CAMERON, Clifford, Private, 11th Battalion

November 4, 2021

Rank: Private

Regimental Number: 5672

Place of Birth: Ascotvalle, Victoria

Address c/o P Dennis, Bellevue Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs E Cameron

Enlistment Date: 13 March 1916

Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 18th Reinforcement

Age embarkation: 34

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Bookmakers clerk

Date of Death: -

Place of Burial: -

Links:

History

15/4/17 Cameron was captured by the Germans at Boursies and eventually sent to Germany as a prisoner. This was his statement.

STATEMENT MADE BY REPARATED PRISONER OF WAR.
On the night of the 14.4.17 Lieutenant Stuart, my platoon commander, took the platoon to a position supposed to be 500 yards in advance of our front line. We went through wire over a sunken road & dug in. The night was very dark & wet. A patrol was sent to find “C” Coy which was supposed to be on our right. We did not find them, but found “B” Coy who were on our right flank & in rear, i.e. on the English side of the wire. Captain O’Neil OC “D” Coy, whom we met when returning from patrol, told us that we were too far out, but it was too late to come in & that he did not expect anything to happen. Before daylight the Germans attacked strongly. We were in 3 posts of 10, 7 & 10 men. After about 2 hours we ran out of ammunition & the Germans dug in round us in daylight. Eight men including Keough, Farmery, Smith were killed, also Glasson, I think. Farmer & McKay were wounded.
At about 5 or 6 pm we were forced to surrender, 1 officer and 18 others. We were taken for several Kilos behind the lines, then to a church at St Quentin for 1 night then to Douai & Lille (Fort Macdonald) for 4 or 5 days with poor food. I worked behind the lines under shell fire for 2 months then went to Templeuve for 2½ months to a lazaret with pneumonia & while there developed smallpox. I was at St Amand for 2 months. In December 1917, I was moved to Fredericks field for a few days then to Jastrowie for 4 or 5 days then to Birkenmoor on railroad building.
On the Armistice being signed I went to Jastrowie and from there to Warnemunde. I embarked on SS “Ambria” for Denmark leaving Copenhagen on 26.12.18 on SS “Frederick 8th” for Hull, arriving there on 30.12.18
My treatment generally was bad in France and fair in Germany.
Red Cross parcels reached me 8 months after capture and then came regularly.

Signature 5672. Pte. C. Cameron

Places in France, Cameron was moved.

He was taken all the way back to Germany

BALL, Albert John, Private, 2nd machine gun battalion

September 15, 2021

Rank: Private

Service Number: 6537

Place of Birth: England

Address: 100 King Street(WW1: 186), East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Wife, Mrs Edith Gertrude Ball

Enlistment Date: 31 October 1916

Unit Name: 2nd machine gun battalion

Age at Embarkation: 29

Marital Status: Married

Occupation: Labourer

Date of Death: 4 September 1918

Place of Death: Mont St Quentin, France

Place of Burial: Daours Communal Cemetery Extension (Plot VIII, Row B, Grave No. 72), France

ATTWOOD, William Hamilton, Private, 11th Battalion

September 15, 2021

Rank: Private

Service Number: 2116

Place of Birth: Burwood, Melbourne, Victoria

Address: 9 Canning Road, East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Mrs Esther Alice Attwood

Enlistment Date: 10 March 1916

Unit Name: 11th Battalion

Age at Embarkation: 29

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Loco Foreman

Returned: 1 June 1919

HISTORY

1938 Old Colonist Passes. The death occurred yesterday morning of Mrs. Easter Alice Attwood, aged 89 years, of 9 Canning-road, East Fremantle Mrs. Attwood, who would have celebrated her 90th birthday in April, had been in Western Australia for 71 years, having arrived at the age of 18 in the Racehorse. On the vessel also was her future husband, and they were married at St. John's Church, Fremantle, shortly after their arrival. Her husband, who predeceased her some years ago, was attached to the military forces in Western Australia. Eight children and 32 grandchildren are living. (reference)

Family/military connections
ATTWOOD, Charles Alfred, Private, 28th Battalion — Streets of East Freo

Resident of 9 Canning Road
1909 - 1927: Attwood, Mrs. E. A.
1933 - 1940: Hamilton, William & Charles, Alfred

9 Canning Road

ATTWOOD, Charles Alfred, Private, 28th Battalion

August 19, 2021

Rank: Private

Service Number: 2116

Place of Birth: Burwood, Melbourne, Victoria

Address: 9 Canning Road, East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Mrs Esther Alice Attwood

Enlistment Date: 23 July 1915

Unit Name: 28th Battalion

Age at Embarkation: 43

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Storeman

Returned: 7 August 1915

History

1938 Old Colonist Passes. The death occurred yesterday morning of Mrs. Easter Alice Attwood, aged 89 years, of 9 Canning-road, East Fremantle Mrs. Attwood, who would have celebrated her 90th birthday in April, had been in Western Australia for 71 years, having arrived at the age of 18 in the Racehorse. On the vessel also was her future husband, and they were married at St. John's Church, Fremantle, shortly after their arrival. Her husband, who predeceased her some years ago, was attached to the military forces in Western Australia. Eight children and 32 grandchildren are living. (reference)

Family/military connections
ATTWOOD, William Hamilton, Private, 11th Battalion — Streets of East Freo

Resident of 9 Canning Road
1909 - 1927: Attwood, Mrs. E. A.
1933 - 1940: Hamilton, William & Charles, Alfred

9 Canning Road

ARBUCKLE, Beresford, Private, 12th Battalion

August 19, 2021

Rank: Private

Service Number: 773

Place of Birth: Burwood, Melbourne, Victoria

Address: Osbourne Park via Leederville, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs Elizabeth Arbuckle

Enlistment Date: 14 September 1914

Unit Name: 12th Battalion

Age at Embarkation: 22

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Boiler attendant

Date of Death: 12 June 1915

Place of Death: Gallipoli, Turkey

HISTORY

12th Battalion Private Beresford Arbuckle was born Burwood, Victoria, and was the youngest son of Elizabeth nee Klepper (with Prussian ancestry) and Robert Arbuckle. Robert established a market garden in Main Street, Osborne Park via Leederville. When he died there in 1903, his older sons continued his business, renaming it Arbuckle Brothers.

Beresford was State schooled, finished his Engine Drivers' training in 1911 and was working as a boiler attendant when he enlisted on 31 August 1914 at Blackboy Hill aged 22.

On 31 May, at Gallipoli, Beresford was severely reprimanded for disobeying orders and for improper conduct to his superior officer. Had he been a British soldier, he’d have likely been shot.

Just a fortnight later, on 13 June 1915, Beresford was in action when he suffered shrapnel wounds to the abdomen. He died later the same day at the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station and was later buried at Shrapnel Valley Cemetery at the southern point of Anzac Cove. His grave was just a few steps from that of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, ‘the man with the donkey’ who was killed in the same area a few weeks earlier.

Beresford’s older brother James had nine children, including one the year after Beresford's death. He was named Beresford Trevor in memory of Beresford. There have subsequently been many sons born in the family who carry the name Beresford, so he has never been forgotten.

The reason his name appears on the East Fremantle Roll of Honour was a mystery. Beresford’s mother Elizabeth asked Michael Joseph Regan, from IXL Bakery on Sewell Street, East Fremantle, to witness her completion of Beresford’s Roll of Honour Circular but, otherwise, neither he nor his parents had any association with the area.

There was a more distant relative in John Arbuckle and his wife Margaret though, who were long term residents of East Fremantle, living firstly at 144 King Street and then 42 Glyde Street, East Fremantle. It is likely they who organised for Beresford’s name to be inscribed on the Roll of Honour.

Researched and written by Shannon Lovelady for www.streetsofeastfreo