Regimental number | 3048 |
Place of birth | Dunedin, New Zealand |
School | Ravensbourne Public School, Queensland |
Other training | 21 |
Age on arrival in Australia | 21 |
Religion | Presbyterian |
Occupation | Carpenter |
Marital status | Single |
Age at embarkation | 26 |
Height | 5' 6.5" |
Weight | 145 lbs |
Next of kin | Father, T Ferguson, Ravenbourne, Otago, New Zealand |
Enlistment date | |
Place of enlistment | Geraldton, Western Australia |
Rank on enlistment | Private |
Unit name | 11th Battalion, 10th Reinforcement |
AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/28/3 |
Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A32 Themistocles on |
Rank from Nominal Roll | Lance Corporal |
Unit from Nominal Roll | 11th Battalion |
Fate | Killed in Action |
Place of death or wounding | France |
Age at death | 28 |
Place of burial | No known grave |
Commemoration details | Australian 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 | 62 |
Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Thomas Balfour and Agnes Addie FERGUSON, Main Road, Ravensbourne, Otago, New Zealand |
Other details |
War service: Egypt, Western Front Joined 11th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 7 January 1916. Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 29 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 5 April 1916. Admitted to 2nd Australian Field Ambulance, 9 November 1916 (trench feet), and transferred same day to Dressing Station (scabies); discharged to duty, 24 December 1916. Admitted to 1st Australian Field Ambulance, 26 January 1917 (scabies); transferred to 1st Australian Staionary Hospital, 28 January 1917; to 1/1 South Midlands Casualty Clearing Station, 15 February 1917 (trouble in groin); to England, 1 March 1917, and admitted to 1st Southern General Hospital, Birmingham, 2 March 1917 (boil on thigh: severe); transferred to 2nd Auxiliary Hospital, Southall, 24 March 1917; discharged on furlough, 27 March 1917, to report to No 1 command Depot, Perham Downs, 11 April 1917. Admitted to 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital, Bulford, 13 April 1917; discharged to Depot, 20 April 1917; total period of treatment for venereal disease: 8 days. Proceeded overseas to France, 9 May 1917; rejoined Bn, in the field, 15 May 1917. Appointed Lance Corporal, 20 May 1917. Promoted Corporal, 15 July 1917. Appointed Lance Sergeant, 25 September 1917. Promoted Sergeant, 12 November 1917. Killed in action, 24 April 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Sources | NAA: B2455, FERGUSON John Addie |