Brooklyn War Memorial
The remembered sons of Brooklyn fell in several of the landmark battles of World War One, including Passchendaele, Bullecourt and Lone Pine.
Those who are remembered
Percy Bartholomew Allen
Service number: 1908
Rank: Private
Regiment: 1st Battalion, A.I.F
Age: 31
Place of enlistment: Liverpool, NSW.
Date of death: 11 August 1915
Place of death: At sea, Mediterranean
Battle: Gallipoli
Memorial/cemetery: Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey
Relationships: Son of Bartholomew Allen of 18 City Markets, Sydney, NSW.
Civil employment: Labourer
Details: Percy Allen enlisted in 1915. He died of wounds on board the hospital ship Dunluce Castle while being transferred to Malta. He had received a gun shot wound to his head on the 8th of August.
His embarkation record lists his address as Brookland, Hawkesbury River.
Harold Brown
Service number: 425
Rank: Private
Regiment: 20th Battalion, A.I.F.
Age: 21
Place of enlistment: Liverpool, NSW
Date of death: 4 October 1917
Place of death: Passchendaele
Battle: Passchendaele
Memorial/cemetery: Aeroplane Cemetery, Belgium
Relationships: Son of Charles Frederick and Caroline Brown, of Brooklyn, NSW.
Civil employment: Engineer
Details: Harold Brown enlisted in 1915. He fell ill on route to Gallipoli and was returned to Australia, returning to active service in 1917.
His body was moved to the Aeroplane Cemetery at the end of the war when graves were brought in from small burial grounds and the surrounding battlefields.
Sydney Alexander Cain
Service number: 385
Rank: Private
Regiment: 2nd Battalion, A.I.F.
Age: 36
Place of enlistment: Randwick, Sydney, NSW.
Date of death: 10 July 1915
Place of death: At sea, Mediterranean
Battle: Gallipoli
Memorial/cemetery: Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey
Relationships: Brother of Herbert Cain of Pearl Street, Newtown, Sydney, NSW.
Civil employment: Fisherman
Details: Sydney Cain from Brooklyn, enlisted in 1914. He was wounded in the head at Gallipoli and died at sea, on the ship Gascon, while being transferred to Alexandria in Egypt. He was buried at sea.
His military papers say that he sustained a wound which fractured his skull and destroyed his right eye socket. He was admitted to hospital on the 5th July and died 5 days later.
Ralph Denver
Service number: 12104
Rank: Private
Regiment: 9th Field Ambulance Australian Army Medical Corps
Age: 22
Place of enlistment:
Date of death: 12 December 1917
Place of death: Neuve Eglise, France
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Pont-D'Achelles Military Cemetery, Nieppe, France
Relationships: Son of Edward and Annie Denver, of 606, Harris St., Ultimo, NSW
Civil employment: Hospital employee
Details: Ralph Denver enlisted in 1915. He was killed during an aerial bombardment while at a football match.
His military papers give his address as Hawkesbury River.
Vincent Patrick Doyle
Service number: 4160
Rank: Private
Regiment: 54th Battalion, A.I.F
Age: 19
Place of enlistment: Warwick Farm, NSW
Date of death: 19 July 1916
Place of death: Fromelles, Fleurbaix, France
Battle: Somme/Fromelles
Memorial/cemetery: Anzac Cemetery, Sailly-Sur-La-Lys, France
Relationships: Son of Robert and Elizabeth Ann Doyle, of 35, Montague St., Balmain, NSW.
Civil employment: Labourer
Details: Vincent Doyle enlisted in 1915. His father had been a Policeman stationed at Brooklyn and he attended Brooklyn Public School.
John Farrell
Service number: 4468
Rank: Private
Regiment: 54th Battalion, A.I.F
Age: 29
Place of enlistment: Holdsworthy, NSW
Date of death: 7 May 1917
Place of death: Bullecourt, France
Battle: 2nd Battle of Bullecourt
Memorial/cemetery: Grevillers British Cemetery, France
Relationships: Brother of Nellie Farrell, Granvillle, NSW.
Civil employment: Carpenter
Details: John Farrell enlisted in 1915. He had spent two and a half years, before the war, as a member of the Volunteer Force based at Hornsby, NSW. He was wounded in 1916 with a gunshot wound to the thigh. In 1917 while on fatigue duty Farrell was fatally wounded by an exploding shell. He was taken to the 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station where he was seen by a Roman Catholic Chaplin who recorded that he had extensive wounds to his chest and abdomen. He also administered the last rites.
