WISE, George William Joseph, Private, 11th Battalion

Rank: Private

Regimental Number: 1435

Place of Birth: Fremantle Western Australia

Address: 84 East Street(WW1: 122), East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs Caroline Wise

Enlistment Date: 30 October 1914

Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement

Age embarkation: 21

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Tinsmith

Date of Death:

Place of Burial:

Links: -

HISTORY

George William Joseph Wise 1893–1948
BIRTH 11 NOV 1893, Fremantle, Western Australia
DEATH 13 MAR 1948, Nedlands, Western Australia

Resident of 84 East Street between 1911 - 1920.

1912 Funeral. The funeral of the late Mr. George Wise sen., a resident of this State for the last 50 years, and father of Mr. George Wise, of Messrs. Currie and Murray, North Fremantle, and Mesdames W. Douglas and M. Brown, of Perth, took place on Monday afternoon and was attended by many friends. The deceased gentleman, who was in his 71st year, was well known in Perth and Fremantle. The cortege moved from the residence of his son, Mr. George Wise, No. 122 East-street, East Fremantle...The chief mourners were Mr. G. Wise (son), Mesdames W. Douglas and M. Brown (daughters), Mrs. G. Wise (daughter-in-law), Mr. W. Douglas (son-in-law), George Stanley, Percy and William Wise, William Douglas jun... (reference)

1919 Engagement. The engagement is announced of Bertha, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. Bateman, of Lion Mill, to George Joseph Wise, late 11th Battalion, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. G. Wise, of 122 East-street, East Fremantle. (reference)

Family/military connections

WISE, Percy Leslie, Private, 36th Battalion — Streets of East Freo

WISE, William Norman, Private, 28th Battalion — Streets of East Freo

WISE, William Norman, Private, 28th Battalion

Rank: Private

Regimental Number: 5114

Place of Birth: Beaconsfield, Western Australia

Address: 84 East Street(WW1: 122), East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs Caroline Elizabeth Wise

Enlistment Date: 13 March 1916

Unit Name: 28th Battalion, 13th Reinforcement

Age embarkation: 18

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Labourer

Date of Death: 29 December 1917

Place of Burial: Underhill Farm Cemetery (Row A, Grave No. 41), Ploegsteert, Belgium

Links: -

HISTORY

William Norman (Willie) Wise 1899–1917
BIRTH 13 JAN 1899Fremantle, Western Australia
DEATH 29 DEC 1917 Belgium

1916 Arrival. Mrs. G. Wise, of 122 East-street, Fremantle, has received a cable intimating that her son, Private William Wise, has arrived in England. (reference)

1917 “Mr. and Mrs G.Wise, of East Fremantle, have received word from their son Private William N. Wise, to say that he is out of the firing line for a spell after doing four months in the trenches in France.” The Daily News, 6 June 1917, p 3

1918 War Casualties. Mr. and Mrs. George Wise, of 122 East-street, East Fremantle, have received official information that their son, William Norman, of the 28th Battalion was killed in action on December 29 1917, after 1 year and 10 months on active service. (reference)

1918 Bereavement. Mr. and Mrs. George Wise and Family, of 122 East-street, Fremantle, wish to thank all kind friends for letters telegrams, cards, and personal expressions of sympathy during their recent sad bereavement in the loss of their dear son and brother Willie, who was killed in action on December 29, 1917. (reference)

Family/military connections

WISE, George William Joseph, Private, 11th Battalion — Streets of East Freo

WISE, Percy Leslie, Private, 36th Battalion — Streets of East Freo

McCARTHY, John, Gunner, Heavy Artillery Group 36

Rank: Gunner

Regimental Number: 868

Place of Birth: Fremantle, Western Australia

Address: 90 King Street(WW1: 170), East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Father, D McCarthy

Enlistment Date: 18 October 1916

Unit Name: Heavy Artillery Group 36, Reinforcement 10

Age embarkation: 22

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Boilermaker's assistant

Date of Death: 4 October 1917

Place of Burial: Ypres Reservior Cemetery (Plot I, Row F, Grave No. 71), Belgium
Links:

History

Born in Fremantle. John is the son of Daniel and Margaret McCarthy of 170 King St, East Fremantle.
4 October 1917 Was killed in action after being with his unit for 2 weeks.

