| Regimental number | 275 |
| Place of birth | Gordon Terrace, East Rainham, Kent, England |
| School | National School, Rainham, Kent, England |
| Age on arrival in Australia | 24 |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 24 |
| Next of kin | Mrs E Swan, 42 Ivey Street, Rainham, Kent, England |
| Previous military service | Served in the British Navy. |
| Enlistment date | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 5th Battalion, Machine Gun Section |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/22/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A3 Orvieto on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Company Sergeant Major |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 2nd Machine Gun Battalion |
| Recommendations (Medals and Awards) |
Mention in Despatches Awarded, and promulgated, 'London Gazette', second Supplement, No. 29890 (2 January 1917); 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 103 (29 June 1917). |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | France |
| Age at death | 27 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 27 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 31), 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 | 179 |
| Medals |
Distinguished Conduct Medal 'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He took charge of six machine guns when his officer was killed, took them forward in the advance, and placed them in excellent tactical positions. He also got into action two captured enemy machine guns. Though badly wounded, he encouraged and inspired his men by his splendid example.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 95 Date: |