ANSELL, Frank
| Service Number: | 10314 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Bombardier |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Field Artillery Brigade |
| Born: | Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia, 1893 |
| Home Town: | Swan Hill, Swan Hill, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Swan Hill State School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in action, France, 8 August 1918 |
| Cemetery: |
Adelaide Cemetery Villers-Bretonneux, France Plot III, Row S, Grave No. 1. SUNSHINE AND SHADOWS PASS BUT LOVING MEMORIES FOR EVER LAST |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Swan Hill War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Bombardier, 10314, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Jan 1916: | Involvement Gunner, 10314, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
| 5 Jan 1916: | Embarked Gunner, 10314, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade , HMAT Afric, Melbourne | |
| 27 Jan 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Bombardier, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Frank Atkinson Ansell was the son of Frank Rich Ansell and Emily Teresa Ansell, of Swan Hill, Victoria.
His older brother, 2825 Pte. Alfred William Fitch Ansell 5th Pioneer Battalion AIF, was killed in action at Fromelles on 19 July 1916, aged 29. For many years Private Alfred William Ansell was missing and his remains were found and identified along with 6 others in 2024. His remains were discovered in 2007 but only recently with the use of DNA and forensic evidence has he been positively identified. The remains were reinterred in the Pheasant Wood Cemetery at Fromelles during 2024.
Frank Ansell served on the Western Front continuously from 1916 until he was killed during the great Allied assault on 8 August 1918.
The chaplain who buried him wrote to his father during late 1918, and it was published in the Swan Hill Guardian during November 1918. “Dear Sir. -I write as chaplain of the 3rd Army Brigade, A.F.A., to convey to you the of sympathy, of all ranks in the death of your son, No. 10314 Bdr. Frank Ansell, 8th Battery. On the morning of the 8th, the day of the greatest advance in history of our forces, a shell struck the tail of a gun he was serving and killed your son and another and wounded six. It will be some amelioration of your sorrow to know that your son suffered no pain dying being instantaneous. I immediately arranged for his burial, and his comrades as the guns advanced helped me to carry both men to a cemetery nearby, where we laid them side by side. The exact place of burial is the corner of a French cemetery at Vaire-Sons-Corbi, a village on the south bank of the Somme, about 12 miles east of Amiens. The battery is erecting a cross over his head. Your son was popular amongst his comrades, and respected by officers and men alike as a capable and gallant soldier. He gave his life in a good cause. Those of us who see what war means to a country and its people, feel that it is worth any sacrifice, to keep our own land and our loved ones far from its horrors. With sincerest sympathy, your respectfully, Edwin B. Bond.”
Another younger brother, 138 Corporal Charles Richard Ansell 24th Battalion AIF, also enlisted in 1915 and was twice wounded before being sent home in late 1918.
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