MAINSTONE, Ernest Beresford
| Service Number: | 6364 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 October 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 18th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Petersham, New South Wales, Australia, 29 July 1894 |
| Home Town: | Campsie, Canterbury, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Petersham Superior Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Draper |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 20 September 1917, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient) |
World War 1 Service
| 28 Oct 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 6364, 18th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Nov 1916: | Involvement Private, 6364, 18th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suevic embarkation_ship_number: A29 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Nov 1916: | Embarked Private, 6364, 18th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Suevic, Sydney |
Help us honour Ernest Beresford Mainstone's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Ernest Beresford Mainstone was a captain in the Salvation Army when he enlisted. He only joined the 18th Battalion in Belgium during July 1917 and was killed only 2 months later near Ypres. From his Red Cross file, the 18th Battalion was making his way up to the front line at about 11pm on the night of the 19 September 1917. A stray shell landed on Mainstone’s section of men in single file and killed five all told. The other four men were named and all are confirmed as killed in action on that date. This occurred very close to Hell Fire Corner, just out of Ypres. The 18th Battalion men had to keep moving and left the bodies for the artillery men nearby to bury. In his service file is a letter written by Gunner H.L. Dubos of the 14th Field Artillery Brigade which states, ‘Dear Mrs. Mainstone, just a line to let you know that your son was killed outright and he had no pain and I buried him with one of his comrades in a grave that I dug for them both, and I sent his pay book to the Red Cross Dressing Station, that is all he had of any importance about his clothes.’
His half-brother, Lieutenant Arthur Mainstone M.M. 19th Battalion AIF was killed in action 15 March 1918, age 26. Both brothers are remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium.