Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

With added contribution from Peter Grant, grandson of Lewis Grant

Lewis Grant was born in the town of Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on the 9th of July 1895, to his mother, Margaret Grant (nee Ritchie) and father, Noah Grant. He was the third of 6 children.

In about 1900, the family with 4 children moved to Glasgow to pursue work in the father’s trade as a master tailor. The youngest 2 children were born in Glasgow. Sadly, in October 1905 (when Lewis was 10), his father (Noah Grant) died from bowel cancer, leaving the young family in desperate circumstances. Lewis’s mother undertook housework locally (including for the local police station) to make ends meet. As a teenager, Lewis had worked in a grocer’s and tailor’s shop and as a van boy.

When Lewis was sixteen years old he was sentenced to Kibble Boy’s Home in Glasgow for repeatedly pawning his mother’s clothing and stealing hens. The Kibble Boys’ Home was a school where young boys were sent for correction after committing offences. The school offered the boys education training in a range of trades.

On the 4th of June 1914, Lewis left Kibble to go to South Australia as a part of a scheme for young boys to become farmers in South Australia. This scheme was known as the Farm Apprenticeship Scheme. Together with the similar Barwell Boys Scheme of the 1920s, these were a migration opportunity for teenage boys to work on farms in South Australia in the 1910’s and 20’s, while meeting farm labour shortages in the State. Over 2,000 boys were a part of these schemes.

After departing Glasgow, he arrived in Tilbury on board the Orient Liner, Orsova. He then went on the arrive in South Australia where he worked as a farmer labourer in Kadina. On the 21st of April 1915, Lewis enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the age of nineteen years (although declaring himself as aged 21 years and 11 months). This was due to the drought that was occurring at the time, meaning there was little work for farmers.

Lewis was placed in the 8th reinforcements for the 16th battalion, which departed South Australia on the 26th of August 1915 to Alexandria, Egypt for training on the ship ‘Ascanius.’ During their time of training in Alexandria, the battalion learnt many necessary war skills such as infantry tactics, skirmishing, care of the feet, musketry training, distance judging, movement and noise at night, marching, bayonet fighting, construction of defences and obstacles and first aid.

The reinforcements then went on to embark to Gallipoli on the ‘Kalyan’, in which they landed in October of 1915 where they were a part of no major battles. Lewis Grant worked as a soldier during his time in Gallipoli, in which he was neither injured or killed. He then went on to evacuate Gallipoli on the 17th of December 1915. The group Lewis evacuated in then went on to Lemnos Island where they waited for the remainder of the 16th battalion to arrive before departing for Egypt on the Ascanius shortly after Christmas. As of arriving in Egypt, the 16th Battalion regrouped with the rest of the AIF before moving on to the Western Front.

During his time on the Western Front, Lewis went absent without leave on multiple occasions, which often resulted in forfeit of pay for days at a time. He was also wounded and suffered shell shock on the 10th of August 1916, during the Battle of Pozieres.

During his service in 1917, Lewis Grant participated in the First Battle of Bullecourt, which occurred on the 11th of April 1917 when Allied soldiers moved in on the village that was located in Northern France in attempt to capture it as a part of their lines. The battle was originally scheduled for the 10th of April at four a.m., however due to the absence of tanks and other heavy artillery the attack was postponed until the following morning. On the following morning, the allied soldiers and tanks started to move in however due to the failure of tanks and failure of support the darkness many soldiers were taken POW and casualties were heavy. During this battle, troops reached their objectives in the German lines, but many, including Lewis Grant, were taken prisoner of war by the Germans, when they were trapped without support munitions and ran out of ammunition.

After being captured, Lewis was taken POW to the Gustrow camp in Germany, which was located 200km North-East of Hamburg. The camp was described to have lacked infrastructure which made living conditions hard for the soldiers until later in the war when wooden barracks were developed. Lewis Grant was later transferred to the Limburg Camp, which was located 50 miles North-West of Frankfurt. This camp was also described to have poor living conditions.

After the end of the First World War, Lewis was discharged from service by the AIF on the 15th of July 1919 after three years and 270 days of service. He arrived back in Australia on the 31st March 1919 staying first at West Coffee Palace in Hindley Street where he met his future wife , Marinda Higgins. He obtained work as a porter with South Australian Railways, initially at Aldgate and then Bridgewater. He married Marinda Higgins in April 1921, and together they had ten children. Lewis Grant was awarded the British War Medal, 1914/15 star and the Victory Medal. He passed away in the Mt Barker Hospital on the 1st January 1971 due to Myocardial Infarction.

Lewis Grant showed ANZAC spirit during his service in WW1 by displaying the virtues of endurance, courage, humour, mateship, initiative and selflessness. He showed the qualities of courage, loyalty and selflessness when he signed up for the army in a country where he had not been living for very long and then by participating in battles which put his life at major risk when he got to the war. During his service, Lewis Grant was captured and taken to a German camp where he had to show the qualities of endurance and courage to go on in order to survive to return home to Australia at the end of the war.

References:

Birth Certificate Lewis Grant 1895

Marriage Certificate Noah Grant, Margaret West Ritchie 1890

Scotland Census Glasgow 1901

Birth Certificate of Isabella Birnie Grant (Glasgow 1901)

Birth Certificate of William Grant (Glasgow 1903)

Death Certificate of Noah Grant (Glasgow 1905)

AIF service records Lewis Grant 2561 (note references to treatment of ‘shell wound’ as well as shell shock).