DEAN, Ezra
| Service Number: | 6587 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 September 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | 6th Field Company Engineers |
| Born: | Elvaston, Derbyshire, England, 26 March 1889 |
| Home Town: | Chinchilla, Western Downs, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Thulston School, Thulston, Derbyshire, England |
| Occupation: | Blacksmith |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 1 August 1916, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension Plot 5, Row A, Grave 5, Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension, Warloy-Baillon, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Chinchilla War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sapper, 6587 | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Mar 1916: | Involvement Sapper, 6587, 6th Field Company Engineers, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Orsova embarkation_ship_number: A67 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Mar 1916: | Embarked Sapper, 6587, 6th Field Company Engineers, HMAT Orsova, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Ian Dean
Ezra’s father John was blacksmith to the Earl of Harrington and the Dean family lived in a pleasant cottage in the grounds of the Harrington estate at Elvaston Castle, where Ezra was born in 1889. When he was old enough, he entered his father’s trade.
As a younger son, Ezra was expected to find his own way in the world. At the age of 23, he set out for Australia, leaving behind his pregnant wife Gertrude. Blacksmiths were in demand in the new nation, and he found work in Queensland, where he was joined by his wife and infant son John in January 1914. They settled in the town of Chinchilla.
Australian troops were still fighting at Gallipoli when Ezra enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 22nd September 1915. He was posted to the 4th Reinforcements of the 6th Field Company, Australian Engineers (they had not yet become the Royal Australian Engineers), with the rank of Sapper.
He departed Australia aboard the troopship Orsova, and disembarked at Alexandria on 14th April 1916. Like the troops destined for Gallipoli a year earlier, Ezra encamped at Tel-el-Kabir.
After almost a month in Egypt, he boarded the SS Scotian on 10th May for an eight-day voyage across the Mediterranean to Marseilles.
On 5th June, he reported to the 2nd Division Base Depot at Étaples on the French coast of the English Channel.
Étaples was the principal transit camp for the British Expeditionary Force and almost all Imperial troops destined for the Western Front passed through it.
When Ezra joined his unit at the front on Tuesday, 4th July, he marched into one of the bloodiest campaigns in military history, the Battle of the Somme.
On Monday 31st July 1916, Sapper Ezra Dean received a shot wound to his chest while in action at Pozières.
The 4th Australian Field Ambulance evacuated him to an aid station, where he died of his wounds the following day.
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