Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 5749
Place of Birth: Rockingham, Western Australia.
Address: Corner of George And Duke Streets (133 George Street),
East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Father, Angel De San Miguel
Enlistment Date: 9 March 1916
Unit Name: 28th Battalion
Age embarkation: 19
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Greengrocer
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 8015
Place of Birth: Mount Malcolm Western Australia
Address: East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs L McKinnon
Enlistment Date: 14 July 1917
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 27th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 18
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Farm Hand
Date of Death:
Place of Burial:
Links:
Rank: Company Quartermaster Sergeant
Regimental Number: 454
Place of Birth: Glasgow Scotland
Address: East Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs McCubbing
Enlistment Date: 9 September 1914
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, D Company
Age embarkation: 20
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Clerk
Date of Death:
Place of Burial:
Links:
Rank: Sergeant
Regimental Number: 3696
Place of Birth: Fremantle Western Australia
Address: King Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs M E McCarthy
Enlistment Date: 7 October 1915
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 12th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 20
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Soldier
Date of Death:
Place of Burial:
Links:
Rank: Lieutenant
Regimental Number:
Place of Birth: Maitland, South Australia
Address: 26 Allen Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Wife, Mrs E J Lehmann.
Enlistment Date: 16 September 1915
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 14th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 36
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Marine engineer
Date of Death: 21 September 1917
Place of Burial: No known grave
Links:
Lieutenant BENNO CARL LEHMAN.
Lieutenant Benno Carl Lehman, son of Augusta and the late Emil Lehman, was born at Maitland, S.A., and educated at Adelaide. He was married on the 3rd April, 1909, to Lila Mcllwaine, daughter of Henry and Kate Mcllwaine, Solomon-street, Palmyra, East Fremantle. Prior to the outbreak of war he went into camp at Fort Forrest [Blackboy Hill] and later joined the A.I.F and sailed as O.C. 14th Reinforcements, 11th Battalion. On his arrival in France he was transferred to the 3rd Machine Gun Coy. and was wounded at Bullecourt on the [5th and] 6th May, 1917. He was awarded the M.C. and was in action until the 21st September, 1917, when he was killed at Glencose Wood and was buried at Clapham Junction.
Australia’s Fighting Son’s of the Empire
Transcript from “The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Benno Carl Lehmann MC, 3rd Australian Machine Gun Company, First World War” By Kate Ariotti, Australian War Memorial.
Lieutenant Benno Carl Lehmann MC, 3rd Australian Machine Gun Company
KIA 21 September 1917
Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Benno Carl Lehmann, who died during the First World War.
Benno Lehmann was born in December 1879 to Emilius and Auguste Lehmann in Maitland, South Australia. When war broke out Lehmann was living with his wife, Eliza, in Fremantle, Western Australia. The 35-year-old was working as a marine engineer when he enlisted in the AIF in September 1915.
Lehmann joined the 14th reinforcements of the 11th Battalion. He left Fremantle on HMAT Miltiades in February 1916 and arrived in Egypt one month later. After a few weeks training, Lehmann was sent to France, where he spent several months instructing reinforcements at Ètaples. In October 1916 he attended Vickers Machine Gun School, and was promoted to lieutenant just after Christmas. Early in the new year Lehmann was transferred from the 11th Battalion and was taken on strength of the 3rd Australian Machine Gun Company. He underwent a further period of instruction and training at Camiers and re-joined his unit in late April 1917.
In May 1917 Lehmann was involved in the fighting around Bullecourt at Riencourt. He was wounded in the right buttock and was sent to hospital for treatment and convalescence. Lehmann rejoined his unit in early July and in August was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty for his actions at Riencourt. The citation for his MC read:
During an enemy counter-attack he brought his gun into action at great personal risk … On seeing his gun in danger of being captured he led a bombing attack and though twice wounded, remained until the enemy was repulsed.
Lehmann was killed just over a month later. On 21 September the 3rd Machine Gun Company was involved in the fighting around Glencorse Wood as part of the larger allied advance on the Menin Road. Lehmann had been wounded early in the battle, and was making his way back to the front after receiving treatment at a casualty clearing station when he was hit by a shell. He was badly wounded, and witnesses stated that he died instantly.
