Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Walter Dyke was born in Pimlico, London, England on Anzac Day April 25th 1870 to parents William and Mary Margaret Dyke (nee Bunn). His father William Dyke was a Coachman in England. The family emigrated to South Australia when Walter was 6 years of age on the Wool Clipper Ship "LADY JOCELYN", which arrived in South Australia on 11 October 1876 after a 75 day voyage. The family moved to Waverley North, at Crafers in December 1882.

Walter like his father took up gardening as an occupation, and while working at this he first met Louisa HOLLAMBY. He recorded her name in his notebook on 13 April 1889. Shortly after this he went to work for a Mr Smith near Balaklava, South Australia. Walter left the Smith property at the end of 1889, and went to work at Pendleton's on 15 February 1890. This was at Mt Lofty.
On 28 Feb 1891, Walter joined the South Australian Railways. In March
1892 he fell off the train at the Glanville curve and was hospitalized for a week
with head injuries. Later the same year he was transferred to Wolseley, as a
Railway Porter. He gave that as his address in July 1892 when he married
Louisa HOLLAMBY in the Anglican Church Strathalbyn and had their
reception in her parent’s home. She was the eldest daughter of Harry
HOLLAMBY the youngest of the four family pioneers studied in Hunt # 10.
Louisa was born at Macclesfield, S.A., as was her sister Edith (see Ho03). They both grew up on the farm at Doctor's Creek about 2 miles South East of Macclesfield. Their schooling was done in Macclesfield. Louisa later went out to work as a domestic Servant at Mt Lofty for the Pendelton Family. Guess who was working on the same property as a Gardener, at the time?

Walter and Louisa lived at Wolseley for a few years, where their first two children were born and then he was relocated to Adelaide, and resided at Goodwood Park by 1897. A year later they were living at Water St, St Michaels (Kensington Park). In January 1903, Walter left the Railways, and the family moved to Goodwood Park, where Walter took over a fruiterer business, albeit not very successfully. About this time they became associated with the Reorganised CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints, and Walter was baptised into the church in 1906, and was ordained an Elder in 1907. The family were all baptised in August 1907. Walter was appointed shortly afterwards as the Pastor of the Congregation in Adelaide. The family were living at King Street Alberton by this time. They went on to have 8 children.

When World War 1 broke out Walter joined up, enlisting in the AIF in October 1915. Walter was sent to France to fight in the Somme as Lance Corporal 32nd Battalion. Walter went into action on 20 July 1916, at Fromelles, and on that same day was wounded and taken prisoner by the Germans, being interred initially at Ohrdruf, in Germany, and later was on a Prisoner work gang at Plaue, Germany. That left Louisa to fend for herself
for a long time and because of poor
circumstances they were forced to
move to cheaper accommodation at
Alberton.
Walter Dyke 1870-1958
After the War, Walter was released on 18 November 1918 and sent to England to await transport to Australia. He arrived back in Adelaide on 1 March 1919, and was discharged from the Army on 24 April, the day before his 49th birthday. The family meantime had shifted to Edgecombe Street, Woodville North. Walter's wife, Louisa contracted Breast Cancer, which caused her death on 14 December 1924. Walter was working as a Storeman by this time, and their children were all either married or were out working by this time except for the

youngest, Pat, who was only 9 years old.

In 1928, Walter married again , to a spinster, Louisa PROUD, a member of the same Church as Walter. They later moved to a small home they purchased at 69 High Street, Kensington. Walter was ordained in the Church as a Patriarch/Evangelist in 1940, and spent much time working for the Church in his retirement years. Walter died at Kent Town, South Australia on 26 December 1958, at the age of 88 years of chronic myocardial Degeneration, and is buried with his first wife in the Cheltenham Cemetery.

Lance Corporal Walter Dyke #2022, 32 Bat. Australian - D Company, Captured: Fleurbaix 20 July 1916,Wounded: Shrapnel right hip [obtained on the front] English Prisoners List for pow camp W AHN (Western Etappe), WAHN prison camp was situated on rising ground 20 miles S. E. of Cologne at the W ahner Heide Artillery practice camp. It was a 'parent' camp for PoW working camps in the district and had 35,000 men on its register. It had a 'Special Barracks' where those who attempted to escape from other camps were put.

Eventually p.o.w. at Langensalza, Location: Bad Langensalza Unstrut- Hainich, Thuringia, Germany, February 1917 Entry 42: DYKE Rank: Utffz. (Unteroffizier) [Officer’ s Camp] Where Captured ARMENTIERES on 19 July 1916.

The overall administration of German camps was not
centralised and that often caused problems. Germany was
divided into 21 military districts, each corresponding to any
army corps. Corps commanders acted as military governors of
their district and administered and supervised among other
duties, the running of prisoner of war camps in their area. For
this reason, the conditions and regime of camps varied greatly.
For example, good camps were said to be Friedrichsfeld,
Parchim, Soltau, Dulman, Wahn, Wunsdorf .The contrast
between the those camps and those at Limberg, Wittenberg,
Schneidemuhl, Langensalzen and others was, said a camp
inspector “the difference between day and night, between
heaven, relatively, and hell absolutely.” The corps commanders
had absolute power in selecting sites for camps, obtaining food,
construction materials, electricity, and commandants and
guards. The camp guards treated the prisoners as the
commandant directed and it was possible “to tell about a camp
from meeting that man.” For example, so disliked was Karl
Neimeyer, that a former British prisoner at Holtzminden Camp
said “even his dog disliked him”, and the animal, “much
preferred the company of the captives.”According to the rules
of war officer prisoners could not be made to work. On the other hand, enlisted men had to and worked in a wide range of occupations. From the parent camp, the workers were assigned to Arbeitskommandos (Labor detachments) in agriculture or industry. Prisoners worked on government funded projects such as road and bridge construction, railway track maintenance and renewal and land reclamation work. Large industrial companies hired PoW’s from the regional Army Corps Commands to work in steel factories, quarries and coalmines.

Prisoners were paid at a rate, determined by their level of skill and agreement between government or private employer and Army Corps Commands. The lowest paid were farm workers - from 16 to 35 Pfennig a day. Small industries paid 30 to 50 Pfennig a day, while those in heavy industry received from 75 Pfennig to 1 Mark a day. For the highly skilled and professional PoW the rate was between 2 and 3 marks a day. Many PoW’s were pleased to escape the boredom of life behind barbed wire in the parent camp and welcomed the change of scenery and the money they earned at the working camps. The money often supplemented their food rations until food parcels arrived. Although some prisoners complained about working in heavy industry where cruelty was sometimes inflicted on them, those working on the land and on farms often ate at the same table as the farmer and slept in his house and became part of the family. They were often
Lagensalza Prison Camp in Winter
better fed than many city dwelling Germans. 

[The International Com- mittee of the Red Cross have put millions of ww1 Prisoner of war records on line. They can be downloaded free. [These downloaded courtesy of Raine Alexander of Cheshire UK] [Family photos courtesy Rosemary Aukett, Daphne Palmer]