MEADE, Arthur Stuart
| Service Number: | 1501 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 26 October 1914, Enlisted at Liverpool, NSW |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 1st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Majors Creek, New South Wales, Australia, 26 June 1897 |
| Home Town: | Bathurst, Bathurst Regional, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Bathurst District School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Locomotive Fitter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Turkey, 5 June 1915, aged 17 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bathurst Public School Roll of Honour, Bathurst War Memorial Carillon, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 26 Oct 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1501, 1st Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Liverpool, NSW | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan 1915: | Promoted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 1st Infantry Battalion, Promoted prior to embarking | |
| 11 Feb 1915: | Involvement Sergeant, 1501, 1st Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Seang Choon embarkation_ship_number: A49 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Feb 1915: | Embarked Sergeant, 1501, 1st Infantry Battalion, HMAT Seang Choon, Sydney |
Help us honour Arthur Stuart Meade's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Carol Foster
At the time of enlistment he was under age being born in 1897 making him under age at enlistment not the 21 years and 11 months as stated on his attestation paper
Son of James Arthur Meade and Frances Meade of Young, NSW formerly of 233 Lambert Street, Bathurst, NSW
Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
He enjoyed military training serving in the 41st Battalion Cadets with the rank of Lieutenent. He was also a member of the Boy Scouts when younger. He was a good athlete and boxer. He was studying as an apprentice Engineer prior to enlisting
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Arthur Stuart MEADE, (Service Number 1501) was born in Braidwood on 26th June 1897. He joined the NSW Government Railways as a call boy at the Bathurst locomotive depot in August 1912. In July 1913 he became an apprentice fitter there.
He had a remarkable military career as a lad. He had joined the senior cadets when 14, and by 1914 had been promoted to Cadet Lieutenant.
‘Shortly after the present war began, young Meade was asked… to go to Sydney to take part in the formation of a new battalion… and to assist in other duties at the Hawkesbury Bridge and elsewhere. Those duties performed, he was sent in November [1914] from Victoria Barracks to Liverpool camp, when, having to give up his cadet commission on joining the Expeditionary Forces, he was given the rank of Colour-Sergeant in the 1st Battalion. Though desirous of going to the front immediately, Colour-Sergeant Meade was kept employed as instructor at Liverpool until the end of January, when he transferred to the 3rd Reinforcements of his Battalion, the First, as Senior Sergeant of his company, the rank of Colour-Sergeant having been abolished… Eventually he left Sydney on February 11 [1915], arriving in Egypt on March 12.’ (Daily Telegraph, 29/11/1915)
He joined his Battalion at Gallipoli on 7th May 1915.
He was killed in action on 5th June. An officer who wrote to his father said:
‘Of course I knew your son well. He was with me in the attack on the “German Officers Trench” on 5 June 1915 in which sortie he was killed. The operation… commenced at 3.20am… and your son was killed outright at 3.25am… his body lying on the enemy’s parapet… we were reluctantly compelled to leave our dead where they lay. Your son was in due course buried by the enemy…’
From other accounts it seems clear that Meade was killed in this attempt to silence an enemy machine gun. His body lay in the open for several days and could not be recovered by the Australians.
His remains could not be located after the war, and he is remembered with honour on the Lone Pine Memorial. His age is noted there as 22, but he had put it up when he enlisted, and was in fact a few weeks short of his 18th birthday when he died.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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