Beecroft War Memorial
On 26 November 1918, just weeks after the guns finally fell silent on the Western Front, the people of Beecroft met and decided to erect a memorial to their fallen brothers.
Those who are remembered
Henley Thomas Southwell Bembrick
Service number: 408
Rank: Private
Regiment: 3rd Machine Gun Battalion, late 9th Machine Gun Company
Age: 21
Place of enlistment: Grenfell, NSW
Date of embarkment: 25 October 1916
Date of death: 12 October 1917
Place of death: Passchendale Ridge
Battle: Third battle of Ypres (Passchendale)
Memorial/cemetery: Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium. No known grave
Relationships: Son of Thomas and Emma Bembrick of “Olessen”, Murray Road, Beecroft, NSW
Civil employment: Clerk
Details: Killed in action, going over the top, by enemy shell fire. He was not attached to the machine gunners on the day he died.
Image: The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser, Friday 28 June 1918.
Alwyn Rufus Black
Service number: 4658
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: 25th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 31
Place of enlistment: Glenmore, NSW
Date of death: 20 May 1918
Place of death: Morlancourt, France
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension (Somme), France
Relationships: Son of Henry George and Emma Jane Black, of ‘Kia-Ora’ Beecroft Road, Beecroft, NSW
Civil employment: Selector/labourer
Details: Died of wounds to his back after being hit by enemy shell fire while returning to the Australian trench lines working with a fatigue/working party near Morlancourt. He was previously wounded in 1916 suffering a gunshot wound to the forehead. His last words were said to be “Hooray, I’m done”. “Alwyn was a soldier of the first order,” according to the men in his unit.
James Blackwood
Service number: 3698
Rank: Private
Regiment: 30th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 20
Place of enlistment: Glebe, NSW
Date of death: 2 December 1916
Place of death:
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-l'abbe (Somme) France
Relationships: Son of Ludovic and Mary Wilson Blackwood, of “Maraba”, Beecroft Road, NSW
Civil employment: Student
Details: With his father’s permission, James Blackwood ceased his law studies at Sydney University and joined the AIF at age 19. He had been a member of the Sydney University Scouts, a volunteer rifle corp. He died of wounds after being shot in the leg. He was previously wounded in August 1916. The Blackwood family was one of the wealthiest in the district and James had been destined to take over the family’s prosperous engineering business. His school, his university and his suburb all felt the loss of a talented engaging young man. His parents later gave his old school, ‘Shore’, a gift to fund a laboratory in his memory. Image: The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, Saturday 30 December 1916.
Robert Labertouche Cadden
Service number: 797
Rank: Lieutenant
Regiment: 30th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 27
Place of enlistment:
Date of death: 18 December 1917
Place of death:
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Waverley Cemetery, Sydney, NSW
Relationships: Son of Robert Cadden, of Beecroft, NSW
Civil employment: Clerk and Commercial Traveller
Details: Robert Cadden junior was wounded in the face and hand while fighting at Fleurbaix, France, in August 1916. He was repatriated to Australia in March 1917 and died at the Garrison Hospital, Randwick, NSW of a heart attack due to Septic Endocarditis. He was officially listed as a causality of war.
Images: The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, Saturday 8 April 1916 and The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 1 January 1918
Harry Keith Crawford
Service number: 7163
Rank: Bombardier
Regiment: 5th Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
Age: 23
Place of enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Date of death: 12 August 1917
Place of death: Hill 60, Ypres, Belgium
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Larch Wood (Railway Cutting) Cemetery, Belgium
Relationships: Son of James Henry and Annie Henzelle Crawford, of "Doone", Malton Road. Beecroft, NSW.
Civil employment: Station Hand
Details: Killed in action by an enemy shell near Hill 60 outside of Ypres, Belgium.
Joseph Howard Douglas
Service number: 7459
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: 2nd Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 22
Place of enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Date of death: 11 April 1918
Place of death: Amiens Railway Station, France
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: St Pierre Cemetery, Amiens, France
Relationships: Son of Joseph and Marion Douglas, of Welham St., Beecroft.
