Daniel (Dan) POLLARD

POLLARD, Daniel

Service Number: 2234
Enlisted: 14 July 1915, Rosedale, Vic.
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 21st Infantry Battalion
Born: Wycheproof, Vic., 1890
Home Town: Wycheproof, Buloke, Victoria
Schooling: Bolinda State School
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Killed in Action, France, 20 March 1917
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bolinda State School Honour Roll, Riddells Creek Riddell District Honour Roll Plaque, Romsey Soldiers Honor Roll, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France)
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World War 1 Service

14 Jul 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2234, 21st Infantry Battalion, Rosedale, Vic.
27 Sep 1915: Involvement Private, 2234, 21st Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: ''
27 Sep 1915: Embarked Private, 2234, 21st Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne

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Biography contributed by Peter Sneddon

Dan, Frank, George and Jim Pollard were brothers from a farming family in the Carlsruhe and Kyneton area. Their parents, Janet Billings and Squire Pollard married in 1881 and  had eleven children: Robert John (b 1881), Caroline Anne (b. 1883), William Squire (b. 1885), Samuel (b. 1886), Alexander Gordon (b. 1888), Daniel (b. 1890), Ada May (b.  1891), George (b. 1893), James Hillard (b. 1895), Francis Henry (b. 1897), and Charles Pollard (b. 1899). Unusually for that time period, all eleven children survived into adulthood.

Frank, James, Daniel, George as well as Charles attended Bolinda School sometime between 1899 and 1913. Dan was the first to enlist in the war, in mid-1915. He first fought in  Egypt and later in France. Whilst fighting in France, he received a gunshot wound to the right shoulder but after being seen to he was sent back to fight the same day.


Daniel was killed in action on 20 March 1917. One informant claimed he was killed at Noreuil by machine gun bullet whilst in the open country. Other informants stated that they  saw him wounded in a village called Lougatette or Lagnicourt. He was being attended to by other soldiers but quickly died from his wounds. One informant who claimed to see him fall and tried to help him stated that they were advancing at the time and that they had to leave the dead where they were. He thought that the men were buried where they fell  but could not be sure. Daniel’s mother accepted his medals as well as the Memorial scroll, plaque and pamphlet. His brother, William, named his son after Daniel, a year after his
death.

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