The AIF Project

Edward Henry PAGE

Regimental number7757
Date of birth18 December 1890
Place of birthMoonta Mines, South Australia
SchoolMoonta Public School, South Australia; and Bowen State School, Queensland
Other trainingBowen Technical College, Queensland
ReligionMethodist
OccupationLabourer
AddressSydney, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21
Height5' 8"
Weight138 lbs
Next of kinSister, Mrs. B. Stamp, Pumping Station Mount Crossby, Ipswich, Queensland
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date4 October 1917
Place of enlistmentCharters Towers, Queensland
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name2nd Battalion, 26th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/19/4
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A38 Ulysses on 19 December 1917
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll2nd Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour Circular

'First enlisted 18 August 1915, at Liverpool, NSW, in B Company, 12th Reserves. Actual age:14 years, 9 months. Discharged 17 November 1915, medically unfit.

Second enlistment on 13 July 1917, at Charters Towers, Queensland, in 1 Depot Company, Machine Gun Reinforcements. He gave his age as 21 years; actual age 16 years, 7 months. Discharged 23 August 1917. Fined one pound and discharged for making a false statement to Attesting Officer. 'Stated age was 21 years when it was 16.7 years, as he well knew.'

Enlisted for a third time on 4 October 1917 at Liverpool, NSW, in C Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Reinforcements. Stated age 21.3 years, actual age 16.10 years. He pretended to be an orphan, and gave his next of kin as Mrs Blanche Stamp, Pumping Station, Mt Crosby, Ipswich, QLD.

A late niece of Edward, Mrs Thelma Buchannan (nee Page) recalled: 'Ted was a big lad for his age and received a white feather. He put up his age and was killed about his eighteenth birthday.'
FateKilled in Action 11 September 1918
Place of death or woundingVillers-Bretonneux, France
Age at death17.8
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
34
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Frank and Ruth PAGE
Family/military connectionsCousin: 1609 Sergeant Walter William PAGE, 11th Bn, killed in action, 23 August 1916.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Embarked Sydney, 19 December 1917; disembarked Suez, 16 January 1918.

Embarked Port Said, 24 January 1918; disembarked Taranto, Italy, 2 February 1918.

Embarked Cherburg, 12 February 1918; disembarked Southampton, 12 February 1918.

Admitted to Sutton Veny Military Hospital, 6 March 1918 (tonsillitis); discharged to 1st Training Bn, 16 March 1918.

Proceeded overseas to France, 6 May 1918; taken on strength, 2nd Bn, 12 May 1918.

Admitted to 3rd Australian Field Ambulance, 19 May 1918 (influenza); transferred to 18th Casualty Clearing Station, 20 May 1918; rejoined unit, 29 May 1918.

Killed in action, 11 September 1918.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, PAGE Edward Henry

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