Private Charles Allanson (1888)
Not everyone listed on the Dowerin war memorial lived in Dowerin. In 1910 George and Annie Allanson came to Dowerin from Perth and bought the general store in Stewart Street, called then the Acme Stores; they lived initially at the back of the shop but soon bought a house in Stacy Street. Both the shop and the house were sold to J.K. Williams. George’s brother Charles was a blacksmith with another of the Allanson brothers in Kalgoorlie. Charles enlisted in the 28th Battalion in June 1915 and joined the battalion at Gallipoli in October; he was 37 at the time.
Charles Allanson continued on to France and was posted as missing, presumed killed between 4 and 6 April 1916. The Red Cross Wounded and Missing Files have the following report from Private Egan who knew him:
He was not missing on the 29th July. I saw him the following week when we were resting between Albert and La Boiselle. There was only one Allanson in the company, a solid block of a man with a dark moustache, about 38 years old. His name is Charley.
The 28th Battalion took part in its first major battle in France at Pozières in late July and early August 1916, so Charley Allanson was not killed during a major battle, but it was common for German snipers to target men leaving and arriving at the trenches.
Charley Allanson has no know grave and his name is listed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.
Private Joseph Herbert Anderson (3705)
Joseph Anderson was the first of 4 Andersons who enlisted, Joe and his brother Les plus their cousins Clarrie and James. Joe enlisted in August 1915 in the 11th Battalion, arriving in Egypt just as the ANZACs including the 11th Battalion were being evacuated from Gallipoli. The battalion, and Joe, headed for the Western Front where it appears Joe was shot during the build up to the battle of Pozières which began on 23 July 1916; Joe was shot and died of his wounds on 21 July. He was buried at the Military Cemetery at Warloy-Baillon.
His mother, Mrs. Margaret Anderson who had been widowed since 1900, submitted a personal inscription for his grave, two lines from the poem The English Flag by Rudyard Kipling:
Never the lotus closes, never the wild fowl wake,
But a soul goes out on the East Wind that died for Britain’s sake.
But she was told that it exceeded the permitted 66 letters and spaces; if she did not wish to abbreviate the inscriptions, could she kindly choose shorter ones. The inscription reads: Those who miss you loved you best.
Private Robert Clyde Skerry (772)
Robert Skerry was a 19 year old farmer and the brother of a Mrs. T.H. Holmes of Dowerin when he enlisted in March 1915 in the 28th Battalion. The 28th landed in Gallipoli in September 1915 and had a relatively quiet time there. For Robert Skerry things were even quieter as he was admitted to hospital late in September and was evacuated to Britain. He rejoined his battalion in February 1916 and landed in France in March. The 28th Battalion took part in its first major battle at Pozières between 28 July and 6 August 1916. On the second day of this battle Robert Skerry was report missing and was subsequently reported killed on 29 July 1916. Robert Skerry has no known grave and his name is on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. Money must have been very tight at home because Robert Skerry’s father was sent a form from the Imperial War Graves Commission to order copies of the Register of the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, but he returned the form saying he had no money to order the books, but didn’t want them to think the form hadn’t arrived. On the Dowerin war memorial Robert Skerry is listed as C. Skerry, he may have been generally known by his middle name Clyde.
Lance Corporal Arthur Engle Greenham (2891)
From his service record in the National Archives of Australia, Arthur Greenham was a 19 year old teamster from Badgerin when he enlisted in the 11th Battalion in September 1914. On the top of the form is handwritten the word ‘Deserter’. Another set of enlistment papers has Arthur Greenham, with the same service number and next of kin, enlisting in the 16th Battalion in July 1915 and being transferred to the 48th. What happened in between these two enlistment dates is unknown at this stage.
The first major battle on the Western Front for the 48th Battalion was Pozières, where it was tasked with defending ground captured in earlier attacks. The 48th entered the firing line on two separate occasions, the first of which was 5 to 7 August where the battalion endured what was said to be heaviest artillery barrage ever experienced by Australian troops and suffered 598 casualties. A diorama at the Australian War Memorial depicts the battalion’s experience at Pozières. Arthur Greenham was killed in action on 6 August 1916 at Pozières and later re-buried in the Serre Road Cemetery at Beaumont Hamel in France. He is not listed on the Dowerin war memorial although his brother Sydney who was underage, refused permission to enlist by his parents and returned to the farm is listed.