Lehmann’s death was reported in several Western Australian newspapers. He was described as “a most popular officer” and it was said that his death came “as a great shock to a large circle of friends”. As a sign of respect and mourning, the flags of the Fremantle Harbour Trust, where Lehmann had previously worked, were flown at half-mast.
After the war, Lehmann was commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial in the Belgian town of Ypres. This memorial contains the names of over 54,000 Commonwealth servicemen who died during the First World War and who have no known grave, including 6,000 Australian soldiers.
Benno Lehmann’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour to my right, along with the names of more than 60,000 other Australians who died fighting in the First World War. His photograph is displayed today by the Pool of Reflection.
This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lieutenant Benno Carl Lehmann, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 7024
Place of Birth: Mount Torrens South Australia
Address: 155 Glyde Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Wife, Mrs. Ita Mary Knuckey
Enlistment Date: 28 September 1916
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 23rd Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 31
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Pipe jointer
Joseph Walter Knuckey
Soldier of East Freo
Joseph Walter Knuckey was born on 6 February 1885 in Mount Torrens, South Australia. He was the youngest of six sons and six daughters of his Cornish-born parents - Joe, an engine driver, and Eliza nee Lyttleton, who married in 1860.
Joe had come to Victoria as a young man in the early 1850s, fought at the Eureka Stockade, and was a prominent, long-time trade unionist. Theirs was a strong and loving marriage, the success of which Joe later attributed to always letting Eliza have the last word, and agreeing with her in all things.
He brought his family to Western Australia in the mid-1890s with the Gold Rush, and secured land on which to build a home in Dwyer Street, Boulder. He also attained his engine drivers’ certificate and became an active member of the Amalgamated Certificated Engine Drivers’ Association.
The 1910-1911 electoral roll shows the couple living in Solomon Street, Fremantle, perhaps indicating Eliza (69) and Joe (78), then the oldest trade unionist in Australia, enjoyed an extended trip away in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. Back in Boulder in February 1911, as he sat peacefully in his chair, he suddenly felt death sweep over him. He told Eliza he was done for, and that he then could not see. He made his goodbyes and quietly died a few minutes later.
Eliza soon moved down to Perth to be near her married daughters, who were raising families of their own. She lived at 27 Holland Street, Fremantle, not far from where she had stayed in 1910.
Young Joseph came with her. In the Goldfields he had worked as a battery hand, millhand and labourer, but he now joined the WA Government Railways (WAGR) as a pipe jointer, working in East Perth.
In 1914 he married Ita Colreavy, and they moved into a home not far from Eliza, at 155 Glyde Street, East Fremantle, on the south-west corner of Marmion Street. Their first child, Frederick, was born on 1 July 1915, and was the prescient namesake of Joseph’s brother Fred, who had embarked for Gallipoli, after very little training, the week before. Fred survived his service there, but not without injury and, sadly, died in France in August 1917, having suffered fatal head injuries from a bomb blast.
On 30 August 1916 Joseph enlisted and his medical exam shows he was auburn-haired and very slight: five feet five and a half inches in the old scale (166cm), and just 138 pounds (62kgs). On 23 December 1916 Joseph embarked on the Berrima at Fremantle with the 7th Reinforcements to the 11th Battalion, arriving in Devonport, England, on 16 February 1917. After further training, and having his photo taken at the Dease Studio in Barrack Street, he embarked for France on 20 June 1917, joining his unit on 4 July.
With Joseph away, Eliza moved in to Glyde Street with her daughter-in-law and grandson, before they all moved to 110 Rupert Street, Subiaco, in 1917. At the time Joseph left, neither he nor Ita could have known she was expecting their second child who was born at Nurse Lloyd’s private hospital in Subiaco on 9 September 1917. With the news having only recently reached them that Joseph’s brother Fred had died in France, Ita named him Joseph, after his father, hoping he did not meet the same fate.
