Frederick Beswick Cross (1893 – 1959) World War I service: A soldier from Homebush, Victoria

 Frederick Beswick Cross was my husband’s grand uncle. He was born at Homebush, Victoria on 30 July 1893, the fifth of ten children of Frederick James Cross and Ann Jane née Plowright.

Fred joined the Australian Imperial Force on 11 May 1915 at Maryborough shortly after the news of Gallipoli. He was aged 21 years 10 months and his occupation prior to enlistment was labourer. He was assigned to the 8th reinforcements of the 22nd battalion.

While on service he had various spells in hospital with enteric fever (also called typhoid fever, is an acute infectious disease characterized by high fever and intestinal inflammation, spread by contaminated food or water) and mumps.

On 25 February 1917 he was wounded in action.

In the last week of Feb. 1917 the 22nd Battalion was manning a line of outposts facing Warlencourt. The 25th of February was a difficult day for the 22nd battalion. It is not clear if Fred was wounded in the morning or evening; there were two separate engagements.

After convalescence the AIF assigned him to administrative jobs in England including with the 2nd A A Hospital, Admin headquarters and AIF Kit stores.

In February 1918 Fred Cross married an English woman, Ethel Dunkley at Our Lady of Dolours Servite Church (Roman Catholic), Fulham Road SW10 (London, England). 

In July 1919 he sailed for Australia on the “Main” arriving in October.  He was discharged from the AIF in November 1919 as medically unfit – disability – enucleation of left eye.

Correspondence with Ethel’s family revealed how Fred and Ethel met:

Ethel’s closest sister, Ellen,  worked in a munitions factory during the war. She used to write notes to the  soldiers and put them in with the ammunition. A lot of them wrote back and she  had too many to deal with so she gave some to Ethel. One was from Fred. When  he lost his eye (as did his brother George) he ended up in a London hospital  and Ethel went to visit him. Both families objected to the marriage. After  their eldest daughter Peggy was born they came back to rural Victoria. Ethel  had a terrible trip out and did not always enjoy living in Australia.  

Ethel came to Australia with Fred and baby Peggy in October 1919 on the “Main”.
Departed Plymouth 29 July under Captain  H. W. N. Evans.
First went to live in Homebush near Ballarat on family farm but later moved to the city [Melbourne] because Ethel (a city girl) had trouble coping with life in the bush.

Fred and Ethel had three daughters. The oldest was born in England.

Fred died in 1959. Ethel died in 1971.

Links:

Wikitree: Frederick Beswick Cross (1893 - 1959)
Online research journal 5 May 2013: Frederick Beswick Cross (1893 – 1959) World War I service

A visit to the cemetery

Yesterday was a glorious spring day. My husband, devoted dog, and I visited the cemetery at Avoca.

In July this year at the Ballarat and District Genealogical Society I heard an excellent talk about World War 1 commemoration in Ballarat cemeteries  by Barry Snowden, a trustee of the Ballarat Cemeteries Trust. To date over 940 men who served in World War 1 have been identified as buried or memorialised in Ballarat cemeteries. About 400 of their graves are maintained by the Office of the Australian War Graves Commission. Snowden's project which is expected to result in a book about the men remembered in the Ballarat cemeteries.

My visit yesterday was not systematic and did not cover all of the cemetery.

My exceedingly observant husband and I found the following men buried or memorialised at the cemetery:

• Hartigan, Clarence Victor. Killed in France aged 20 years.






The rifle is a Lee-Enfield .303, used by British troops from 1895 to 1957, in both the Boer War and the First World War.



The funeral of Clarence Hartigan's brother Michael was reported in the Argus:





FUNERAL OF A RETURNED. SOLDIER. (1901, August 13). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved September 15, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10566278



The memorial headstone was erected in 1903.





SOUTH AFRICA. (1903, January 20). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved September 15, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9815568




• Leersen, Albert Henry , 39th Battalion, died 6 September 1952. Area: Protestant Section: A 3 6 Grave: 643







• Lindsay, Frank, 9867, 22nd Battalion, died 11 August 1958. Area: Roman Catholic Section: D 3 5 Grave: 704

• Robinson, Robert Webster, 21st Battalion, died 14 April 1972.







• Wrigley, John Aloysius, 3300 58th Battalion, died 2 September 1948. Area: Roman Catholic Section: DD 2 3 Grave: 608

Some graves were erected and maintained by the Office of Australian War Graves (OAWG), others were private. One was a memorial only. Nearly all the bodies of Australians who died overseas during World War I were not repatriated.

The OAWG erects and maintains graves where the death is attributable to war service. The Avoca cemetery has 21 graves for which the OAWG has arranged official commemoration. Of these 16 are for men who served in World War I. Two or three of these 16 probably are buried in Avoca, Tasmania rather than Avoca, Victoria. There are others of the 16 who were not associated with the Avoca district during the war.

Name		Service number	Year of death	Grave location
DRIVER	William Henry		1915	Area: Protestant
HENDERSON	Charles	6819	1955	Area: Protestant
MITCHELL	Thomas Trebilcock	955	1969	Area: Protestant
NICHOLSON	William G	3845	1920	Area: Protestant
LEERSEN	Albert Henry	1861	1952	Area: Protestant Section: A 3 6 Grave: 643
GREENWOOD	Harold James	1852	1930	Area: Protestant Section: A 7 14 Grave: 428
WILSON	George Lancelot	4641	1937	Area: Protestant Section: A 8 16 Grave: 487
JARDINE	William Edward	2772	1954	Area: Protestant Section: B 11 3 Grave: 540
BARNETT	Maurice	6712	1948	Area: Protestant Section: B 13 7 Grave: 605
HENDERSON	John Hamilton		1915	Area: Protestant Section: CC 1 2 Grave: 291
LINDSAY	Frank	9867	1958	Area: Roman Catholic Section: D 3 5 Grave: 704
WRIGLEY	John Aloysius	3300	1948	Area: Roman Catholic Section: DD 2 3 Grave: 608
HUMPHREY	William J	1721	1934	Area: Unden Section: C Grave: 486
BADKIN	Sydney	1792	1963	Unknown – maybe Avoca,Tasmania
PYKE	Henry James	5163	1966	Unknown – maybe Avoca,Tasmania
VINEY	Louis Gordon	25	1953	Unknown – maybe Avoca,Tasmania