| Regimental number | 3226 |
| Place of birth | The Glen, Tumbarumba, New South Wales |
| School | Mundaroo Public School, New South Wales |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Address | The Glen, Minadroo, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 19 |
| Height | 5' 10.75" |
| Weight | 168 lbs |
| Next of kin | Mother, Mrs E L Allen, The Glen via Tumbarumba, New South Wales |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
| Place of enlistment | Cootamundra, New South Wales |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 3rd Battalion, 11th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/20/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 55th Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Polygon Wood, Belgium |
| Age at death | 21.4 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 29), 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 | 160 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: John Fursden and Emmeline Louisa ALLEN |
| Family/military connections | Brother: 3232 Corporal Fusden Joseph ALLEN, 15th Bn, returned to Australia, 6 January 1919. |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Western Front Taken on strength, 3rd Bn, Tel el Kibir, 5 February 1916. Transferred to 55th Bn, Tel el Kibir, 13 February 1917. Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, France, 19 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 29 June 1916. Admitted to 38th Casualty Clearing Station (trench feet), in the field, 2 November 1916; admitted to 3rd Stationary Hospial, Rouen, 4 November 1916; embarked Calais for treatment in England, 5 November 1916; admitted Beaufort War Hospital, 7 November 1916; discharged to furlough in England, 30 January 1917. Marched in from furlough, No. 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 21 February 1917; classed 'B1A'. Marched in, No. 4 Command Depot, Wareham, 23 February 1917. Marched in, No. 3 Command Depot, Hurdcott, 14 March 1917. Embarked Folkestone to rejoin unit in the field, 25 April 1917; rejoined 55th Bn, in the field, 30 April 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 26 September 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, ALLEN Ernest Thomas |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
