75573
MACK, Harold Robert
| Service Number: | 161 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 21 August 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Light Horse Regiment |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia, 18 July 1890 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Sturt Street State School |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | 24 January 1974, aged 83 years, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia |
| Memorials: | Adelaide Sturt Street Public School Great War Roll of Honour, Loxton and District Great War Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 21 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, 161 | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 161, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: '' | |
| 22 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 161, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Port Lincoln, Adelaide | |
| 17 May 1915: | Discharged AIF WW1, 161, 3rd Light Horse Regiment | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Private, 161 |
Help us honour Harold Robert Mack's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Paul Lemar
Harold was the son of Robert Hamilton MACK & Janet Shirley PEACOCK and was born on the 18th of July 1890 in Adelaide, SA.
His parents were married on the 7th of April 1886 at the residence of Mr Peacock, Penola, SA.
His father was the son of John Hamilton MACK & Emma Elizabeth CHING and was born on the 19th of January 1864 in Penola, SA.
His mother was the daughter of James PEACOCK & Bridget KENNY and was born on the 14th of November 1866 in Mount Shank, SA.
Harold was the 3rd child born into the family of 6 children; 2 boys & 4 girls.
His father was a Mounted Constable & they were transferred to Burra.
It appears that his father deserted the family on the 18th of January 1897 as his name appears in the South Australian Police Gazette on the 20th of April 1898.
A warrant was issued for his arrest for deserting his wife & children.
His mother was unable to care for the five eldest children and they were admitted into the State Children’s Department in 1898.
Dorothy Gladys MACK, aged 2 years, was the only child to remain with her mother
Harold was sentenced until he was 18 years of age.
Harold was 7 years old when he was first boarded to Mrs MaryAnn Walton , a widow, residing in the Barossa Goldfields on the 12th of May 1898.
His siblings also boarded with Mrs MaryAnn Walton and they all attended the Barossa Goldfields School.
On the 9th of June 1899 he was transferred, with his brother; Hans, to be in the same house as their sister’s; Ilma Catherine MACK, Ada Jenny MACK & Florence Emily MACK.
Ilma and Ada had been boarded out to Miss Elizabeth ROSS of Macclesfield.
Harold attended the Macclesfield Primary School for 4 years.
On the 1st of August 1903 he was transferred to Mr Charles Stubbs, a farmer at Macclesfield.
His mother remarried on the 19th of September 1904 to Mr Henry MAY at Meningie.
Twelve months later; on the 29th of September 1905 Harold’s siblings were reunited with their mother at Lake Albert, Meningie. The property was called “Mayfield”.
Harold was not reunited with his mother; instead, he was transferred to his paternal Aunt, Elizabeth Emma TRUMAN nee MACK & her husband, Thomas Lewis George Truman, “Pine Rise”, Bordertown, SA.
He was now 15 years of age and also living with his 6 cousins.
Harold was a laborer and joined the 16th Light Horse (Bordertown Volunteers) in 1911.
At the age of 24, Harold enlisted into the newly raised 3rd Light Horse Regiment, A Squadron, on the 21st of August 1914 in Morphettville, SA and was allotted the service number 161.
He trained at Morphettville and they marched out to Outer Harbour at 2:30pm on the 21st of October with 19 officers, 347 men and 338 horses.
Harold embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT A17 Port Lincoln on the 22nd of October 1914, disembarking in Alexandria on the 9th of December.
He trained in Ma’adi and Heliopolis, but suffered from pain in his cardiac area, Dyspnoea on exertion and Aortic valve regurgitation. His symptoms becoming so severe that he was to be invalided back to Australia.
Harold embarked from Suez on board HMAT Ulysses on the 22nd of March 1916, disembarking in Melbourne on the 15th of April and was discharged on the 27th of May 1915 due to medical unfitness.
His brother Hans tried to enlist into the AIF but was first rejected because of his bad teeth & vision.
He then successfully enlisted into the 32nd Battalion, 11th reinforcement on the 22nd of September 1916 in Adelaide, SA and was allotted the service number 4324. He embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT A19 Afric on the 7th of November 1916.
In 1916 Harold was a postmaster & storekeeper and lived at Pompoota Training Farm (Soldier Settlement), near Murray Bridge and his residence was completed in February 1917.
Harold married Kate Emma PETERSEN on the 30th of October 1917 in the Maughan Church Vestry, Adelaide, SA.
Kate was the daughter of Charles Peter PETERSEN & Catherine FERTCH and was born on the 13th of December 1894 in Adelaide, SA.
By mid 1918 they had moved from Pompoota and were living in Cummings Street, Mile End, SA.
They had not long moved when Harold received the sad news that his only brother; Hans, had been Killed in Action on the 24th of June at Villers-Bretonneux in France.
Harold and Kate welcomed their first child; Jack Hamilton MACK, born on the 19th of April 1919.
In 1939 they lived at 232 South Road, Galway Gardens (now Richmond) and Harold was a Clerk.
He was a member of the Keswick & Richmond RSL Sub-Branch.
Their son Jack enlisted into the 2nd AIF on the 14th of November 1940 and was allotted the service number SX11632.
He married Betty Muriel ACKLAND on the 28th of June 1941.
He was then posted to the 2/4th Australian Armoured Regiment and served in Manila.
Harold died on the 24th of January 1974 and was cremated in the Centennial Park Cemetery the following day.
Harold has a Memorial Plaque in the South Australian Garden of Remembrance at Centennial Park.
Military
At the age of 24, Harold enlisted into the newly raised 3rd Light Horse Regiment, A Squadron, on the 21st of August 1914 in Morphettville, SA and was allotted the service number 161.
He listed his youngest sister; Dorothy, as next of kin.
He trained at Morphettville and they marched out to Outer Harbour at 2:30pm on the 21st of October with 19 officers, 347 men and 338 horses.
Harold embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT A17 Port Lincoln on the 22nd of October 1914.
They arrive in Albany, WA at 6:30am on the 26th and left Albany on the 1st of November with a convoy of 26 Australian Transports and 10 New Zealand Transports and were escorted by HMS’s Minatour, Sydney & Melbourne.
They arrived in Colombo on the 15th and were re coaled and left of the 17th. They arrived in Aden on the 25th and left the following morning for the Red Sea.
Two days later they received orders that they were to complete their training in Cairo and they received their first inoculation against Typhoid on the same day.
They arrived in Seuz on the 1st of December and left for Port Said at 3:15pm the following day.
On the 3rd of December at 7am they arrived at Port Said and then sailed for Alexandria on the evening of the 5th, arriving the following morning at 10am.
They didn’t come alongside the wharf until 4pm on the 8th and began their disembarkation at 7am the following morning.
They were then entrained to Cairo and then they marched 8 ½ miles to Ma’adi the following day as their horses were still shaky on their legs from the trip.
After spending the remainder of December and all of January at Ma’adi, they relocated their camp to Heliopolis on the 31st of January and joined the 1st and 2nd Regiments to form the 1st Light Horse Brigade.
All of February was spent carrying out Brigade and Divisional training and in early march Harold began to suffer from pain in his cardiac area, Dyspnoea on exertion and Aortic valve regurgitation. His symptoms becoming so severe that he was to be invalided back to Australia.
Harold embarked from Suez on board HMAT Ulysses on the 22nd of March 1916, disembarking in Melbourne on the 15th of April and was admitted into the North Geelong Hospital. It was reported that he was in critical condition and he was discharged 4 weeks later from hospital on the 13th of May and entrained to Adelaide.
Harold was discharged on the 27th of May 1915 due to medical unfitness.