMPLOUGH, 15th Brigade Machine Gun Company, returned to Australia, 21 July 1917.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Embarked from Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli campaign, 5 April 1915. Wounded in action (gun shot wound, right thigh); transferred by HS 'Gascon' to Alexandria, 16 May 1915, and admitted to 15th General Hospital. Embarked on 'Itonus' to rejoin 5th Bn at Gallipoli, 2 June 1915; rejoined Bn, 13 June 1915. Temporarily attached to Ordnance Department, 14 June 1915. Detailed to permanent Beach Party under command of Captain LITTLER, 12th Bn, 8 July 1915. Transferred to Ordnance, 17 July 1915. Promoted Corporal, 1st Division Ordnance, 9 July 1915. Commended in Army Corps Routine Orders, 19 July 1915: 'On 14th July, an enemy shell struck a stack of 18 pdr. ammunition in the Australian Divisional Ammunition Park adjoining the Australian Ordnance Depot, setting it ablaze. The work of throwing sand and water upon the flames was immediately taken in hand, and although a second shell fell in the immediate vicinity of the working party, and set fire to another lot of ammunition, work was not relinquished until both fires had been extinguished.'

Admitted to 2nd Australian Field Ambulance, 11 August 1915 (gun shot wound, thigh); transferred to HS 'Scotian', 10 September 1915; admitted to Military Hospital, Tigne, Malta, 10 September 1915. Embarked for England, 24 September 1915, and admitted to 3rd Western General Hospital, Cardiff, 4 October 1915. Treated for venereal disease, 14-18 March 1916 (5 days). Found guilty, 9 June 1916, of being absent without leave from midnight, 5 June, to 7 pm, 7 June 1916: admonished and forfeited 2 days' pay. Found guilty, 14 June 1916, of being absent without leave from midnight, 8 June, till 2.30 pm, 13 June 1916: reprimanded and forfeited 5 days' pay. Found guilty, 9 September 1916, of overstaying leave from midnight, 2 September, till 3.40 pm, 5 September 1916: reprimanded and forfeited 3 days' pay. Found guilty, Regimental Court Martial, Monto Video, 20 September 1916, of being absent without leave from 2 pm parade, 11 September, till 8.45 pm, 18 September 1916: awarded reduction to the ranks and forfeiture of a total of 10 days' pay. Proceeded overseas to France, 17 December 1916; rejoined 5th Bn, 25 December 1916.

Admitted to 1st Australian Field Ambulance, 12 March 1917 (rheumatism); rejoined unit, 10 September 1917.

Killed in action, Belgium, 4 October 1917.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, LAMPLOUGH Welby Jackson