see "Shropshire burial at sea of Arthur Frederick Duke account by Jack Dobson Sellars"
Dear Mac
Due to your informative reply to another query about the Shropshire I thought perhaps you may be able to assist me.
I am presently collating my Grandfathers diary(s) written during WW1.
He was aboard the troop ship "Marathon" sailing to England from Australia when he records that on Sunday 10/06/1917 a soldier was buried off the ship "Shropshire". Do you know of any listing of soldiers that were buried at sea? I found the search at the AWM site could not give me an answer due to the absence of a name.
I would like to give a name to this man that never reached his destination.
I appreciate I am asking for possibly the impossible.
Kind regards
Carole Condron
Carole,
That's a tough question, but I believe we want this reference AWM Troopship War Diaries Shropshire 171.
Hopefully a burial at sea would one think would be recorded, and again the name of the soldier.
I have not been able to turn it up on the AWM site which surprised me, but I have posed the question to their Reference Section, and they want about a week to respond.
HMAT Shropshire sailed from Melbourne on the 11th. of May 1917, having embarked 48 Officers, 2 Warrant Officers, 7 Nurses, and 1636 Other Ranks, to arrive at Plymouth on the 17th. of July 1917, so it was on that voyage that our soldier obviously died to be buried at sea.
I have found a picture of some soldiers on board during that trip and will send it separately.
More anon when I may some more to report,
Best regards,
Mac.
Hello Carole,
Well I think I have at last tracked down our mystery man from HMAT Shropshire. Below is the response from the AWM in Canberra to my query.
I got up the 159 names of those who died on the 9th. of June 1917, and went through them one by one.
The only one who is listed as dying at sea that day from concussion of the brain, was Arthur Frederick Duke from Wagga Wagga, a Driver.
I will scan his details from the AWM Roll of Honour, plus his entry in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records, that I chased up.
Finally, he will be recorded on the Hollybrook Memorial at Southhampton England, and I will send you details of that Memorial with a photograph.
I guess one just needs to be persistent, one trait I have learned in a long and hopefully fruitful life.
With my best wishes and regards,
Mackenzie Gregory.
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 9:10 AM
Subject: Response to your Ref - Other question (Question # RCIS10032 )
Australian War Memorial Research Centre
ReQuest
Response to your question with Question #: RCIS10032
Your question is:
Hello,
I am seeking: AWM Troopship War Diaries Shropshire 171
I believe a soldier was buried at sea from HMAT Shropshire on the 10th of June 1917,
and I am looking for his name please, and thought it may be mentioned in the above reference.
Our response is:
Dear Mr Gregory,
Thank you for your inquiry about a sea burial from the troop ship Shropshire, 10 June 1917.
I looked at the records below for the journey of this ship from Melbourne to Plymouth - May to July 1917 - and discovered that one unnamed person is listed as dying 9/6/1917, possibly of measles or mumps- diseases which were mentioned as being prevalent on this trip. The captain remarks that overcrowding was a problem.
Title
SHROPSHIRE: Melbourne May 1917 - Plymouth July 1917
Barcode 528255
Series number AWM7
Series accession number AWM7
Control symbol SHROPSHIRE 7
Contents date range 1917 - 1917
Location Australian War Memorial
Access status
Date of decision 3 Jul 1981
You can now search by date of death on our Roll of Honour - in Biographical Databases -in Advanced search. The link to the Advanced search is under the search box on the simple search screen. You can search using day, month and year or just month and year. There are 159 deaths listed for 9 June 1917.
According to the Shropshire records the passengers were from the following units:
4th Railway Unit
FA 2nd 3rd MD
AFC Tunnelling Company
Pioneers MG Coys
Signalling rfs
Cyclists
ASC Field butcheries and bakeries
AAMC No 2. Sea Transport Staff or
Dental Corps AAVC
Once you have narrowed your search you may have to look at service records if the name of the ship is not mentioned in the Roll of Honour. Service records are held by the National Archives.
Search RecordSearch on their website for the appropriate records which may be scanned already and available to read on- line - http://www.naa.gov.au.
I hope this will assist you to locate the records for the person you seek. Please email again if you require further guidance.
Yours sincerely,
Mary Pollard.
Carole,
Details of Hollybrook Memorial.
Best.
Mac.
Hollybrook Cemetery and the Hollybrook Memorial
Southampton, Hampshire
Hollybrook Memorial
This cemetery is located off Tremona Road, opposite the general Accident and Emergency Hospital. From Junction 5 of the M27, take the A35 (Burgess Road/Winchester Road) and follow signs for general hospital.