1916 Answering The Call. Today’s Muster: Sixty men presented themselves at the enlisting office today, of these, 42 were declared fit, which together with three men whose names were added to the efficient list for yesterday subsequent to The Daily News going to press, brought the total number of efficients to 45. Of this number the cases 40 were sworn in: J. McCarthy, 170 King-street, East Fremantle. (reference)

JARMAN, Ernest Hewitt, Corporal, 32nd Battalion

Rank: Corporal

Regimental Number: 866

Place of Birth: Brisbane, Queensland

Address: Richmond Hill, East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs Elizabeth Ellis Jarman

Enlistment Date: 25 June 1915

Unit Name: 32nd Battalion, C Company

Age embarkation: 25

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Clerk

Date of Death: 20 July 1916

Place of Burial: No known graves

Links:

History

Son of Richard Edward (deceased) and Elizabeth Ellis Jarman of "Ellisville", Richmond Hill, East Fremantle, WA. Born in Brisbane.

Reported missing in action 20 July 1916 following Battle of Fromelles. Court of Enquiry held 12 August 1917, pronounced KIA 20 July 1916.

Listed on Fremantle War Memorial. Plaque at Kings Park Honour Avenue.

Reference: WFDWA project by Shannon Lovelady

10 February 1918 Wills. Ernest Hewitt Jarman, late of Richmond Hill, East Fremantle, to Sydney Arthur Jarman. £756 (Reference)

 

JACKSON, Ernest A, Lance Corporal, 51st Battalion

Rank: Lance Corporal

Regimental Number: 3376

Place of Birth: Port Adelaide South Australia

Address: 19 Glyde Street(WW1: 41), East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Father, A Jackson

Enlistment Date: 26 July 1915

Unit Name: 51st Battalion

Age embarkation: 29

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Horse driver

History

ERNEST ALEXANDER JACKSON
(1892-1975)

Ernest ‘Ernie’ Alexander Jackson, (service number 3376) was awarded a Military Medal for his courageous acts during World War l.

He was the firstborn of 7 siblings; his father Alexander Melmoth Jackson, and his mother, Mary Ann Elizabeth Gibson, lived in Port Adelaide, South Australia. The family moved to Western Australia around 1896 and lived at 41 Glyde St (now no. 19) East Fremantle, where 5 of his siblings were born. He worked as a horse driver in Fremantle prior to his enlistment with two of his brothers, Harold Melmoth Jackson (16th Battalion (killed) and Roy Melmoth Jackson (15th Battalion) (Reference). 

In July 1915, Ernest enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at the age of 23, where he was assigned into the 11th Infantry Battalion reinforcements, the first ever Battalion recruited in Western Australia. (Reference). The battalion was raised within weeks of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked for overseas after just two weeks of preliminary training.

He embarked on the HMAT Ulysses A38 from Fremantle on 2nd Nov 1915 and arrived in Egypt on the 26th Nov (Reference). Subsequently, the 11th Battalion was heavily involved in defending the front line of the ANZAC beachhead and served at ANZAC until evacuation in December.

After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the 11th Battalion returned to Egypt. It was split to help form the 51st Battalion...(Reference) In March 1916, this battalion sailed for France and the Western Front. From then until 1918, the battalion took part in bloody trench warfare. Its first major action in France was at Pozieres in the Somme valley in July. (Reference)

Within a fortnight of arriving in France, the 51st Battalion launched an attack at Mouquet Farm, and suffered casualties equivalent to a third of its strength. After Mouquet Farm, the battalion, alternated between front-line duty, training and labouring behind the line throughout the winter of 1916-17, and in early 1917, took part in the advance that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, attacking Noreuil in April, a fortified village used to delay the Australian advance. Later in the year, as the focus of the AIF's operations shifted to the Ypres sector in Belgium, the Battalion engaged in the battle of Messines between 7 and 12 June. (Reference). 

Just before the battle of Polygon Wood between 26 and 27 September, Private Ernest A. Jackson suffered from severe Pyrexia (High temperature) of unknown origin, and was sent to Alexandria Hospital in England to recuperate before rejoining his unit in December 1917. (Reference) (Reference)

Following the collapse of Russia in October 1917, the Germans began a series of Offensives on the Western Front in France. The 51st Battalion assisted in the repulse of a large German attack on 5th April, launching a critical counter-attack. (Reference). On the evening of the 24th of April, the 51st Battalion and 52nd Battalion of the 13th Brigade (about 1500 men), planned to encircle and trap the Germans, around the village of Villers-Bretonneux, in the dark of night. (Reference) 

The Germans, however, detected the movement and swiftly launched a counter-attack, turning the operation into a gravely dangerous situation. Captain Robert Forsyth, medical officer of the 52nd Battalion, recalled:

“… an officer shouted 'Still!' I could see a long single line of men standing motionless as far as I could see in either direction, and, as the light faded, the darkness in front started to tap, tap, tap, and bullets whistled round and the line shuffled forward with rifles at the ready like men strolling into fern after rabbits. The whistle of bullets became a swish and patter, and boys fell all ‘round me, generally without a sound.”

