HARPER, Cecil Oswald
| Service Number: | 3337 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 30 July 1915, Enlisted at Liverpool |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 53rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 22 March 1894 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Tramway Clerk |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 1 September 1918, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 30 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3337, 4th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Liverpool | |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 3337, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: '' | |
| 13 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 3337, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Lincoln, Sydney | |
| 1 Sep 1918: | Involvement Corporal, 3337, 53rd Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3337 awm_unit: 53rd Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1918-09-01 |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Cecil Oswald HARPER, (Service Number 3337) was born on 22 March 1894 in Sydney. In September 1913 he joined the Traffic Branch of the Tramways as a junior clerk, becoming a clerk on his 21st birthday in 1895. He was released from duty to join the Expeditionary Forces on 29 July 1915, the day before he enlisted in the AIF at Liverpool.
He was killed in action on 1 September. His remains were exhumed after the war and re-interred in the Péronne Communal Cemetery Extension, Picardie.
Cecil Harper came from the E A Harper and Sons family – lamp contractors to the Government Railways of NSW and some of the correspondence in his file in the National Archives is on company letterhead paper with images of signal and other lamps. E A Harper’s works were in Wells Street Redfern, near Regent Street.
Submitted 29 August 2023 by John Oakes
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Cecil Oswald HARPER (Service Number 3337) was born on 22 March 1894 in Sydney. In September 1913 he joined the Traffic Branch of the Tramways as a junior clerk, becoming a clerk on his 21st birthday in 1895. He was released from duty to join the Expeditionary Forces on 29 July 1915, the day before he enlisted in the AIF at Liverpool.
He left Australia from Sydney aboard HMAT ‘Port Lincoln’ on 13th October 1915. He was taken on the strength of the 53rd Australian Infantry Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir (Egypt) on 16th February 1916 and was made a temporary Corporal in March and a Corporal in May. He embarked at Alexandria on 19th June to join the British Expeditionary Forces in France, arriving at Marseilles near the end of the month.
Only three weeks later he was wounded in action, with injuries to his arm and back. As he was transferred from Casualty Clearing Station to the 1st Canadian General Hospital and then the Hospital Ship ‘Jan Breydel’ the wounds were variously described as a gunshot wound to his right arm and a severe wound to his right thigh. By October he had recovered and was granted furlough. He was then placed on the supernumerary list with the 14th Training Battalion. In January 1917 he was admitted to hospital with venereal disease and spent 65 days recovering from that condition.
It was not until May 1918 that he was fit enough to return to France and he re-joined the 53rd Battalion on 2nd June.
He was killed in action on 1st September 1918. Although the place of his initial burial is not recorded, his remains were exhumed after the war and re-interred in the Péronne Communal Cemetery Extension, Picardie.
Cecil Harper came from the E A Harper and Sons family – lamp contractors to the Government Railways of NSW and some of the correspondence in his file in the National Archives is on company letterhead paper with images of signal and other lamps. E A Harper’s works were in Wells Street Redfern, near Regent Street.
- based on notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board