SUMMERS, William Wigan
| Service Number: | 81 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 August 1914, Enlisted in Sydney. |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 1st Field Ambulance |
| Born: | Measham, Leicestershire, England, August 1887 |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Permanent Way (Track) Worker |
| Died: | Died of wounds, Gallipoli, Turkey, 28 June 1915 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 81, 1st Field Ambulance, Enlisted in Sydney. | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 81, 1st Field Ambulance, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Oct 1914: | Embarked Lance Corporal, 81, 1st Field Ambulance, HMAT Euripides, Sydney | |
| 16 Dec 1914: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 1st Field Ambulance |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
William Wigan SUMMERS (Service Number 81) was born at Measham, Leicestershire about August 1887. He worked in the Tramways Permanent Way Branch in Sydney. Summers enlisted at Sydney on 25th August 1914 and gave his mother, living in Derbyshire as his next of kin. He gave his ‘trade or calling’ on his Attestation Papers as ‘Labourer’.
He was allotted to the 9th Field Ambulance. He embarked HMAT ‘Euripides’ at Sydney on 20th October 1914. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 16th December 1914. He is recorded as proceeding to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force for Gallipoli as a stretcher bearer on 5th April 1915, so he was presumably part of the landings on Anzac Day. Corporal R W Baker (97) offers the only surviving, albeit second hand, account to Summers’ death:
‘I knew Summers – he was a Lance-Corporal and in A Section and was known as “Johnny”. He was killed at Victoria Gully on 28/6/15, not 1916. I was down at Cape Helles at the time, but when I got back, about the beginning of August, I was told by W.O. Griffiths, then Sergeant of A Section, that Summers had been sniped through the head near Victoria Valley during a demonstration there, whilst an attack was being made at Cape Helles. Summers was the only man of that name in the 1st Field Ambulance. He was ruddy complexioned, 5’6” or 7”, thickset and joined up in Sydney.’
He died on board Hospital Ship ‘Sicilia’ on 28th June 1915 and was buried at sea the next day. He is remembered on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.