John Alfred CADDELL

Regimental number2146
Place of birthAbbotsford, Victoria
SchoolYarra Park and Richmond Central State School, Victoria
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationClerk
AddressMelbourne, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21
Height5' 6.5"
Weight122 lbs
Next of kinFather, Jeremiah Caddell, 57 Lyndhurst Street, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria
Previous military serviceServed as Corporal in Citizen Military Forces, 56th Yarra, Richmond, Victoria.
Enlistment date13 July 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name21st Battalion, 4th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/38/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A20 Hororata on 27 September 1915
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll21st Battalion
FateKilled in Action 26 August 1916
Place of death or woundingMouquet Farm, Pozieres, France
Age at death22
Age at death from cemetery records22
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
93
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Commemorated on Kensington Methodist (now Uniting) Church Roll of Honour ('A Loving tribute to the Memory of Our Brave Men'), McCracken Street, Kensington, Victoria. Parents: James Smith CADDELL and Alice Maud CADDELL, 5 Hopkins Street, Richmond, Victoria
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Taken on strength of 21st Bn, Tel el Kebir, 7 January 1916.

Admitted to New Zealand Field Hospital, Moascar, 7 March 1916 (exhaustion); rejoined unit, 15 March 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 19 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 26 March 1916.

Found guilty, 24 May 1916, of not complying with orders: awarded 7 days' confined to barracks.

Killed in action, 26 August 1916.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, CADDELL John Alfred