[Forsyth, quoted in Charles Bean, The Australian Imperial Force in France during the Main German Offensive, 1918, Volume V, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Sydney, 1941, p.582]

Along with some British battalions, the job of retaking Villers-Bretonneux was assigned to two Australian brigades of the 4th and 5th Divisions—the 13th, commanded by Brigadier-General William Glasgow, and the 15th, commanded by Brigadier-General Harold 'Pompey' Elliott.

Private Ernest A. Jackson played a significant part in the planning and coordination of the night attack by risking his life through German heavy machine guns and shell fire that felled many, to carry messages between the Brigades and the Forward Brigade Station along with a comrade, Private Samuel Royston Brown. His contribution resulted in the well coordinated night attack to successfully recapture the town from the Germans despite the gravity of the situation, and was later nominated along with his comrade to receive a Military Medal.

“On night 24/25th April 1918 during a counter-attack by the Battalion on a strong enemy position south of VILLERS-BRETONNEUX those two men, who are Battalion Runners, continually carried messages through heavy machine gun and shell fire to the Company’s and Forward Brigade Station. When other communications failed they were ever ready to carry messages regardless of their own personal safety. Their coolness and courage throughout the operation were conspicuous.” (Reference)

Private Ernest A. Jackson received the Military Medal - for Bravery in the Field- on the 1st of May 1918, and was given the rank of Lance Corporal shortly after, before being discharged on the 3rd of June 1919. 

He returned to Fremantle and was recorded as living at various addresses around East Fremantle: from 1922-25 at 76 Duke St Fremantle and from 1925-34 at Silas St East Fremantle.

In 1934 he married widower, Ivy May Jardine (nee Rundell 1894-1981), who had lost her first husband two years earlier. (Reference) 

1932 Death on September 8, at Cottesloe, Robert JARDINE, dearly loved husband of Ivy May Jardine, of 16 Palmerston-street, Buckland Hill, and loving father of Joyce, Roma and Robert ; aged 39 years. (reference)

He subsequently lived at her home- 16 Palmerston Street, Buckland Hill from 1936-1963.

In 1975 Ernest died, at the age of 82, and was buried in the Garden Of Remembrance at Karrakatta Cemetery (Section EC Site 4 Position 0133). He is also commemorated on the East Fremantle Municipality Roll of Honour.

Ivy died in September 1981 and was buried with Ernest at Karrakatta.

Researched and written by Xing Yun Lee for www.streetsofeastfreo

1918 Mr. and Mrs. A. Jackson, of 41 Glyde street, East Fremantle, have received word that their son, Private E. Jackson, has been awarded the Military Medal. (reference)

1919 Soldiers And Sailors: Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Jackson, of 41 Glyde-street, East Fremantle, have been informed by the Base Records Office, Melbourne, that their son, Lance-Corporal E. Jackson, M.M., 51st Battalion, is expected to arrive home early in April, having left England on February 28. He has had three years and four months' active service in Egypt and France. (reference)

GRACIE, Frank Valentine, Private, 25th Battalion B Company

Real Name: HERRING, Frank Valentine

Rank: Private

Regimental Number: 1041

Place of Birth: Melbourne, Victoria

Address: Canning Road, East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Stepfather, John Hugh Gracie

Enlistment Date: 26 April 1915

Unit Name: 25th Battalion B Company

Age embarkation: 29

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Brewer

Date of Death: 4 August 1916

Place of Burial:

Links:

History

Frank's father was Charles Higgins Herring, who married Elizabeth Gertrude Ryan in Melbourne in 1884. Frank was born in 1886, his sister Eva Agnes in 1888. Their father died a fortnight before Christmas that year. Their mother then married John Hugh Gracie, master brewer, in Tasmania in 1894 and came to Western Australia with him. In 1900 he bought the Castlemaine Brewery in East Fremantle, and turned it into a great success. In 1907 Elizabeth bolted, heading to the eastern states leaving the children with John Gracie. He divorced her in 1909 and she did not defend the action. The children called themselves Gracie, were sent to good colleges (Eva went to Loreto, spoke five languages and became a highly respected teacher) and no expense was spared on their upbringing (Frank became a renowned yachtsman in WA, all the way down to Albany where he won the Commodore's Trophy). They were very close to John Gracie and had nothing to do with their mother. When Frank left school he apprenticed with his stepfather as a brewer, then in 1913 left WA to take a job in Queensland, where he enlisted in April 1915. Taken into 25th Battalion, B Coy, they sailed from Brisbane on 29 Jun 1915. Frank served at Gallipoli in the machine gun section, before the battalion left Egypt and arrived at Marseilles on 19 Mar 1916. During his time in Egypt Frank was fond of a bit of AWL: four days at Tel-el-Kebir in Jan 1916, court-martialled in March for escaping confinement (though he spent 28 days in the cells awaiting trial, so the sentence was quashed). In France in May he was AWL five days and earned a harsh two years imprisonment with hard labour. He would never go to prison: he was KIA on 4 Aug 1916. Apparently his stepfather did not know of his death, because he responded to an advertisement for NOK. His estranged mother Elizabeth, in Melbourne, also responded, and continued to write incoherent and passionate letters demanding Frank's effects, his Will and his deferred pay. After a significant investigation by the Military Police, the authorities decided that his sister Eva Gracie would receive his effects, scroll, plaque, and medals.

