Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John Percival Searle was born in Pekina (near Peterborough), South Australia on the 24th of April 1889, the son of Richard and Mary Searle. ‘Percy’ Searle’s family moved to Cowell when he was eleven years old. He worked on the family’s farm until he enlisted. While working on the farm, Searle joined the St. Hugh’s Anglican Church Choir. He was over 6 feet tall, well-built and had blue eyes and dark brown hair.

A single man and nearly 27 years old, John Searle enlisted in Adelaide on the 6th of March 1916.  He departed Australia on the HMAT Aeneas Franconia in early April 1916.  Private Searle went directly to England and spent time training on the Salisbury Plain. Searle embarked for France in late September 1916 and joined the 48th Battalion in the field on 7th October 1916.

The 48th Battalion consisted of men mainly from regional areas in South and Western Australia, with roughly half of them being Gallipoli veterans. Around that time, at Pozieres, the soldiers of the 48th had endured what was said to be the heaviest artillery barrage ever experienced by Australian troops, suffering 598 casualties.  After Pozieres, the 48th Battalion was then required to defend ground captured during the battle of Mouquet Farm.

Private Searle was Killed in Action on 16 October 1916.  He was buried at the Ridge Wood Military Cemetery, near Ypres in Belgium. 

The Adelaide Observer (Dec 1916) reported:

‘Private Searle (of bright and jovial disposition, well liked by all who knew him) was the first Cowell soldier to give his life for his country’.

Percy’s only brother Herbert died in Cowell of Tuberculosis in May 1917.  Percy’s father Richard continued to serve the citizens of Cowell as Councillor, on various civic committees and as an organizer of the Monument in the Main Street. Richard Searle’s brother Mark and family were also prominent residents of Cowell for some years prior to the war. After losing two of their sons, Roy and Don in France the family successfully lobbied to have their other son Cecil recalled from the battlefield.

Links/Information:

Australian War Memorial

National Archives of Australia

TROVE: Natioanl Library of Aurstralia

Cowell RSL – WW1 Full Biographies. Stocker, B.

"THE LATE PTE. J. P. SEARLE.

Pte. Percy Searle, who was killed in action in France on October 10, was the second son of Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Searle. of Cowell, and was 27 years of age last April. He enlisted in March of this year, and was in camp only a few weeks before he left Australia. He went direct to England with his unit, and spent some time on Salisbury Plain in training. He had been in the firing line only a short time when he met his death. Pte. Searle was bom at Blackrock, and went to Franklin Harbour with his parents in 1900, and assisted in working his father's farm up to the time of his enlistment. He was of a bright and jovial disposition, and well liked by all who knew him. He was over 6 ft. in height and well built. He is the first Cowell soldier to give his life for his coountry. He was a member of the choir of St. Hugh's Anglican Church, Cowell. His cousin, Roy Searle, has been reported wounded and misting since August. Another cousin is in hospital in London with rheumatism, and another is on his way to the front. The three men last mentioned are sons of Mrs. Mark Searle, of Prospect." - from the Adelaide Observer 09 Dec 1916 (nla.gov.au)