Epping War Memorial

Gordon Clarence Corbould

Rank: Leading Seaman
Regiment: HMAS AE1, Royal Australian Navy
Age: 25
Place of enlistment: Waverley, NSW
Date of death: 14 September 1914
Place of death: New Guinea
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Plymouth Naval Memorial, England
Relationships: Son of Mr and Mrs Ernest and Alice Corbould, of ‘Ashledoin’, Essex Road, Epping, NSW.
Details: AE1 was Australia’s first submarine, commissioned on 28 February 1914. Together with her sister ship, AE2, she took part in the capture of Rabaul, German New Guinea, on 13 September 1914, Australia’s first major military action of the war. The following day, when patrolling with HMAS Parramatta, Australia’s first battleship, the submarine disappeared, with the loss of 35 men, representing Australia’s first significant casualties. No trace of AE1 has been found, and it is presumed she struck an uncharted reef. Incidentally, HMAS Parramatta was abandoned in the Hawkesbury River in the 1930s, and its remains can still be found on a mud bank near Brooklyn.

William Lockhart Finlay

Rank: Gunner
Regiment: 4th Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
Age: 22
Place of enlistment: Epping, NSW
Date of death: 1 November 1917
Place of death:
Battle: The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchaendaele)
Memorial/cemetery: Perth Cemetery (China Wall) Zillebeke, Belgium
Relationships: Son of Elizabeth R. Finlay, of ‘Arawai’, Serpentine Road, Greenwich Point, NSW, and the late Dr. William Finlay. (At the time of his enlistment, his address and his mother’s was ‘Airlie’, Victoria Street, Epping.)
Details: Killed in action.

Leonard Willoughby Hazlewood

Rank: Private
Regiment: 45th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 20
Place of enlistment: Epping, NSW
Date of death: 12 August 1916
Place of death: Poizieres, France
Battle: Poizieres, France
Memorial/cemetery: Sunken Road Cemetery Contalmaison, France
Relationships: Son of David and Sarah Louisa Hazlewood, of Carlingford Road, Epping.
Details: Leonard Hazlewood was hit by a shell while in the trenches. Badly wounded in the chest, he died while being taken to the dressing station by stretcher. The Hazlewoods were a prominent local family. Leonard’s brother Rex was an official photographer during the war. (The surname is misspelt ‘Hazelwood’ on the memorial.)

Ivor Jones

Rank: Private
Regiment: 2nd Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 22
Place of enlistment: Epping, NSW
Date of death: 6-9 August 1915
Place of death: Gallipoli
Battle: Lone Pine, Gallipoli
Memorial/cemetery: Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli
Relationships: Son of Richard and Elizabeth Jones, of Chesterfield Road, Epping.
Details: Killed in action some time between 6 and 9 August 1915. No known grave.

Alfred De Vere Kidson

Rank: Lieutenant
Regiment: 56th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 24
Place of enlistment: Epping
Date of death: 26 September 1917
Place of death: Polygon Wood, near Ypres, Belgium
Battle: The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchaendaele)
Memorial/cemetery: The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium
Relationships: Son of Charles Alfred and Sarah Hopton Kidson, of High Street, Epping, NSW.
Details: Alfred Kidson was killed by a shell at Polygon Wood, reportedly one fired by Allied artillery that fell short. Polygon Wood was captured by the Australian 5th Division on that day. He was buried about 2800 yards East of Westhoek by members of his platoon.

Rev Dr Everard Digges La Touche

Rank: 2nd Lieutenant
Regiment: 2nd Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 32
Place of enlistment: Sydney, NSW
Date of death: 6 August 1915
Place of death: Gallipoli
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Lone Pine Cemetery, Gallipoli
Relationships: Husband of Eva Digges La Touche of County Kerry, Ireland.
Details: Killed in action on the southern Lone Pine Plateau. He was shot in the intestines and died 12 hours later. His brother was killed at the battle of Loos in September 1915. An Anglican preacher and lecturer at Moore College, Digges La Touche was staying with a relative, William Digges La Touche of Essex Street, Epping at the time of enlistment. He is also commemorated on the Hornsby War Memorial and the lectern at St Alban’s Church, Epping, where he preached.

