The AIF Project

Henry Gascoyne DAVIES

Regimental number864
Place of birthToorak, Victoria
Other NamesHenry Gascoigne
SchoolScotch College, Melbourne, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationLaw clerk
AddressCluden Street, Brighton, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation36
Height5' 7.5"
Weight142 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs Elizabeth L Davies, Cluden Street, Brighton, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date20 March 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name24th Battalion, D Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/41/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 10 May 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll59th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 19 July 1916
Age at death from cemetery records37
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsV.C. Corner (Panel No 16), Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
167
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Sir Matthew Henry and Lady Elizabeth Locke DAVIES, 'Cluden', Cluden Street, Brighton, Victoria. Native of Toorak, Victoria
Family/military connectionsCousins: Lt Alan Cathcart DAVIES, 59th Bn, died of disease, 25 April 1918; 804 Sergeant Basil Rayner DAVIES MM, 39th Bn, returned to Australia, 5 April 1919; Lt George Forrest DAVIES MC, 14th Bn, returned to Australia, 8 May 1919; Captain George Vernon DAVIES DSO MM, Australian Army Medical Corps, returned to Australia, 11 May 1919
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Proceeded to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 30 August 1915.

Disembarked Alexandria, 10 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evacuation).

Taken on strength of 60th Bn, Ferry Post, 4 April 1916.

Transferred to 59th Bn, 4 April 1916; taken on strength of 59th Bn, 4 April 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 18 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 29 June 1916.

Posted missing, 19 July 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 29 August 1917, pronounced fate as 'Killed in Action, 19 July 1916'.

Note on B.103, 'presumed buried in No Man's Land approx 5J9043 to 5K0251[,] bodies never recovered[,] Sheet Hazebrouck 5a'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 881109, 4631 Pte L.C. WRIGHT, C Company, 59th Bn (patient, 1st Canadian General Hospital, Etaples), 29 November 1916: 'Harry Davies was a friend of mine and when I returned to the Bn. in Aug. I asked my pal, R. Bryant (both Davies and I were with him in Egypt) about him. "Oh he was killed in an attack we made at Fleurbaix, on 19th. July, at about 6.0, (sic) on a 400 yard front. I saw him shot myself." The bodies are still lying out there: it has been impossible to get them in. Our front is the same to-day.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, DAVIES Henry Gascoyne
Red Cross file 881109

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