Hugh LEWIS

Regimental number736
Place of birthNorthcote, Victoria
SchoolNott Street State School, Port Melbourne, Victoria
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationPacker
Address254 Bay Street, Port Melbourne, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation26.3
Height5' 6.75"
Weight155 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs R Lewis, 254 Bay Street, Port Melbouren, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date10 September 1914
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentLance Corporal
Unit name14th Battalion, F Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/31/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A38 Ulysses on 22 December 1914
Rank from Nominal RollSergeant
FateKilled in Action 7 August 1916
Age at death28.3
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
73
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Hugh and Rebecca LEWIS, 149 Bay Street, Port Melbourne, Victoria
Family/military connectionsBrother: 1166 Corporal Percy William LEWIS, 14th Bn, killed in action, 11 April 1917.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Embarked Egypt to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Gallipoli Campaign), 12 April 1915.

Promoted Corporal, 3 August 1915.

Appointed Lance Sergeant, 18 August 1915.

Promoted Sergeant, 11 December 1915.

Disembarked Alexandria from Mudros, 1 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evacuation).

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 1 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 8 June 1916.

Reported killed in action, 7 August 1916.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, LEWIS Hugh