Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

672 - John (Jack) James Sloan

3.4.1878 - 4.1.1961

John James Sloan, commonly known as Jack was born in Molesworth, Victoria, on Wednesday 3rd April 1878. He was the fourth child of John Hannibal Sloan (1841‐1919) and Isabella (nee Whyte) Sloan (1850 ‐ 1930). John and Isabella Sloan had eight children. The Sloan family had moved to the Molesworth area in 1859 to take up land and finally establish life as farmers. The children were well educated at the local Molesworth School and left school to begin work locally where possible. Some of the girls became domestic servants on large farming properties and the boys spent some time working on farms. Eventually, they, along with other members of their family settled in Sydney.

Jack Sloan joined the New South Wales Military Force in 1896 at the age of 18. In 1897 as a corporal, he went to England as part of the NSW Contingent for The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. This ceremony, to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's reign, was held in London on 22nd June 1897. The Australian Contingent members joined representatives from other countries to form what was known as "The Colonial Contingent". For this ceremony, he received The Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medal. By 1904 he had been serving in the army for 8 years and transferred to the Instructional staff in the Australian Defence Force with the duties of a drill instructor. He continued in this role for the next 10 years until 1914. The duties of drill instructor resulted in him being posted to various parts of NSW.

In 1906 at the age of 26, Jack Sloan married Alice Ridd (1878 ‐1944). After they were married in Molesworth Jack and Alice moved around NSW, as “Army Training Instructor” which is indicated by the locations at which their children were born. They had four children. John Hannibal Sloan (1907‐1972) was born at Waratah, Newcastle, Charles Lindsay (1910‐1947) was born at Tamworth, Douglas Lutton (1912‐ 1977) was born at Armidale and Sidney Wilson (1918‐1956) was born at Randwick. By 1918, Jack and Alice finally settled at 13 Avoca St, Randwick.

At the age of 36, Jack enlisted for service abroad on 27th September 1914, at Holsworthy Military Base, with the service number 672. He then moved, as a Staff Sergeant Major, to the base at Kensington. The Unit to which he was assigned became part of the 4th Battalion. His unit embarked on 19th Oct 1914 and went via Suez to Alexandria, Egypt, arriving at Alexandria 6th December 1914. The Fourth Battalion of The Australian Forces became part of the first wave of Australians to land at Gallipoli on Sunday, 25th April 1915. At Gallipoli, Jack Sloan served as a Staff Warrant Officer Class 1 and a Staff Sergeant Major. From the 1st of May until his departure from Anzac, he was the Regimental Sergeant Major of the unit. During this time he encountered and survived a significant number of enemy attacks including an attack on the beach as he was departing. This explosion of shells left one of his companions critically injured.

Eventually, this attack and other events resulted in him suffering shellshock and on 15th June 1915, after serving at Gallipoli for 2 months, he was transferred to a ship to be transported to a hospital in Alexandria to recover. After 5 weeks in Alexandria, he was deemed unsuitable to return to Gallipoli and was transferred by ship to England for further hospitalization. Recovery was slow and he was not considered to be suitable for further duties and was returned to Australia on 8th October 1915 reaching Sydney on 10th November 1915. On 2nd March 1916 he was officially discharged from the AIF as being medically unfit. However, on applying for a pension his application was rejected as he was not considered to be incapacitated, and was approved to be suitable for light duties on 28th July 1916.

In June 1919, at the age of 41 Jack joined "The NSW Contingent of the Special Infantry Forces" which became responsible for the repatriation of "German Personnel". This unit was allocated the role of escorting the repatriated Germans to England. Jack departed on this escort mission in August 1919 and returned to Sydney in January 1920. Jack remained in the army as a soldier and spent the next 20 years again as a "Drill Instructor" at Victoria Barracks, in Sydney. His final year of army service was 1938. Jack Sloan had a total of 40 years of service in the Australian Army. He lived most of his life at 13 Avoca St, Randwick, and died in the "Wentworth Private Hospital", Randwick, on 4th January 1961 aged 83. He is buried in Randwick General Cemetery in the Methodist Vault 72.

John (Jack) Sloan was awarded a range of medals during his years of service. When medals are placed together, they form a "Medal Group".
* 1897... * 1915... * 1918... * 1918... * 1918... * 1922...
Bronze 1897 Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medal. 1914/15 Star

British War Medal.
Victory Medal.
Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal George V. Meritorious Service Medal George V.
Description of the medals awarded to Jack Sloan from left to right in the picture.

*1914/15 Star awarded for service in a war zone before the 31st December 1915 to all British Commonwealth Navy and army personnel for WWI

*British War Medal is a campaign medal awarded to all British Commonwealth Navy and army personnel for WWI

*Victory Medal was awarded to all navy and army personnel to commemorate the victory at the end of the war.

*Bronze 1897 Diamond Jubilee Medal awarded to all ranks below an officer that attended the Jubilee in London. All officers received a silver medal

*Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal (GV) awarded for 18 years long service and good conduct in the permanent forces army of the British Dominions and Colonies

*Meritorious Service Medal (GV) awarded for 24 years of exemplary service in the permanent forces army within the British Commonwealth