Thankfully, Joseph’s service was largely uneventful and he remained surprisingly healthy throughout. There were a couple of highlights: one being the gift of a pair of socks from the 11th Battalion Trench Comforts Fund in late 1917; and three weeks’ leave in England in February 1918. He wrote to thank Miss Kathleen Shea, of Boulder, for the pair of socks, and part of his letter was printed in the Western Mail of 20 December 1917:
“We had just come in out of the line after a dust-up with Fritz, and had not had a change of socks for some days, so I can tell you I did appreciate them. I know your father very well. Tell [him] Boulder is a long way ahead of this place. My brother was killed out here just two months ago. It was real bad luck, as he had been going for so long.”
Medically, there was only one lowlight: a scabies infection that June, but he was back with his unit within a couple of weeks. Unusually, he remained in France until April 1919 - five months after the Armistice was signed. In England, on 1 June, he embarked on the Somali to return to Australia.
Back home Joseph rejoined the WAGR and moved his growing family, and his mother, to Raphael Street, Subiaco, where their daughter Nita was born in April 1920. Later that year he was posted to Northam, where they lived in Gardiner Street. Their son Leo was born there in March 1922, and a daughter, Amy, in 1923.
In 1924 Joseph took up land in a settlement scheme, and was allotted to Group 75 at Warner Glen near Alexandra Bridge in the Busselton district. Eliza came too, contributing her maiden name to the farm: ‘Lyttleton’. The last of Joseph and Ita’s babies, Amy and Olive, were born in 1925 and 1926 respectively. Sadly Olive died suddenly, at three months, just before Christmas, 1926. A few years later Eliza moved back up to Perth where she died in May 1931, at the incredible age of 89.
The Knuckeys stayed at Lyttleton, their growing daughters working in the house, and their sons on the land, until 1942. Then Frederick, Joseph and Leo, all now young men, enlisted in WWII, Nita and Amy began working in the Munitions Factory, and Mabel joined the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force.
Joseph was already overseas when the family gathered at the State War Memorial in Kings Park for a significant photo before Fred and Leo were also deployed overseas. Everyone is smiling except for Joseph, who knew the cost of war, remembering his brother Fred, lost in WWI. He knew this war could cost him too, and the Knuckeys were devastated in October 1942 when they heard young Joseph been killed in action on 30 August in New Guinea. Grief, Joseph’s failing health, and no one to help him work the land was enough; the Knuckeys left Lyttleton and moved back to Perth in 1943.
With the electoral roll listing Joseph’s occupation as ‘invalid’, they lived briefly at 37 Gallipoli Street, Victoria Park, before moving into 183 Hay Street, almost opposite Queens Gardens, East Perth, with Joseph’s older brother Richard.
Frederick and Leo survived the war. Slowly the world righted itself, and Mabel returned home to cook and help Nita and Amy care for her parents and their uncle Richard. Frederick, who had returned early from the war, married in 1944, followed by Leo in 1947, Nita in 1948, and Amy in 1951. All had children of their own.
Joseph died in Hay Street on 15 September 1952, aged 67. Ita moved to Mount Yokine and outlived him by 15 years, dying in 1967, aged 76. Mabel then married but, sadly, her husband died just a few years later in 1973, aged just 47.
Researched and written by Shannon Lovelady for www.streetsofeastfreo
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 3689
Place of Birth: Perth Western Australia
Address: Silas Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs G Bergin,
Enlistment Date: 28 July 1915
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 12th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 21
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Engine driver
Date of Death:
Place of Burial:
Links:
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 4830
Place of Birth: Horsham Victoria
Address: 117 George Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Wife, Mrs J Jarvis, George Street
Enlistment Date: 7 December 1915
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 15th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 35
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Labourer
Date of Death:
Cause of Death:
Place of Burial:
Fate: Returned to Australia 13 April 1919
Links:
Daniel Jarvis
BIRTH 14 NOV 1892 • Horsham, Victoria, Australia
DEATH 28 JUN 1968 • Perth, Western Australia
Enlisted 1915- 11th Battalion, 15th Reinforcement, served until 1917.
