Roy Elliott (Slim) ECCLESTONE

ECCLESTONE, Roy Elliott

Service Numbers: W5889, WX16947
Enlisted: 23 June 1941, 7 Workshop and Parks Coy
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion
Born: Donnybrook, Western Australia, 2 February 1904
Home Town: Wagerup, Waroona, Western Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Carpenter
Died: Perth, Western Australia, 12 October 1974, aged 70 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia
Memorials: Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial
Show Relationships

World War 2 Service

23 Jun 1941: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, W5889, 7 Workshop and Parks Coy
7 Oct 1941: Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, W5889, 7 Workshop and Parks Coy
8 Oct 1941: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX16947
16 Jan 1942: Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX16947, 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion, ex Fremantle for Singapore per Aquitania
8 May 1942: Imprisoned PoW camps: Selarang, Changi; Tamakan; Reptu 30km Camp A Force Burma Green Force No 3 Battalion; PoW No3081 Worked on Burma end of the Burma-Thai Railway
15 Oct 1945: Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX16947, 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion, ex Singapore to Fremantle per HS Karoa
11 Mar 1946: Discharged Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, WX16947, 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion

Help us honour Roy Elliott Ecclestone's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Royal Elliott Enoch Ecclestone (aka Roy and Slim) was the eldest of five children of William (Bill) Ecclestone (b1877 in Preston, WA) and Ada Jane Grace Dawson (b1879 in Vasse, WA). Bill (a Farmer in Boyanup, WA) and Ada married in 1903 in Bunbury WA. They lived in Donnybrook and Northam before settling in Wagerup - Bill was a Farmer.

Roy worked as a Greengrocer in Waroona, WA before moving to Narrikup where he was a Farmer in 1935 when he married Elsie Mabel Hunt (b1904 in Kent, England) - Elsie had immigrated with her parents and siblings, arriving in Albany WA on board the Rimutaka in 1911. Elsie's family settled at Narrikup, where her father was a Farmer at Wattlelands. Roy and Elsie lived in Yilgarn, Kalgoorlie and Southern Cross where Roy was a Carpenter.

Elsie and the children returned to her family farm in Narrikup and Roy enlisted in the ACMF in 1941 (Private; Service No:W5880. He was attached to 7 Workshop and Parks Coy when he was Discharged in October 1941 to enlist in the AIF. Roy served with 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion (Private; Service No:WX16947) and was captured by the Japanese in Singapore in April 1942. Roy (PoW No:3081) was interned at Changi in Singapore, Tamarkan and Reptu 30km Camp and worked with A Force Burma Green Force No 3 Battalion on the Burma end of the Burma/Thai Railway (2/4 Machine Gun Battalion). He was recovered from the Japanese on 4 October 1945 and returned to Australia from Singapore in November. Roy was Discharged in March 1946.

Roy worked as a Timber Worker at Harris River via Collie, WA and died in Perth in 1974. Elsie remained in Narrikup, where she died in 2002.

Read more...