HOWARD, Stanley Robert
| Service Number: | 1680 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 May 1915, Place of Enlistment, Brisbane, Queensland. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 26th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Albert River, Canungra, Queensland, Australia , date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Canungra State School, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Injuries Contributed to War Service , Rosemount Military Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia , 16 April 1937, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens & Crematorium, Queensland |
| Memorials: | Canungra War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 25 May 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1680, 26th Infantry Battalion, Place of Enlistment, Brisbane, Queensland. | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Aug 1915: | Involvement Private, 1680, 26th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Shropshire embarkation_ship_number: A9 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Aug 1915: | Embarked Private, 1680, 26th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Shropshire, Brisbane | |
| 5 Aug 1916: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 1680, 26th Infantry Battalion, GSW to Back, severed Spinal Cord. | |
| 14 Jan 1917: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 1680, 26th Infantry Battalion, Invalided to Australia, paraplegic. |
Obituary, Mr. S.R. Howard
OBITUARY
MR. S. R. HOWARD
Mr. Stanley Robert Howard, who died at Rosemount Military Hospital recently, at the age of 40 years, was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. G.
Howard, of Canungra. In 1915, at the age of 19 years, he enlisted in the 26th Battalion, and saw service on Gallipoli and in France. He was seriously wounded at Pozieres in 1916, and was invalided back to Australia. He was the first patient of the Anzac Hostel, Kangaroo Point, when it was opened by the Prince of Wales, now the Duke of Windsor. He was the only life mem-ber of the Wounded and Incapacitated Sailors and Soldiers' Association of Queensland, and president of the sub-branch of the Incapacitated Sailors' and Soldiers' League of the R.S.S.I.L.A., and was mainly respon-sible for the erection of the diggers' home at Bilinga
Submitted 23 August 2022 by Lynette Turner
Stanley Robert Howard
1920, Stanley became the first resident of Shafston House at Kangaroo Point, after it was officially opened by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) as an Anzac Hostel to care for totally and permanently incapacitated ex-servicemen. It would be his home for the rest of his life.
At Stanley’s funeral on Saturday, April 17, 1937, members of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia’s Incapacitated Sub-Branch formed a guard of honour to farewell their president. Stanley was also a life member of the Wounded and Incapacitated Sailors and Soldiers Association of Queensland and had campaigned to establish a home for Diggers at Bilinga on the Gold Coast.
Aged 40 when he passed away, Stanley had spent half his lifetime as a paraplegic but had done his best to live a life not defined by disability.
According to his niece Elma Dagg, he bought a car whose controls could be operated totally by hand so he had some measure of independence. Stanley also created many beautiful pieces of hand tooled leatherwork, including handbags.
Elma, the daughter of Stanley’s brother, Eric (Keith), nine years his junior, was born in 1940, three years after her uncle had passed away, but her childhood had been filled with stories of Stanley and there had always a photograph of him in the house.
“After the war he bought a motorbike that he could drive from the sidecar,” she said.
“One day, traveling from Coomera to Canungra, he had my father, his much younger brother, on the seat of the bike and they were stopped by a policeman who wanted to know ‘who is in charge of this vehicle?’
Submitted 23 August 2022 by Lynette Turner
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