Richard William BARKER

Richard William BARKER Update Details

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BARKER, Richard William

Service Number:	56904
Enlisted:	25 April 1918
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	11th Light Horse Regiment
Born:	Queensland, Australia, 1 March 1869
Home Town:	Southport, Gold Coast, Queensland
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Commercial Traveller
Died:	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 9 June 1948, aged 79 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Toowong (Brisbane General) Cemetery, Queensland Plot: 20-11-14A
Memorials:

World War 1 Service

25 Apr 1918:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 56904, 11th Light Horse Regiment
10 Jun 1918:	Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 56904, 11th Light Horse Regiment, Embarked at Sydney aboard A18 H.T. Wiltshire on 10 Jun 1918, disembarked Suez 17 Jul 1918.
19 Jan 1919:	Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 56904, 11th Light Horse Regiment, Embarked to return to Australia at Suez, due to debility, aboard H.T. Orsova on 19 Jan 1919.
3 Apr 1919:	Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 56904, 11th Light Horse Regiment
Date unknown:	Involvement Private, 56904, 11th Light Horse Regiment

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Biography contributed by Claude McKelvey

Richard William Barker was the eldest of four brothers who served in the military. He and his brothers, John Charles (Boer war and WW1) and James Frederick (Boer war) served abroad. His youngest brother, Eli, was serving in the Defence Forces since prior to WW1 and during WW1 served on the home front at Darwin.

Richard William Barker enlisted for WW1 in 1918 and on his Attestation Paper, dated 25 Apr 1918, he noted that; he was born in Lancashire, England, on 1 Mar 1877 and was 41 years 1 month of age; he was married with no children and a commercial traveller; and his N.O.K. was his wife Mrs. Agnes Chambers Barker, High St, Southport, Qld. It appears Richard changed his birth details on enlistment, had he used the correct date of 1 Mar 1869 it would have meant he would have been 49 years old on enlistment.

Richard William Barker was born on 1 Mar 1869 in Queensland (likely at Higfields, Toowoomba), a son to John Barker and Mary Barker (nee McGarry). He married Agnes Chambers Fraser on 16 Mar 1898 at Murphy's Creek, Qld, and they had 1 child, who unfortunately died a day after birth. At the time of their marriage Richard was the stationmaster at Bororen on the Gladstone Line.

(source- National Archives Australia- WW1 service record; "The Barker Brothers" Blog- John Oxley Library, State Library Qld; Orange Blossoms: Barker-Fraser- The Toowoomba Chronicle, 26 Mar 1898; His mother's Obituary- The Daily Mail (Brisb), 28 Feb 1924).

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