WOOLHOUSE, John Vernon
| Service Number: | 1741 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
| Born: | Greenough, Western Australia, Australia, 1868 |
| Home Town: | Geraldton, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Drapers assistant |
| Died: | Illness, France, 18 August 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
Etaples Military Cemetery Etaples Military Cemetery, Etaples, Nord Pas de Calais, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Geraldton District Great War Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Apr 1916: | Involvement Private, 1741, 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1), Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Apr 1916: | Embarked Private, 1741, 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1), HMAT Aeneas, Fremantle |
Help us honour John Vernon Woolhouse's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Eldest son 1751 Private Albert Woolhouse, 59th Battalion, of Melbourne, Victoria (originally of Geraldton, WA), who was killed in action on 26 September 1917.
1741 Private John Vernon Woolhouse was the father of 14 children, all born in the Geraldton area of Western Australia. He enlisted in January 1916, and gave his age as 44 years which was an understatement as he had been born in 1868, which would have made him 48 years of age. He left Australia with the 51st Battalion in April 1916, and spent some weeks in Egypt before he was sent to France via England. He had only been in France for a fortnight before he was sent to hospital in Etaples suffering from bronchial pneumonia, and he died on the 18 August 1916. He was buried in the Etaples Military Cemetery, France.
The following article appeared in the Daily News Wednesday 2 February 1916,
A GERALDTON VOLUNTEER
"By the train last night (states- the 'Geraldton Express) there proceeded to Perth, bound for Blackboy Camp, a recruit whose name is well and favorably known throughout the whole Victoria district. This was J. Vernon Woolhouse, a man who isn't exactly a chicken. He is leaving a wife and 14 children, and a steady position, to help in the good work of smashing the Teutons and the Turks. He left our town as modestly and unostentatiously as he has lived in it for the last quarter of a century, and all will wish him a safe passage through all wars vicissitudes, and a happy return to the land of his birth."