Frederick Charles CROLE

CROLE, Frederick Charles

Service Number: 364
Enlisted: 10 January 1916
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: 40th Infantry Battalion
Born: Healesville, Victoria, Australia, 1873
Home Town: Trowutta, Circular Head, Tasmania
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Farmer
Died: Killed in Action, Belgium, 8 May 1917
Cemetery: Strand Military Cemetery, Ploegsteert, Wallonie, Belgium
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Stanley Circular Head War Memorial
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World War 1 Service

10 Jan 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 364, 40th Infantry Battalion
1 Jul 1916: Involvement Private, 364, 40th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Hobart embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: ''
1 Jul 1916: Embarked Private, 364, 40th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Berrima, Hobart
8 May 1917: Involvement Sergeant, 364, 40th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 364 awm_unit: 40th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1917-05-08

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Frederick (Fred) was the youngest of nine children of William Ebenezer Crole (born 1831 in Stepney, London) and Ellen Brown (born 1832 in Hertfordshire, England). William and Ellen married in Southwark, London in 1852 and emigrated emigrated to Melbourne, Victoria in 1954.

Fred married Martha (Lena) Helena Phillips (born 1875 in Emerald, Victoria) in 1895 in Bloomfield, Victoria. Fred and Martha resided in the Warragul district for a couple of years where Fred was a Labourer, and in 1902 moved to Bunbury in Western Australia where Fred worked as a Farmer and Timber Getter. Fred and his family returned to Edith Creek in the Gippsland region in Victoria where Fred was a Labourer until 1908 when he  moved to Trowutta in Tasmania and took up 100 acres of timbered bushland. Lena and the children remained in Victoria until Fred had cleared sufficient land to build a house (initially a one room hut with a bag covered hole for a window). Lena and the children travelled to Trowutta on a sledge pulled by a team of bullocks - piled high with furniture and belongings and Lena and the children perched on top. ( Information courtesy of Christine Devers) 

Fred's eldest son Arthur William enlisted in May 1915 and served with 26 and 69 Battalions as a Private (Service No: 1225). Fred enlisted in the AIF in 1916 and served as a Sergeant (Service No: 364). He was KIA in 1917 in Belgium and son Arthur was needed at home to support his mother and siblings and run the farm.

Fred's son Ronald Henry served in WWII as a Private (Service No: QX44940/Q140253), His Grandsons also served:

Sons of Arthur William - Lawrence Vyvyan Crole (Service No: A6285) as a Private in the RAAF during the Korean War; and Frederick Charles Crole (Service No: TX14799/T102580) as a Private with the Army in WWII

Sons of daughter Helena - Frederick McCausland Whish - Wilson (Service No: T6595) as a Sapper in WWII; Cosmo Colquoun Whish - Wilson in the RAAF (Service No: 88087)

Sons in Law also served in WWII - Louis Henry Allan Miller (Service No: TX6742)a Bombardier; and Edward Leonard Greenberg (Service No: TX5998) as a Driver.

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