Private Charles Thomas Day (3440)
On the war memorial there is a C. Day listed. Charles Thomas Day enlisted in Perth, gave his occupation as farm labourer and was killed in action. I can find no connection with Dowerin in his war record, but there is no other C. Day that looks plausible. Charles Day enlisted in Perth in August 1915 in the 16th Battalion at the age of 25. He joined the British Expeditionary Force in Alexandria and proceeded to France in June 1916.
As for the 28th Battalion and Robert Skerry, the first major action in France for the 16th Battalion was at Pozières in the Somme valley, where Private Martin O’Meara won the battalion’s first Victoria Cross. Private Charles Day was killed in action near Villers-Bretonneux on 10 August 1916, a few days after the end of the battle of Pozières. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.
Private John Livingstone Bennett (4732)
John Livingstone Bennett was a draper in Northam, the son of Hugh and Agnes Drysdale Bennett of Korrelocking. John enlisted in September 1915 in Northam; he was 22 years of age. John Bennett wrote a postcard from Cairo to his brother George saying he had had a good look round and wondering about what was happening at home while he was away.
John arrived in France with the 51st Battalion in July 1916. Mouquet Farm was situated on the Pozières Ridge, a central bastion in the German defence position during the battle of the Somme from July to October 1916. On 5th August the Australians were the first to attack this stronghold having just incurred a devastating loss in the capture of Pozières only one kilometre away. Both sides fought hard over small sections of trench until the Australians were relieved on 5 September just outside the farm ruins by the Canadians. The farm fell 25 days later to the British. Private Bennett was killed in action on 15th August 1916 in the vicinity of Mouquet Farm. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.
Base Records wrote to the family of Private Bennett asking if they had any information through letters of the circumstances or location of his death as they were unable to obtain any trace of his last resting place. A young soldier friend from John’s battalion told Hugh Bennett that John had been last seen going over the parapet and the friend thought he had been blown to pieces or buried in a shell hole.
Private James Dartnell Rust (1097)
James Rust
James Rust was a harness maker. Again there is no clear indication of a connection to Dowerin, it would appear that he married in 1889 in Victoria, but there is no other record that seems plausible. He enlisted in Northam, so it is possible he was working in Dowerin at the time. He was the second youngest of seven children and his nephew also William Henry Rust also served in the AIF.
James Rust enlisted at Northam in May 1915 at the age of 40 in the 28th Battalion, embarking for the Gallipoli Peninsula in September 1915. After evacuation in December, the 28th proceeded to France and the Western Front. Once again the first major battle was at Pozières between 28 July and 6 August 1916. After a spell in a quieter sector of the front in Belgium, the 2nd Division returned to the south in October, where the 28th Battalion took part in confused and costly fighting to the east of Flers, in the Somme Valley. For many of the major battles of 1917 the 28th found itself in supporting roles. At the second battle of Bullecourt, the 28th provided reinforcements who were involved in heavy fighting; the battalion went on to attack as part of the third phase at the battle of Menin Road, capturing its objectives in seven minutes; it was in reserve during the capture of Broodseinde Ridge and the battle of Poelcappelle in October however, with the attack floundering in the mud, it soon became embroiled in the fighting.
James Rust was a typical AIF larrikin, in trouble for being absent from camp, for disobeying an officer, being insolent to an officer, and absenting himself from a fatigue party without permission. At dawn on 15th November 1916 in the capture of Beaumont Hamel, the 28th Battalion relieved the 19th Battalion from New South Wales. The weather was cold over the next few days with temperatures just above freezing, and snow fell in the night of the 17th/18th of November when the final attack was launched. Sometime between 16th and 18th November 1916 Private Rust went missing, and was reported killed in action. He was buried 3 miles south west of Bapaume in France in the Warlencourt British Cemetery.
Private Frank Maull (5631)
Frank Maull was a repairer for West Australian Government Railways living in the Kununoppin camp; he was from England and enlisted in the 28th Battalion in March 1916 aged 28. He arrived in England in November 1916 and developed broncho pneumonia almost immediately. Frank Maull died in the Military Hospital at Fargo, England on 30 December 1916 after 12 days in hospital and without having seen action. Frank’s body was returned to his parents in Guildford, England and he is buried at Guildford Old Cemetery in Surrey. His father, listed as his next of kin, lived in the same street as the cemetery, though the house is now gone. Frank Maull is not listed on our war memorial or honour roll.
Our Dowerin Boys 