The AIF Project

Cyril Spencer LUKE

Regimental number2856
Place of birthBaulkham Hills, New South Wales
SchoolCastle Hill Public School, New South Wales
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationBlacksmith
AddressBrendamore, Baulkham Hills, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation20
Height5' 9.25"
Weight154 lbs
Next of kinFather, J T Luke, Brendamore, Baulkham Hills, New South Wales
Previous military serviceServed in the Army Service Corps, Citizen Military Forces.
Enlistment date14 August 1915
Place of enlistmentWarwick Farm, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name17th Battalion, 6th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/34/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 2 November 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll5th Machine Gun Battalion
FateKilled in Action 20 July 1916
Age at death from cemetery records20
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsV.C. Corner (Panel No 23), Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
178
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: John and Emma LUKE
Family/military connectionsBrother: 722 Pte Endicott Linden LUKE, 19th Bn, returned to Australia, 21 July 1917.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Allotted to and proceeded to join 55th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 16 February 1916.

Transferred to 14th Machine Gun Company, 11 March 1916.

Detached to School of Instruction, 1 May 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 19 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 25 June 1916.

Reported wounded in action, 20 July 1916; subsequently pronounced ;Killed in Action, 20 July 1916'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 1640125, 2nd Lt E. PHILLIPS, 14th Machine Gun Company (patient, 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth, England), undated ('eyewitness'): 'I saw Luke killed by machine gun fire at Fromelles, and I think he was buried at Sailly in a cemetery.'

Second statement, 4789 Pte W. DUCKETT, 14th Machine Gun Company (patient, No 9 General Hospital, Rouen), 24 May 1917: 'At Fromelles on the 20th July/16 we were in trenches and went over the top at 5.45 p.m. on that day, our objective being the German trenches about 300 yards to our front. I saw Luke shot through the neck by a sniper or M. Gun just after we got over the top. He fell down, dead. We went on and I never saw him after that and I never heard of his body being recovered. There were 9,000 Casualties on that "stunt" so it is most probable that many of the bodies of those who fell were never recovered.'

Note on file: 'No trace Germany. Cert. by Capt. Mills. 10.10.19.'
SourcesNAA: B2455, LUKE Cyril Spencer
Red Cross File No 1640125

Print format    


© The AIF Project 2024, UNSW Canberra. Not to be reproduced without permission.