The AIF Project

John Beresford YOUL

Regimental number141
Place of birthPerth, Tasmania
SchoolLaunceston Grammar School, Tasmania
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationEngineer
AddressLeylands, Perth, Tasmania
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation20
Height5' 8"
Weight141 lbs
Next of kinFather, A Youl, Leylands, Perth, Tasmania
Previous military serviceServed for 1 year in 92nd Infantry, 1 year in 93rd Infantry, Citizen Military Forces.
Enlistment date24 August 1914
Place of enlistmentBrighton, Tasmania
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name12th Battalion, A Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/29/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Hobart, Tasmania, on board Transport A2 Geelong on 20 October 1914
Rank from Nominal Roll2nd Lieutenant
Unit from Nominal Roll12th Battalion
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)

Mention in Despatches


Awarded, and promulgated, 'London Gazette', second Supplement, No. 30107 (1 June 1917); 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 169 (4 October 1917).

Other details from Roll of Honour CircularRoH circular lists additional middle name as Osmond.
FateDied of wounds 5 April 1917
Place of death or woundingBullecourt, France
Age at death23
Age at death from cemetery records23
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
68
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Alfred and Annette Frances YOUL
Family/military connectionsBrother: Major Geoffrey YOUL MC, CdeG, Royal Artillery, BEF
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Embarked alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Gallipoli Campaign), 2 March 1915.

Admitted to 2nd Field Ambulance, Anzac, 10 August 1915 (diarrhoea), and transferred to 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station; to Mudros same day; to England, 14 August 1915, and admitted to 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth, 23 August 1915.

Embarked to rejoin MEF, 15 November 1915; disembarked Lemnos, 3 December 1915; rejoined unit, Lemnos, 3 December 1915.

Disembarked Alexandria, 6 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evacuation).

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 29 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 5 April 1916.

Appointed Lance Corporal, 4 July 1916.

Promoted Corporal, 10 April 1917.

Appointed 2nd Lieutenant, 26 April 1917.

Killed in action, 5 May 1917.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, YOUL John Beresford

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