BURROWS, Henry John
| Service Numbers: | 7449, 2157 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 11th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Penrith, Penrith Municipality, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 2 September 1918, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, France Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, Daours, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Penrith S P School Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 29 Jun 1917: | Involvement Private, 7449, 11th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 1917: | Embarked Private, 7449, 11th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Borda, Fremantle | |
| 2 Sep 1918: | Involvement Corporal, 2157, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2157 awm_unit: 14th Field Company, Australian Engineers awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1918-09-02 |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Henry John BURROWS, (Service Number 2157) was born on 29 January 1893 at Penrith. He began work for the Locomotive Branch of the NSW Government Railways as a temporary fitter at Penrith on 4 January 1915. Only six months later he was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces though he continued to receive pay increments in 1916 and 1917.
As might be expected of a fitter, he was allocated to the 14th Field Company of Engineers, and indeed in his Attestation Papers on enlistment he gives his calling as ‘engineer’. He had not served his apprenticeship with the Railways but had learned his trade with Henry Vale and Sons at Auburn.
He reached Egypt on New Year’s Day 1916 and was taken on the strength of the 1st Field Company of Engineers. Through the first half of 1916 he served in Egypt with several bouts of illness and was promoted to Lance Corporal in May. He left Alexandria and arrived in Marseilles on 24 June. Through several hospitalisations and leave periods in England in 1917 he was promoted to Corporal and detached to the Lewis Gun School in May 1918.
He was wounded in action on 1 September 1918 and died in France on 2 September 1918 and is buried in the Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, 2¾ miles W of Corbie, Picardie, France.
Somehow the arrangement of the NSWGR&T making up the pay of those serving in the AIF to the prevailing railway pay had been overlooked in Burrow’s case and it was not until 1921 that his mother, Rubina, obtained this benefit.
(NAA B2455-3174060)
Submitted 13 May 2023 by John Oakes