“He went before his men as we all knew he would, without fear except for them. He carried only his cane and revolver – soon he was shot down with two bullets in the groin and the lower part of the abdomen. They managed to get him into the trench where he had to lie for 20 hours. Through all this, his one thought was for his men – the wounded, were they as comfortable as possible, had they water?” Almost a Martyr’s Fire, Nigel Hubbard, 1984.

H T Manning (alias Robert Mann)

Rank: Private
Regiment: 13th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 32
Place of enlistment: Sydney, NSW
Date of death: 9 August 1915
Place of death: Gallipoli
Battle: Lone Pine, Gallipoli
Memorial/cemetery: Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli.
Relationships: Son of Mrs Ellen Manning, of ‘Wyandra’, Rawson Street, Epping.
Details: Killed in action. He enlisted under the alias Robert Mann. He originally gave his next of kin as an aunt, Mrs W Hill of Bay Terrace, South Wynnum, Brisbane, but his embarkation record lists his mother as next of kin. (It also records him as living at the same address). His service record sheds no light on his use of an alias, except that his mother disapproved.

Lionel Ackers Parsons

Rank: Private
Regiment: 1st Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 19
Place of enlistment: Epping, NSW
Date of death: 22 July 1916
Place of death: Poizieres, France
Battle: Poizieres, France
Memorial/cemetery: Villers Bretonneux, France
Relationships: Son of Neal and Edith Mary Parsons, of Pembroke Street, Epping, NSW.
Details: He was hit by machine gun fire during a charge and died on the German barbed wire.

Victor Ross Taylor

Rank: Driver
Regiment: 5th Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps
Age: 32
Place of enlistment: Epping, NSW
Date of death: 21 June 1917
Place of death: Near Bapaume, France
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Bapaume Australian Cemetery, France
Relationships: Son of William Mackie Taylor and Fannie Clara Taylor, of ‘Red Braes’, Victoria Street, Epping, NSW. Brother of William John and Cyril Gray Taylor, who also served.
Details: Hit by a shell when he went to find his brother William’s grave and was buried in the nearby cemetery. In fact, his brother wasn’t dead but rather was a prisoner of war.

George Rudolf Treherne (alias of Alfred Edwin Sims)

Rank: Private
Regiment: 31st Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 36
Place of enlistment: Sydney, NSW
Date of death: 6 November 1916
Place of death: The Somme, France
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L'Abbe, France
Relationships: Husband of Rosina Treherne (or Sims), of 161 Monega Road, Forest Gate, London; father of Sidney Montague Sims.
Details: Died of a gunshot wound to the chest received on 27 October 1916 while carrying a message along a sunken road that the Germans were heavily shelling. An English-born travelling salesman, he named ‘Mrs Sims’ of the above address in London as his mother in his will. ‘Mrs Sims’ was in fact his wife. He stipulated that any monies be forwarded to her, but asked that his personal effects be sent to Miss L Passmore of ‘Thanet’, Surrey Street, Epping, NSW – presumably Lilian, the sister of Philip Passmore who is also commemorated on this monument. Added to the war memorial at a later date.

Frederick Wellisch

Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: 2nd Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 31
Place of enlistment: Sydney, NSW
Date of death: 26 April 1915
Place of death: Gallipoli
Battle: Gallipoli
Memorial/cemetery: Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli
Relationships: Son of Albert and Kate Sophia Wellisch, of ‘Killetra’, Kent Street, Epping.
Details: Killed in action on the day after the landing at Gallipoli.

Henry Wright

Rank: Private
Regiment: 56th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 34
Place of enlistment: Epping
Date of death: 22 May 1916
Place of death: Goulburn, NSW
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Church of England Cemetery, Goulburn
Relationships: Son of Esther Wright, widow of Samuel Wright, who lived in Midson Road, Epping, and later at ‘Carra’, Railway Street, Epping, NSW.
Details: He enlisted on 13 March 1916 and died in the Depot Camp at Goulburn in May of pneumonia.