Wife Gertrude Jarvis, 5 Bruce st, Leederville
1916-1921 lived 117 George St, East Freo
1920 Accident. While working on a new building being erected in Essex-street, Fremantle, yesterday, Daniel Jarvis (41), of 117 George-street, East Fremantle; fell from a scaffolding on to the roadway some 30ft. below, sustaining injuries to his ribs and cuts on his head and arms. He was admitted to the Fremantle Hospital and detained for treatment. (reference)
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 7009
Place of Birth: Castlemaine, Co Kerry, Ireland
Address: May Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Brother, Mr P Hanafan
Enlistment Date: 28 September 1916
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 23rd Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 32
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Labourer
Date of Death:
Place of Burial:
Links:
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 6522
Place of Birth: Sheffield England
Address: 140 Silas Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Wife, Mrs Ruby Hallam
Enlistment Date: 20 June 1916
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 21st Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 27
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Beef Lumper
Date of Death:
Place of Burial:
Links:
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 7473
Place of Birth: Edinburgh Scotland
Address: 25 Duke Street(WW1: 73), East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Father, T Goodall
Enlistment Date: 16 March 1917
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 25th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 18
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Labourer
Date of Death:
Place of Burial: -
Links:
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 3335
Place of Birth: Fremantle Western Australia
Address: Preston Point Road, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Father, C Gallop
Enlistment Date: 26 July 1915
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 11th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 23
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Clerk
Date of Death: 26 September 1961
Place of Burial: -
Links:
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 418
Place of Birth: Lilydale, Victoria
Address 62 East Street(WW1: 92), East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Mrs. McKillop
Enlistment Date: 17 August 1914
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, D Company
Age embarkation: 31
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Storeman
Date of Death: -
Place of Burial: -
Links:
Born on the 25 February 1883 in Lilydale, Victoria. Son to Jacob Clegg (1858 - 1895) and Margaret McKillop (1863 - 1928).
1910 Moved to East Fremantle with his seven other siblings.
1914 on the 17th of August he enlisted. Embarked 2nd of November.
1915 Promoted to Corporal on 11th November and then to Sargeant on 7th December.
1917 Promoted to Company Quartermaster Sergeant on 13th October.
1918 Returned to Australia, April the 8th.
1922 Married Lillian Harrison
Died 4 September 1954
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 4769
Place of Birth: Renfrew Scotland
Address: 58 Glyde Street, East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Wife, Mrs J Carroll
Enlistment Date: 13 December 1915
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 15th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 44
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Labourer
Date of Death: -
Place of Burial: -
Links:
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:
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
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 5678
Place of Birth: Fremantle, Western Australia
Address: 54 Glyde Street (100 Glyde St, pre-1939), East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs K Callaghan
Enlistment Date: 8 March 1916
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 18th Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 24
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Labourer
Date of Death: 14 September 1957
Place of Burial: -
Links:
Private THOMAS A. CALLAGHAN
Private Thomas A. Callaghan (5678), 11 Battalion, son of John and Catherine Callaghan, 100 Gylde-street, East Fremantle, was born and educated in Fremantle. He was married on the 1st July, 1918, to Adelaide Wittey, daughter of Alfred and Ada Wittey. He enlisted in February, 1916, and went into Blackboy Hill Camp attached to the 11th Battalion. He sailed for England on the 6th June, 1916, and went to Salisbury Plains for further training. He then crossed to France, where he took part in many engagements, including Passchendaele, Polygon Wood, etc. He was wounded at Messines and in 1916 he was again wounded on the Somme and had to undergo a very serious operation in England. He returned in August, 1919. He tried to enlist thirteen times and was finally accepted
Australia’s Fighting Sons of the Empire
Resident of 89 Duke Street: 1923 - 1928.
Rank: Private
Regimental Number: 6724
Place of Birth: Perth, Western Australia
Address: East Fremantle, Western Australia
Next of Kin: Mother, Mrs M Brown
Enlistment Date: 1 July 1916
Unit Name: 11th Battalion, 22nd Reinforcement
Age embarkation: 19
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Labourer
Date of Death: 6 October 1954
Cause of Death: -
Place of Burial: Karrakatta Cemetery
Links:
