S9722
NAISMITH, Ernest Robert John
| Service Number: | 29988 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 January 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | Motor Drivers |
| Born: | Mount Pleasant, Barossa - South Australia, Australia, 8 August 1895 |
| Home Town: | Mount Pleasant, Barossa, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Mount Pleasant Primary School |
| Occupation: | Assistant Surveyor |
| Died: | Natural Causes, Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia, 6 September 1972, aged 77 years |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Adelaide Gilles Street Primary School WW1 Honour Roll (New), Campbelltown WW1 Memorial, Largs North Port Adelaide Sailing Club Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 5 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Driver, 29988, Australian Field Artillery - 116th to 120th Howitzer Batteries: AIF | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Oct 1916: | Involvement Driver, 29988, Australian Field Artillery - 116th to 120th Howitzer Batteries: AIF, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '4' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 3 Oct 1916: | Embarked Driver, 29988, Australian Field Artillery - 116th to 120th Howitzer Batteries: AIF, HMAT Aeneas, Melbourne | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Driver, 29988 | |
| 22 Aug 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Driver, 29988, Motor Drivers |
Help us honour Ernest Robert John Naismith's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Cameron Naismith
Ernest Robert John Naismith was born and raised in the small town of Mount Pleasant, South Australia. Ernest was one of the five children belonging to John Alexander Naismith and Eva Fances Whitfield.
Ernest grew up with four other siblings, three boys and one girl. Their names were Albert (who was the oldest), Lindsay (second oldest), George (fourth oldest) and Jean who was the youngest and the only girl.
When Ernest finished school he pursued his career as an Assistant Surveyor and would earn $49,000 a year.
Ernest had some experience before he went to World War One. He was a land cadet for three years and then he went into the 80th Battalion and then was transferred to 19th Infantry Battalion for one year and then finally transferred for nine months as a Regiment Signaller.
When Ernest was nineteen years of age, World War one had just started but he did not enlist until he was twenty, on the 5th of January, 1916. Ernest enlisted as an A.I.F Private. Ernest embarked on a ship from Melbourne and took forty-nine days until he finally arrived at his destination, Plymouth.
Ernest had been in Plymouth for a month when he developed a serious case of the mumps. This took him out of action for just over four months. Ernest had such a serious case of the mumps that his whole neck would have swelled up and he would have been having a lot of trouble breathing.
Ernest was taken on strength in France a week after being cured and then was sent to fight as part of the 1st brigade. He was in the 2nd Depot Battalion and was also a part of the 120th Howitzer Batteries. The Howitzer was a short gun that shot at low velocities at high trajectories. The battery was a unit of guns.
Ernest survived during the war and was discharged on the 22nd of August 1919. When Ernest arrived back in Australia, he continued his career as an Assistant Surveyor. Ernest married Hilda Elesmere Doddridge and had no children.
Ernest died on the 6th of September, 1972, two days before his birthday. He died in Mount Gambier when he was 77 years of age.
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