Civil employment: Carriage Builder
Details: Killed by an enemy shell while loading regimental goods onto a train at Amiens Railway Station. A concert had been held at the Beecroft School of Arts to farewell a number of local men who had enlisted in 1917. Each was presented with various gifts such as wristwatches, safety razors or pipes. Sergeant Douglas spoke at the concert about the value of ‘Win the War’ leagues and recommended one to be established in Beecroft. Although his wish to establish the League transpired, he sadly did not return from war to see the good work done.
Douglas Joseph Finlay
Service number: 2659
Rank: Private
Regiment: 53 rd Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 21
Place of enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Date of death: 1 September 1918
Place of death: Peronne, France
Battle: Peronne, France
Memorial/cemetery: Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, France
Relationships: Brother of Mrs Pierce Crosbie McDonnall, of “Allerton” Murray Road. Beecroft, NSW.
Civil employment: Clerk
Details: Died of wounds in the last few weeks of the war.
Charles Kerr
Service number: 2593
Rank: Private
Regiment: 37th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 39
Place of enlistment: Lawson, NSW
Date of death: 27 October 1917
Place of death: 7th Canadian General Hospital, Etaples, France
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Etaples Military Cemetery, France
Relationships: Mother Jemima Kerr of “Hypatia” Beecroft Road, Beecroft.
Civil employment: Lift Attendant
Details: Charles received a gunshot wound to his right arm which resulted in a compound fracture, a badly torn right foot and another gunshot wound to his chest on October 4 1917 at Broodseinde Ridge. He lingered for weeks before dying on October 27 at the 7th Canadian General Hospital.
Image: The 7th Canadian General Hospital, Etaples, France.
Harry Noel Lea
Service number: 3419
Rank: Private
Regiment: 17th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 21
Place of enlistment: Sydney, NSW
Date of death: 14 October 1917
Place of death: Poelchapple, Belgium
Battle: Third battle of Ypres (Passchendale)
Memorial/cemetery: Ypres Reservoir Cemetery, Belgium
Relationships: Son of Mrs Mary Caroline Lea of Beecroft Rd, Cheltenham, NSW
Civil employment: Bank Clerk
Details: Died of wounds at the dressing station of the 2/3rd East Lancashire Field Ambulance. In 1917 the 17th Battalion was involved in three major battles – at Bullecourt, France in May, Menin Road in September and Poelcappelle, Belgium in October. Harry Lea had lived in Beecroft Road, Cheltenham and had attended Beecroft Public School.
Image: Men wounded at the Battle of Menin Road.
Arthur Noel Meadmore
Service number: 901
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: 1st Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 21
Place of enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Date of death: 22 December 1914
Place of death: Egypt
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt
Relationships: Son of Clement and Frances Amy Meadmore, of Copeland Rd., Beecroft, NSW
Civil employment: Analytical Chemist
Details: Died of pneumonia
Arthur Meadmore, one of the first recruits from Beecroft, was the son of the well-known director of local musicals, Clement Meadmore. The Meadmore family lived in ‘St Elmo’, Beecroft.
Charles Ashwin Nixon
Rank: Lieutenant
Regiment: 4th Brigade Australian Field Artillery
Age: 29
Place of enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Date of death: 24 September 1918
Place of death:
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Doingt (near Peronne) Communal Cemetery Extension, France
Relationships: Son of William Mark Nixon and Ada E. Nixon, of Malton Rd., Beecroft, NSW
Civil employment: Architect
Details: Killed in action after being hit by shrapnel in the back. He was on duty in a machine gun pit at the time. Local girl, Florence Tucker, had intended to marry Charles Nixon, but so saddened by his death, remained single for the rest of her life.
Percival Arthur Ronald Rash
Rank: Private
Service number: 4227
Regiment: 25th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 28
Place of enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Date of death: 19 October 1916
Place of death: Ypres, Belgium
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, Belgium
Relationships: Son of John Hardy Rash and Mary Ann Rash, of "The Pines," Murray Road, Beecroft, NSW
Civil employment: Farmer
Details: Died of wounds after being hit in the chest by machine gun fire. He was taken to the 25th Regimental Field Aid post and died 3 or 4 days later. His will simply stated ‘Everything to Mother’.