His brother Daniel was wounded 19 July 1917 and returned to Australia in 1919 and a second brother, Michael, was killed in action in the same year.
The brothers attended Brooklyn Public School.
Michael Farrell
Service number: 3485
Rank: Private
Regiment: 26th Battalion, A.I.F.
Age: 33
Place of enlistment: Queensland.
Date of death: 29 October 1917
Place of death: Ypres, Belgium
Battle: Passchendaele
Memorial/cemetery: Ypres Reservoir Cemetery, Belgium
Relationships: Son of Thomas and Johanna Farrell, Gosford, NSW.
Civil employment: Bridge Labourer
Details: Michael Farrell enlisted in 1915. He was wounded in the head in 1916 and was wounded again in early 1917 with a wound to his lower jaw.
His brother Daniel was wounded 19 July 1917 and returned to Australia in 1919 and a second brother, John, was killed in action in the same year.
The brothers attended Brooklyn Public School.
Samuel Garton
Service number: 5341
Rank: Private
Regiment: 20th Battalion
Age: 40
Place of enlistment: Hornsby, NSW
Date of death: 3 May 1917
Place of death: Bullecourt, France
Battle: 2nd Battle of Bullecourt
Memorial/cemetery: Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France
Relationships: Brother of Edwin Garton of Mooney Creek, Hawkesbury River, NSW.
Civil employment: Fisherman
Details: Samuel Garton was from the Lower Hawkesbury, who enlisted in 1916. He was killed while advancing towards the German positions at Bullecourt. It was claimed that he was killed by a “Wizz-Bang” exploding near his face and upper body.
Arthur Frederick Johnson
Service number: 5596
Rank: Private
Regiment: 25th Battalion, A.I.F
Age: 26
Place of enlistment: Lismore, NSW Service number: 5596
Date of death: 24 April 1918
Place of death: Amiens, France
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Vignacourt British Cemetery, France
Relationships: Husband of Margaret Johnson of Maclean, Clarence River, NSW.
Civil employment: Navvy
Details: Arthur Johnson enlisted in 1916. In 1917 he was sent to England suffering from the effects of gas. He returned to his battalion in February 1918. He was mortally wounded while asleep in a dugout which was hit by a shell. He received injuries to his back, head and legs. He died at the 20th Casualty Clearing Station.
Arthur was the brother of Frederick Johnson who also died in the war. His parents lived in Brooklyn.
Frederick Thomas Johnson
Service number: 6266
Rank: Private
Regiment: 1st Battalion, A.I.F
Age: 22
Place of enlistment: Liverpool, NSW
Date of death: 12 February 1917
Place of death: Fargo Military Hospital, Durrington
Battle:
Memorial/cemetery: Durrington Cemetery, Wiltshire, United Kingdom
Relationships: Son of Joseph Henry and Sarah Emily Johnson, of Brooklyn, Hawkesbury River, NSW.
Civil employment: Tinsmith
Details: Frederick Johnson enlisted in 1916. He died of the flu.
Many of the graves in the Durrington cemetery are of Australian servicemen and there is a separate Australian memorial in the cemetery.
Frederick was the brother of Arthur Frederick Johnson who also died in the war. His parents lived in Brooklyn.
Herbert Victor Ross
Service number: 6301
Rank: Private
Regiment: 1st Battalion, A.I.F
Age: 28
Place of enlistment: Showground, Sydney
Date of death: 9 April 1917
Place of death: Dernancourt, France
Battle: Battle of Arras
Memorial/cemetery: Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France
Relationships: Son of Alice Ross of Paddington, NSW and James Ross of Brooklyn, NSW.
Civil employment: Motor Driver
Details: Herbert Ross enlisted in 1916. He took part in the action to clear the Germans out of village of Dernancourt. After the village was cleared Ross was talking to an Officer when they were killed by an exploding shell. Both died instantly.
Thomas Desmond Woods
Service number: 1928
Rank: Private
Regiment: 42nd Battalion, A.I.F
Age: 21
Place of enlistment: Brisbane, Queensland
Date of death: 4 October 1917
Place of death: Passchendaele
Battle: Passchendaele
Memorial/cemetery: Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium
Relationships: Son of Charles Stubbs Woods and Jane Frank Woods, of Cooroy, Queensland.
Civil employment: Farmer
Details: Thomas Woods enlisted in 1916. He has no known grave.
He attended Brooklyn Public School.