Cecil Johnson (Algy) WHITE

WHITE, Cecil Johnson

Service Number: 4872
Enlisted: 17 February 1917
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 48th Infantry Battalion
Born: Budleigh, Salterton, Devon, England, 15 October 1893
Home Town: Renmark, Renmark Paringa, South Australia
Schooling: King Edwards Grammar School, Camp Hill Birmingham, England
Occupation: Horticulturist
Died: Died of wounds, France, 5 April 1918, aged 24 years
Cemetery: Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension
Grave Reference: VIII. F. 19, Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension, Warloy-Baillon, Picardie, France
Memorials: Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Men from Renmark and District Roll of Honor Boards (4)
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World War 1 Service

17 Feb 1917: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4872, 32nd Infantry Battalion
23 Jun 1917: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4872, 32nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: ''
5 Apr 1918: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4872, 48th Infantry Battalion, Dernancourt/Ancre, KIA :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4872 awm_unit: 48 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-04-05

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Biography contributed by Al Staunton

Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark, SA : 1913 - 1942), Friday 10 May 1918, page 5

PRIVATE CECIL J. WHITE.
Died April 5th in France.

Just splendid it is,

This thing you have done.

While hating like hell the sight of a gun,

For the meanings it had,

You ventured where

The great ones gather

Who do and dare,

A bout with death :

Sans calls of bugle blare,

Sans wars false cace,

Sans love of bloody strife,

Sans recompense

You went,

And all you had you gave—e'en life.

So here's to your spirit, "Algy" old son

While hating it, facing it,

Facing, you won.

Forwards.

L'HABIT ROUGE.


Accompanying the above verses, was the following note: "Algy" White was known to me, better than to most here. I know he endured mental torture, and he would talk to me very deeply over the war. He loathed going, he hated the idea of killing and the murderous business of war. He said he went because he thought "he ought." There was no love of "novelette glory of war" in him. He was at heart an artist, and possessed a facile pen for caricature. I knew him to be a kind hearted fellow, and I had a great liking for him.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article109222965

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Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon

He was 24 and the son  of Sydney Bowring and Annie Margaret White.

His CWGC record in respect of place of birth [Native of Ibstock, Leicester, England] conflicts with his declaration at attestation, but no birth registration has been found.

Biography contributed by Al Staunton

Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark, SA : 1913 - 1942), Friday 3 May 1918, page 4

THE LATE PTE. C. J. WHITE.


There are many people In Renmark particularly of the younger generation who will feel a pang of sorrow at the news of the death of Pte. C. J. White, who was reported—in the 394th casualty list—as having died as the result of wounds received in action. The late Pte. C. J. White (Algy) was liked by those who knew and understood him and beneath a somewhat roughened exterior he bore many traces of refinement and education. He possessed a deep well of dry humour which manifested itself in an exceptional ability at caricature drawing. The late Pte. White was the son of a manufacturing chemist of Birmingham, in which district he received his education at King Edward's School, Camphill. He came out to Renmark about seven years ago in company with Mr. Penton and the Taaffe Bros., and it was during the voyage that the name by which he was thenceforth known to all and sundry was given him by a playful steward. Both Algy's parents are dead but at the time he left Renmark he had a brother and sister living, the brother then serving with the gas-section of the Royal Engineers. His other relatives in England lived principally in the Birming-ham and London districts, one uncle in the former place owning a brass-bedstead manufacturing business and another uncle in London (with whom he stayed prior to embarking for Australia) being manager of the South Metropolitan Gas-works. Algy made several attempts to enlist but he was always rejected on account of his bad eyesight, and, though at the time of the conscription call-up, he was accepted for the A.I.F. he only spent three weeks in the Adelaide camp before he was discharged owing to defective sight. A few months later he again responded to the invitation or the recruiting sergeant and this time he was finally accepted for the infantry with which arm of the service he went over to England and France. It is some ten months since he enlisted and—according to letters received—ten or eleven weeks since he went over to France. Algy White always professed that he had no bloodthirsty inclinations or desires to pose as a man or war ; he was essentially peace-loving, and it seemed one of the tragedies of his life that though for so long he bewailed and cursed the fate that brought him to Renmark, when he was finally accepted for military service a change came over him in that direction, and he admitted that he had found a love for Renmark and that it was filled with a strong desire that he might be spared the ordeal of battle to return to the spot and the life which had now grown dear to him. It is not with levity that the name Algy is used here, Algy he always was and will remain to those who knew him intimately—an honest plodding Englishman and a faithful friend who will not return to the Renmark ; once so hated and later grew to love.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article109222920

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