BURGESS, Charles
| Service Number: | 2794 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 40th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 12 October 1917, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient) |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Apr 1916: | Involvement Private, 2794, 30th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Nestor embarkation_ship_number: A71 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Apr 1916: | Embarked Private, 2794, 30th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Nestor, Sydney | |
| 6 Dec 1916: | Involvement Private, 2794, 40th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Orsova embarkation_ship_number: A67 public_note: '' | |
| 6 Dec 1916: | Embarked Private, 2794, 40th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Orsova, Melbourne |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
No Railway employment record card for Charles BURGESS (Service Number 2794) can be located. He was born in Orpington, Kent in the United Kingdom about July 1880. The 1921 Honour Roll specifies that he was employed in the Permanent Way Branch. Government Gazette listings show a Charles Burgess working on the Zig Zag deviation in 1908, and at Eskbank in 1911 and 1914, so that may be the man. He enlisted in the AIF on 2 February 1916, giving his calling as ‘Railway Employee’. He left Australia through Sydney on HMAT ‘Nestor’ on 9 April 1916 and travelled to Egypt for further training. From Alexandria he travelled to Plymouth and in December 1916 proceeded overseas from England and was taken on the strength of the 30th Battalion. In February he was wounded in action but remained on duty.
He was killed in action in Belgium on 12 October 1917, and since his body was not recovered and he has no known grave, he is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, Flanders, Belgium.
Service numbers were issued on a regimental basis, and thus there were many men in the AIF with the same number, though in different battalions and with their own names. By an extraordinary chance, 2794 in the 30th Battalion, and 2794 in the 40th Battalion were both men with the name Charles Burgess. The 40th Battalion man had been born in Geeveston, Tasmania and had enlisted in that state. He was severely wounded and returned to Australia for discharge late in 1918. He survived the war. The two men share a file in the Australian National Archives, and there is contemporary military documentation to verify the coincidence of service numbers.
(NAA B2455-3167554)
Submitted 12 May 2023 by John Oakes