Southampton was No 1 Port during the First World War and military hospitals were established in the University buildings, in the Highfield Institution and at Shirley Warren. During the Second World War, 4.5 million tons of military equipment passed through Southampton docks and parts of the prefabricated harbours used at Arromanches during the Normandy invasion were made there. For a while, Southampton was also base to the 14th Major Port Transportation Corps of the United States Army. Southampton (Hollybrook) Cemetery contains burials of both wars and a memorial to the missing. The cemetery has a First World War plot near the main entrance containing most of the 113 graves from this period. Behind this plot is the Hollybrook Memorial which commemorates by name almost 1,900 servicemen and women of the Commonwealth land and air forces whose graves are not known, many of whom were lost in transports or other vessels torpedoed or mined in home waters. It also bears the names of those who were lost or buried at sea, or who died at home but whose bodies could not be recovered for burial. Most of the 186 Second World War burials are in a separate war graves plot. 3 of these burials are unidentified seaman of the Merchant Navy. In addition to the Commonwealth war graves, the cemetery contains 67 war graves of other nationalities, many of them German, of which 3 are unidentified.
No. of Identified Casualties: 364
Dear Mackenzie,
I am at a complete loss for words - apart from thank you, thank you, thank you. You have gone to so much trouble to help and I am overwhelmed, delighted and frankly gob smacked.
To give so generously of your time is truly appreciated.
A fascinating aside you unearthed is the fact that Arthur Frederick Duke was from Wagga. My grandfather, the author of the diary was also from Wagga, although he was on the SS Marathon.
I have access here to the local paper and will look further into the life of Mr Duke. (I suspect I suffer from the inquisitiveness you must have)
I have had a thought in the back of my mind for a few years now that I would like to find the stories of all the WW1 men from Wagga, mini biographies if you like, in order to help keep them alive in peoples thoughts and acknowledge their lives. Perhaps this will be the start of actually doing it.
With much appreciation
Kind Regards
Carole
Carole,
I wrote a note of thanks to Mary Pollard at the AWM, she had responded to my original question, and here is some information on Hollybrook Memorial at Southampton that Mary sent, I thought you may like to add it to your file about Arthur.
Regards,
Mac.
Dear Mr Gregory
I am pleased you managed to find the name you were seeking - Arthur Duke.
For information about the Memorial at which he is commemorated please see the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website : http://www.cwgc.org;
Cemetery: HOLLYBROOK MEMORIAL, SOUTHAMPTON
Country: United Kingdom
Locality: Hampshire
Location Information: The Hollybrook Memorial is situated in Southampton (Hollybrook) Cemetery, which is on high ground in Chilworth Road, Shirley, next to Southampton General Hospital.
Historical Information: The Hollybrook Memorial commemorates by name almost 1,900 servicemen and women of the Commonwealth land and air forces* whose graves are not known, many of whom were lost in transports or other vessels torpedoed or mined in home waters. The memorial also bears the names of those who were lost or buried at sea, or who died at home but whose bodies could not be recovered for burial. There are 14 members of Indian Forces commemorated here who are now known to have been cremated at Patcham Down, Sussex. Almost one third of the names on the memorial are those of officers and men of the South African Native Labour Corps, who died when the troop transport Mendi sank in the Channel following a collision on 21 February 1917. Other vessels sunk with significant loss of life were: HS Anglia, a hospital ship sunk by mine off Dover on 17 November 1915. SS Citta Di Palermo, an Italian transport carrying Commonwealth troops, sunk by mine off Brindisi on 8 January 1916. In rescuing survivors, two Royal Naval Otranto drifters were themselves mined and blown up. HMTs Donegal and Warilda, ambulance transports torpedoed and sunk between Le Havre and Southampton on 17 April 1917 and 3 August 1918. HS Glenart Castle, a hospital ship torpedoed and sunk off Lundy on 26 February 1918. SS Galway Castle, torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic on 12 September 1918. RMS Leinster, the Irish mail boat, torpedoed and sunk in the Irish Sea on 10 October 1918. Among those commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial is Field Marshall Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, who died when the battle cruiser HMS Hampshire was mined and sunk off Scapa Flow on 5 June 1916. The memorial stands in Southampton (Hollybrook) Cemetery, behind the plot of First World War graves near the main entrance. The cemetery also contains burials of the Second World War and war graves of other nationalities. * Officers and men of the Commonwealth's navies who have no grave but the sea are commemorated on memorials elsewhere.
No. of Identified Casualties: 1872
Yours sincerely,
Mary Pollard.
The AWM site gave me a lot more information on Arthur Frederick Duke.
He was only 22 when he died. He slipped going down a ladder where previously food had been spilled and suffered concussion and bleeding into his brain. He died the following day.
He lived on a farm that was situated a few kms from where I live.
Kind regards
Carole
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