MITCHAM, Cecil Charles
| Service Number: | 607 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 March 1916, Prahan, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 38th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Grays, Essex, England, 1892 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not known |
| Occupation: | Orchard Hand |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 1 December 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Mont Huon Military Cemetery, le Treport, France Grave No. V. D. 9B. INSCRIPTION THE LORD GAVE & THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 4 Mar 1916: | Enlisted Australian Army (Post WW2), Private, 607, 38th Infantry Battalion, Prahan, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Jun 1916: | Involvement Private, 607, 38th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Jun 1916: | Embarked Private, 607, 38th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Melbourne |
Help us honour Cecil Charles Mitcham's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He is commemorated on the Little Thurrock War Memorial and on the Grays War Memorial.
He was 25 and the son of Charles Henry and Minna Mitcham, of "Danehurst," Palmer's Avenue, Grays, Essex. They chose the following inscription for his war grave.
THE LORD GAVE & THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD
He had lived in Australia for four years working as a farmer before he enlisted in a signal section.
He had been wounded in February and again in March 1917 and recovered.
He had been shot in the spine 4th October 1917 and his parents travelled over to France to visit him in hospital on 26th November. and was first treated at an American hospital in France-his brother who was with the Royal Engineers was at the same time in a Mitcham, Surrey Hospital.
Their father Charles Mitcham had at one time been resident of High Street, Grays.
He is commemorated on the Little Thurrock War Memorial and on the Grays War Memorial.
The memorial stands at the north end of Grays High Street; the names of the borough’s Great War dead are inscribed on the east and west panels, while the south-facing panel is inscribed with four lines from the poem, "Bivouac of the Dead" written by Danville, Kentucky native, Theodore O'Hara to honour his fellow soldiers from Kentucky who died in the Mexican-American War. The poem increased its popularity after the Civil War, and its verses have been featured on many memorials to fallen soldiers throughout the world,
On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.
Locally born casualties who fell whilst serving with Australian forces in the Great War who are commemorated on the Grays War Memorial are:
Henry C. Aslett
Frank [Francis] Walter Facer
William Mears
Bertram Neal
Josiah Needham Smith
Albert Stephenson
William George King
It has to be assumed that the following locally born Australian casualties didn’t make it to any of the borough’s war memorials, simply because there were no living relatives still around in the area when the lists were created.
George Seth Clayton
Charles Culley
Jesse Humphrey
John Musgrove
Richard Turnbull
C. Webb
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Birth registration Orsett included Grays then]
Births Sep 1892 Mitcham Cecil Charles Orsett 4a 445
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