George Albert TILL

TILL, George Albert

Service Number: 4535
Enlisted: 13 December 1915, Adelaide, South Australia
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 27th Infantry Battalion
Born: Bowden, South Australia, October 1880
Home Town: Walkerville, South Australia
Schooling: Walkerville Public School
Occupation: Plasterer
Died: Died of Illness (Pneumonia), Fremantle, Western Australia, 8th Australian General Hospital, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia, 20 November 1917
Cemetery: Fremantle Cemetery, Western Australia
Fremantle Cemetery, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Memorials: Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Norwood War Memorial, Walkerville St Andrew's Anglican Church WW1 Memorial Plaque, Walkerville St. Andrew's Anglican Church Honour Roll
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World War 1 Service

13 Dec 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4535, Adelaide, South Australia
25 Mar 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4535, 27th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Shropshire embarkation_ship_number: A9 public_note: ''
25 Mar 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4535, 27th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Shropshire, Adelaide
20 Nov 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4535, 27th Infantry Battalion

Help us honour George Albert Till's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Saint Ignatius' College

George Albert Till

Born in October of 1880 in Bowden, SA, attended Walkerville public school and lived on what is now the Norwood Parade, George Albert Till was  a 35 year (2 month) old plasterer, who left his family to go to the war. Son of James Francis Till and Mary Ann Decaux, he was one of 11 children (7 brothers, 3 sisters) none of which served in the war, and three of which who died within the year that they were born (either a death during birth or shortly afterwards as was very common in this time due to birth defects and lack of medical development). Beatrice Alice Till was his wife (and also his next of kin), with which he had 2 children. Till was described on his service records as having brown hair, blue eyes, and a dark complexion.

After first enlisting on the 13th of  December 1915, and joining on the 13th January the next year, Private Till was placed in the 27th Infantry Battalion (11th Reinforcements),  that was primarily made up of South Australians. The 27th Infantry Battalion was raised in March of 1915 and on April 16, 1915, the Battalion entered the brand-new Mitcham Camp, which was located south of Adelaide. The Battalion did weeks of intensive training before leaving for Egypt on the HMAT Geelong (31st May 1915) for further training with their British counterparts. After this, they planned to proceed to Gallipoli and ideally the Western Front later on. In September of 1915, the Battalion arrived in Gallipoli, and remained there until December’s evacuation, where most returned to Australia. This is where Till joined. Till and the Battalion departed Adelaide Shropshire and fought on the Western front at the Somme in April 1916 as the first troops on the front line.

 

George Albert Till’s journey during the war was not exactly smooth sailing. Regardless of his urge to fight, health and nature was not on his side. During November of 1916 Till was wounded and admitted to hospital that assessed him to have received GSW (either General Shrapnel Wounds or Gun Shot Wound – the same abbreviation was used for both in service records) to the head and remained in Dartford hospital for 15 weeks.

 

Shortly into fighting Till contracted several diseases and braved an insane number of harsh injuries by August of 1917 when a medical report was filled. This form states that Till had developed a cough, greenish sputum, fair appetite, and poor sleep. He had dyspnoea (difficulty breathing), septicaemia (blood poisoning – developed more in this time, though initially was from a prior injury), abscesses forming between his tonsils and walls of his throat and severe damage to the muscle alongside the neck.

 

On the 27th February, 2017, multiple sources state that Till was concussion buried, meaning he was knocked over by an exploding shell or shells and was buried either by the flying dirt and debris, or his trench caved in causing shell shock. This caused Till to be admitted to hospital once again, and shortly afterwards, in March of 1917, he was transferred to the 70th Infantry Battalion, supposedly due to his former Battalion having to proceed during his absence.

 

Nearing the end of his time in the war, Till’s health became progressively worse. On the 19th July 1917, he contracted Tonsilitis and Diphtheria which sent him to Brimstone Bottom hospital for nearly a week. However, with his prior conditions and these two new ones, Till was still able to return to fight for a further two months. Around two months later 3rd October 1917, his health became too much to pursue, so much that Till boarded the HMAT A30 Borda (as Shown in figure 1), that was to take him back to Australia.

Figure 1: HMAT A30 Borda, the ship that delivered Till back to Australia after his service.

It is stated that Till boarded this ship due to his ‘debility’, though it is unknown exactly which one they were referring to at this time. Shortly before boarding, Till contracted pneumonia, and this became progressively worse during his time on the Borda. It was later during his time on the ship that Till experienced heart failure, which is what caused his prompt movement to a hospital in Fremantle. In Number 8, Australian General Hospital, Fremantle, on the 20th November 1917, George Albert Till died. Though he suffered many injuries and braved many illness, these deaths were inevitable, and we thank George for his service.

George Albert Till is buried in the Fremantle Cemetery in Western Australia. His name is kept in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, and projected on their wall for merely a few seconds, though he is remembered and cherished by his departed wife and next of kin, Beatrice Alice Fulton (remarried shortly after Till’s death) and his two children and their families.

 

Bibliography

·      Terrace, Victoria. “National Archives of Australia” Naa.gov.au, 2023, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8390973. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

·      “George Albert TILL.” Vwma.org.au, 2023, https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/101114. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

·      “Private George Albert Till.” Awm.gov.au, 2023, www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10961469. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

·      “George Albert Till.” Awm.gov.au, 2023, www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1671612.  Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

·      “27th Infantry Battalion.” Vwma.org.au, 2023, https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/2.  Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

·      CWGC. “The Commonwealth War Graves Commission | CWGC.” CWGC, 2023, www.cwgc.org/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

·      “The Office of Australian War Graves.” Department of Veterans’ Affairs, 2021, www.dva.gov.au/wargraves. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

·      “FamilySearch.org.” Familysearch.org, 2015, https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/G9KH-S7N/george-albert-till-1880-1917. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

 

 

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