CROWE, William Henry
| Service Number: | 4697 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 17th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Redfern, New South Wales, Australia, 14 February 1887 |
| Home Town: | Camperdown, Inner West, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Moulder's Assistant (Railway Workshop) |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 19 April 1918, aged 31 years |
| Cemetery: |
Longpre-les-Corps Saints British Cemetery |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 13 Apr 1916: | Involvement Private, 4697, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Apr 1916: | Embarked Private, 4697, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
William Henry CROWE (Service Number 4697) was born on 14 March 1887 at Redfern. He first worked for the NSW Railways as a labourer at Eveleigh in 1908. By 1912 he was working in the foundry and in 1915 when he was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces his role was recorded as a moulders’ labourer, while he described his calling on his Attestation Papers of 17 January 1916, as a Moulder’s Assistant. He was 29-years-old and single.
He left Australia through Sydney onboard HMAT ‘Ceramic’ on 14 April 1916.
On 18 April 1918 he had been withdrawn from the front line at Villers-Bretonneux and was preparing to bed down for the night near Hangard Wood. He and others went to a haystack to collect straw for bedding when a German aeroplane appeared and dropped four bombs. Others were killed outright, and Crowe was severely wounded. He was evacuated to a dressing station but died of those wounds the next day.
Submitted 8 June 2023 by John Oakes
Biography contributed by John Oakes
William Henry CROWE, (Service Number 4697) was born on 14th March 1887 at Redfern. He first worked for the NSW Railways as a labourer at Eveleigh in 1908. By 1912 he was working in the foundry and in 1915 when he was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces his role was recorded as a moulders’ labourer, while he described his calling on his Attestation Papers of 17th January 1916, as a Moulder’s Assistant. He was 29 years-old and single.
He left Australia from Sydney onboard HMAT ‘Ceramic’ on 14th April 1916. He does not seem to have spent any time in Egypt except to transfer to HMT ‘Megantic’. He arrived at Plymouth (England) on 7th June 1916. He was almost immediately disciplined for being Absent Without Leave and forfeited eight days’ pay. He did not learn his lesson! In July he was AWL again and forfeited three days’ pay. Even this did not lead to an improvement in behaviour! In September he was again AWL. This time it was for a month from 9th August to 7th September. The penalty this third time was 28 days detention and the loss of 58 days’ pay. The forfeiture is calculated on the basis that the military would neither pay for the absent time nor for the detention time.
In November he went to France via Folkestone. On 11th December he joined the 17th Australian Infantry Battalion.
In early January 1917 he was admitted to hospital in France sick with trench feet and eventually returned to England. He was admitted to the 1st London General Hospital. After a long list of transfers from unit to unit and some furlough he was again in trouble for creating a disturbance in the 63rd Battalion lines after ‘lights out’ on 4th October. He went to France via Southampton on 17thh October 1917. He re-joined the 17th Battalion on 24th October.
On 18th April 1918 he had been withdrawn from the front line at Villers-Bretonneux and was preparing to bed down for the night near Hangard Wood. He and others went to a haystack to collect straw for bedding. A German aeroplane appeared and dropped four bombs. Other men were killed outright. William Crowe was severely wounded. He was evacuated to a dressing station but died of those wounds the next day.
He was buried at Longpre-les-Corps Saints British Cemetery No. 1, 10 miles SE of Abbeville, by Rev C Bullock on 20th April.
- based on notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board