Harold Roberts
Rank: Lieutenant
Regiment: 3rd Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
Age: 33
Place of enlistment: Sydney, NSW
Date of death: 17th September 1917
Place of death: Zonavre Wood, east of Ypres, Belgium
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Reninghelst New Military Cemetery, Belgium
Relationships:
Civil employment: House Steward
Details: Harold Roberts was the House Steward for Mrs Willinte of “Lorne House” Beecroft Rd, Beecroft. Mrs Willintie was also listed as his next of Kin. He enlisted in August 1914, one of the first from Beecroft to do so, and embarked for the war in September 1914 with the rank of sergeant. He was commissioned an officer in 1916, was wounded in the leg in 1917 and was killed in action by splinters from enemy shell fire.
On the 7th June 1917 he won the Military Cross for establishing a forward observation post in a captured German trench, after killing three German officers who had refused to surrender. He maintained communication by telephone and runners even though the wires were constantly cut. He was said to have acted “with great coolness and devotion to duty under very heavy shell fire and sent back valuable information to group headquarters.”
Frank Lancelot Seale
Service number: 18744
Rank: Gunner
Regiment: 7th Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
Age: 33
Place of enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Date of death: 11 September 1917
Place of death: Tickbush near Ypres, Belgium
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: The Huts Cemetery, Belgium
Relationships: Son of John and Maria Seale, of Malton Rd, Beecroft, NSW
Civil employment: Electrical Engineer
Details: Killed by enemy shell fire while sitting down to breakfast at the 25th Battery Wagon Lines. Seale was one of six men killed outright by the explosion.
Cecil Walter Smith
Service number: 9722
Rank: Private
Regiment: 56th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 21
Place of enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Date of death: 26 September 1917
Place of death: Polygon Wood, near Ypres, Belgium
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium. No known grave
Relationships: Son of Horatio William and Lanty Smith, Walton Crescent, Abbotsford, NSW
Civil employment: Plumber
Details: Killed by a sniper’s bullet in the chest. He was a runner for headquarters and was on a trench inspection with the regimental Colonel. He is listed as W. C. Smith on the Beecroft War Memorial and in the Red Cross records. Private Smith lived in Sutherland Road.
Wemyss Benjamin Speechley
Service number: 3387
Rank: Private
Regiment: 35th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Age: 18
Place of enlistment: Haberfield, NSW
Date of death: 22 August 1918
Place of death:
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Cote 80 French National Cemetery, Etinehem, France
Relationships: Brother of Miss Alice Marie Speechley of Bank St, Molong, NSW.
Civil employment: Clerk
Details: On the Embarkation record Benjamin Speechley is listed as living in ‘Linwood’ Beecroft Road. He originally tried to enlist in June 1916 and again in August 1916. He was officially discharged in November 1916 as he was under age. He re-enlisted on 13 July 1917 when he reached 18. His unit had been involved in the battle of Amiens. He was killed in action on August 22, 1918 and was buried in Cote 80 (originally called Point 80) French Military Cemetery, approximately 1 mile west of Bray-sur-Somme and 4½ miles south south east of Albert, France.
George Young
Service number: 3658
Rank: Corporal
Regiment: 14th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery
Age: 36
Place of enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Date of death: 1 September 1918
Place of death: Peronne, France
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, France
Relationships: Son of David Young and Isabella Fraser, Cupar, Fife, Scotland and the brother of
Civil employment: Plumber
Details: Killed in action by enemy machine gun fire while advancing left of the town of Peronne.
He was recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal for going to the aid of a wounded officer while under heavy barrage fire. He administered first aid and took the man back to the dressing station. He then returned to his post and immediately gave assistance to the stretcher bearers while under enemy fire. It was said that “throughout the operations his coolness and determination were a source of inspiration to all ranks”. The recommendation was downgraded and he was awarded the Military Medal on the 14th January 1918.