Reference: WFDWA project by Shannon Lovelady

John Hugh Gracie (stepfather) is featured on The Notable and The Notorious.

GALLAGHER, Patrick John, Private, Field Artillery Brigade 3

Rank: Private

Regimental Number: 5699

Place of Birth: Happy Valley, South Australia

Address: 77 Silas Street(WW1: 105), East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Father, Edmund Gallagher

Enlistment Date: 4 September 1915

Unit Name: Field Artillery Brigade 3, Reinforcement 11

Age embarkation: 22

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Telephone mechanic

Date of Death: 22 October 1917

Place of Burial: -

Links:

History

1 Dec 1917 Hibernian Society. The retiring officers suitably responded. Bro. J.W. O'Brien moved that a letter of condolence be sent Bro. E. Gallagher, who has recently lost a son in action, Gunner Patrick Joseph Gallagher, MM. Gunner Gallagher was a trite son of staunch Irish parents, and it was the hope of the mover of the motion. that sacrifices of the nature our Irish and Australian-Irish boys were daily making in Flanders would awaken the British Government to a proper sense of its responsibilities before those people who were to-day the object of its abuse, goaded by desperation, called home those gallant sons of theirs and hauled up the drawbridge in a determined attempt to secure, by more dramatic measures, that freedom which God intended for them. Bros. J. McNamara and Jas. S. Dowling supported the motion, which was carried in silence, all members standing. (Reference)

GALLAGHER, Patrick, J. MM. 5699.
Born in Happy Valley, South Australia, Pat Gallagher a twenty two year old telephone mechanic, was living with his parents, Edmund and Mary, in North Fremantle when he enlisted in the AIF on 13 September 1915. He was twenty two years old.

Allotted to the 11th reinforcements of the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, Gallagher sailed from Melbourne on 11 October 1915 for Egypt where training continued. He mustered first as a driver, then as a gunner and was taken on strength of the brigade’s 8th Battery in late February. A month later he deployed to France.

Gallagher saw action for the first time on the Somme where his battery fired in support of the 1st Division’s assault on the village of Pozieres. On 24 July he was severely wounded in the ankle by shrapnel and, in a state of shell shock, was invalided to England for treatment and convalescence. While recuperating, he was disciplined for taking five days of unauthorised leave and returned to duty with the 1st Division’s Artillery in mid-February 1917.

Gallagher’s unit followed the advance to the Hindenburg Line where he won a Military Medal for his bravery at Bullecourt in May, after which a lengthy period of training followed in preparation for the more coordinated use of artillery in support of infantry that would be used in the new campaign to be fought at Ypres in Belgium. He was slightly wounded in July 1917 and was away from duty for only a couple of days.

In late September 1917, Gallagher enjoyed a short period of leave in England from which he returned eight days late. A Court Martial, convened on 20 October, sentenced him to 40 days of field punishment but he was killed in action two days later and the sentence was remitted. There are no details as to how Gallagher died nor is there a record of any later burial

Men of Menin by Robert Scott

ALFORD, Ernest Vincent, Gunner, 36th Heavy Artillery Group

Rank: Gunner

Service Number: 1293

Place of Birth: Sydney, New South Wales

Address: 93 King Street(WW1: 187), East Fremantle, Western Australia

Next of Kin: Wife, Mrs Ruby Hilda Rachael Alford

Enlistment Date:  20 December 1917

Unit Name: 36th Heavy Artillery Group

Age at Embarkation: 23

Marital Status: Married

Occupation: Printer

Returned: 12 July 1919

History

It is belived Ernest Vincent Alford is on the Honour Board but as E B Alford which likely was delivered verbally as E V and misheard, for he is Ernest Vincent. He was at 187 Duke on first enlistment in 1916 but was then discharged at his own request back to the Fremantle Garrison Artillery for home service. He then married in 1917 and moved a few houses down the road, to 192 Duke Street, before enlisting again in late-1917 and serving overseas with the Artillery.