KISSELL, John Robert
| Service Number: | 3102 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 12 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 17th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, 20 July 1876 |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Tramway Foreman |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 20 August 1917, aged 41 years |
| Cemetery: |
Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery, Vlamertinghe, Flanders, Belgium VII F 14 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Loftus Sydney Tramways Depot Honor Roll, Sofala WW1 Soldiers Memorial Walkway |
World War 1 Service
| 12 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3102, 17th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Dec 1915: | Involvement Private, 3102, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suevic embarkation_ship_number: A29 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Dec 1915: | Embarked Private, 3102, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Suevic, Sydney |
Help us honour John Robert Kissell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Stephen and Rose KISSELL
Husband of Ada KISSELL
Biography contributed by John Oakes
John KISSELL (Service Number 3102) was born on 20th July 1876 at Bathurst. He commenced working in the Per-Way Branch of the Railways on 11 January 1892 at the age of 15. At that time, he went by the name of John Moffatt. In November of that year he was retrenched and did not work for the NSW Government Railways and Tramways for more than five years until in March 1898 he became a casually employed tram conductor in Sydney. By April 1900 he had become a bond and point cleaner, and in 1901 a shunter. On 1st January 1908 he became shed foreman.
He enlisted at Sydney on 6th September 1915, at first allocated to the 7th Reinforcements to the 17th Battalion. At the age of 39 he married Ada May. Kissell embarked at Sydney on HMAT ‘Suevic’ on 23rd December 1915 and reached Zeitoun, Egypt, on 16th February where he transferred to the 55th Battalion. Only a month later transferred again to the 5th Division Artillery and the 58th Battery, the 15th Brigade Ammunition Column and then the 5th Divisional Ammunition Column in May 1916.
He proceeded overseas through Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force passing through Marseilles on 30th June 1916 on his way to the Western Front in France. At the end of October, he moved again, to the 13th Field Artillery Brigade, 51st Battery. In April 1917 he had a month at the Artillery School, and from 24th June, furlough, returning to duty on 8th July.
He was killed in action on 20 August 1917 and buried in the Vlamertinghe New Cemetery 2½ miles W of Ypres.
Lt B W Webster reported:
‘I saw Kissell, he was a Gunner and was batman to Lieut.R.A. Bennett, (since killed). He was in the 51st Battery, of 13 Field Artillery Brigade. He was a married man, and a very nice chap, and came from Sydney, a middle-aged man, but a ‘young old’ looking chap. He was killed in a shell-hole in what was formerly No-Mans-Land, in front of Cambridge Road, off Potige Road, in the Ypres Salient, in August 1917. He was killed practically outright by a shell. Gunner Reynolds of the same Battery, who was batman to Lt. Cowlishaw, was with Kissell at the time. Reynolds lost his eye by the same shell. It was a stray shell.’
John Kissell left a widow and three children, John William, Margaret and George S.
- based on the Australian War Memorila Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Hoour Board.
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