EARLS, John Arthur
| Service Numbers: | 167, 1703 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 24 August 1914, Sydney, NSW |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 4th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia, 14 May 1893 |
| Home Town: | Orange, Orange Municipality, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | East Orange Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 12 October 1916, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
Bedford House Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium I V 2 Enclosure No 4 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, East Orange Public School Memorial Avenue, East Orange Public School Roll of Honor, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Orange Cenotaph, Orange Holy Trinity Anglican Church Honour Board, Orange Railways Ambulance and Rifle Club WW1 Roll of Honour, Orange WW1 Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 24 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 167, 1st Field Ambulance, Sydney, NSW | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement Sergeant, 167, 1st Field Ambulance, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Oct 1914: | Embarked Sergeant, 167, 1st Field Ambulance, HMAT Euripides, Sydney | |
| 12 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 1703, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1703 awm_unit: 4th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-10-12 |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
John Arthur EARLS, (Service Number1703), was born on 14 May 1893 at Warnambool, Victoria. He began his railway career as a probationer in the Traffic Branch in the Orange District in June 1910. In December he had become a junior porter and eighteen months later a junior clerk. On 1 August 1914 he, having passed his 21st birthday, became an adult clerk, 7th class and he continued to receive pay increments on his birthday, though he had enlisted with the A.I. Forces only three weeks after his formal appointment to the grade.
Initially he was allocated to the 1st Field Ambulance as an acting Sergeant but was transferred to the 4th Australian Infantry Battalion in August 1915, as a Private.
Submitted 23 June 2023 by John Oakes
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of John and Edith EARLS, "Albacutya", Nile Street, Orange, New South Wales
PTE. J. A. EARLS.
The Rev. Canon Walker Taylor was advised by wire last night that Pte. J. A. Earls, son of Mrs. Earls, newsagent and stationer, of Summer-st., had been killed in action in France on October 12. Prior to enlistment the deceased soldier was on the staff at the railway superintendent's office, Orange, under the regime of the present assistant Commissioner, Mr. E. Milne, and he was one of the original members of the N.S.W. Railway Transport Corps. Of all the boys who have gone from Orange, none was more popular than he, and none deserved popularity more than he did. A young fellow of exceedingly upright character, he was one whom parents were wont to hold up as a pattern to their children, and they were quite justified in so doing. To his widowed mother and younger brothers and sisters he was as a husband and father in his devotion and kindly thoughtfulness, and it was a great wrench to part with him at the call of empire. That wrench has now developed into the sorest bereavement, and in it they will have the sympathy of the whole populace. Jack was previously wounded in action, but he returned to the firing line some time ago, and only yesterday his mother received from him one of has characteristic, cheery and solicitous letters. Mrs. Earls has another son on board the Australia, and the strain upon her during the period of their active service, added to her cares as a business woman, has been severe. That has been accentuated now by the bitterest of all trials—the death of her elder son—and many will feel, with us, that words utterly fail to convey an adequate expression of the community feeling of sorrow at the receipt of the sad news.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
John Arthur EARLS (Service Number1703) was born on 14thMay 1893 at Warnambool, Victoria. He began his railway career as a probationer in the Traffic Branch in the Orange District in June 1910. In December he had become a junior porter and eighteen months later a junior clerk. On 1st August 1914 he became an adult clerk (because he had reached the age of 21). He continued to receive pay increments on his birthday although he had enlisted with the A.I.F. only three weeks after his formal appointment to the grade.
Initially he was allocated to the 1st Field Ambulance as an acting Sergeant. He was transferred to the 4th Australian Infantry Battalion in August 1915 as a Private. This loss of rank was a concern to the NSW Government Railways Chief Accountant as it increased the amount of pay which the railway was obliged to make up! The file contains a letter from that railway officer to the military, requesting details.
Earls left Australia from Sydney aboard HMAT ‘Euripides’ on 20th December 1914. Serving in his ambulance role he landed at Cape Helles, Gallipoli Peninsula, on 27th June 1915. He assisted at the No. 11 British Clearing Station until 30th July. He transferred at his own request to a fighting unit rather than a supporting one such as the ambulance. He switched to a role as a Private in the 4th Battalion at Anzac.
Within a month he had been evacuated sick to Lemnos (a Greek island). He went through a series of admissions to hospitals as far away as England. He did not re-join his unit, which by that time was at Serapeum in Egypt, until March 1916. He left Egypt from Alexandria a fortnight later and had reached Marseilles by the end of the month. In France he was again hospitalised, now with Influenza. He re-joined the Battalion on 14th July 1916 . He was again admitted to hospita, this timel with a fractured rib which was recorded as a wound in action. He was transferred to a convalescent depot at Rouen.
After his return to the 4th Battalion, at the beginning of September, he was killed in action in Belgium on 12th October 1916.
He is buried at Bedford House Cemetery, 1 mile S. of Ypres.
- based on notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Biography contributed by Bradley Bliss
John Arthur Earls was born in Warrnambool in 1893, the son of John and Edith Earls.
‘Jack’, as he became known was working as a railway clerk in Orange when war was declared; he was among the first men in Orange to enlist. Jack proceeded to the Expeditionary Camp at Queen’s Park in Waverley with fellow railway clerks Thomas Henry Nicholson and Claude Bertie West.
Jack and his mates embarked from Sydney in October 1914 aboard the Euripides. Jack served in Egypt, France and Belgium, and was hospitalised several times during the course of his service, suffering from gastritis, pneumonia and influenza.
In July 1916 Jack was wounded in action, but recovered from his injuries. On 12 October that year he was killed in action in Belgium.
Jack Earls’ name appears on the Holy Trinity Church Orange Honour Roll, the Orange Railway Ambulance and Rifle Club Honour Roll and the Orange East Public School Honour Roll. He is also remembered in Newman Park in Orange.
In 1923 the Anzac Memorial Avenue of trees was planted along Bathurst Road to commemorate fallen WWI soldiers. A tree was planted in honour of “Sgt JA Earls”; it was donated by his mother, Edith.