MASON, Harry
| Other Name: | Mason, Harvey |
|---|---|
| Service Number: | 393 |
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 27th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia , 18 November 1864 |
| Home Town: | Southwark, City of Charles Sturt, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer/Bootmaker |
| Died: | South Australia, 21 February 1934, aged 69 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
West Terrace Cemetery (AIF Section) Light Oval, Row 4S, Aspect E, Site Number 24 |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 31 May 1915: | Involvement Private, 393, 27th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Geelong embarkation_ship_number: A2 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 31 May 1915: | Embarked Private, 393, 27th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Geelong, Adelaide | |
| Date unknown: | Wounded 393, 27th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Trevor Pyatt
Harry "Harvey" Mason (1864–1934)
Harry Mason (also recorded during his military service as "Harvey Mason") was a bootmaker, a father of eight, and a First World War veteran who served in the trenches of Gallipoli and France despite being over the standard enlistment age.
Early Life and Origins
Harry was born on 18 November 1864 in Adelaide, South Australia. He was the son of Seth Kember Mason and Caroline Eliza Brown, English immigrants who had arrived in Adelaide aboard the Royal Charlie in May 1854.
Although born in Adelaide, Harry spent his early childhood on the Echunga Goldfields in the Adelaide Hills, where his father worked as a shoemaker for the mining community. This connection to the hills was strong enough that Harry listed "Echunga" as his place of birth on his military enlistment papers.
By 1873, when Harry was about 8 years old, the family had returned to the City of Adelaide. Newspaper reports from January of that year place the family living near the Exhibition Grounds (North Terrace), where Harry played with his younger sister Edith.
Trade and Marriage
Following in his father's footsteps, Harry became a Bootmaker by trade.
On 9 October 1884, at the age of 19, Harry married Elizabeth Ann Shaw (aged 17) at the Baptist Church on Flinders Street, Adelaide. Elizabeth was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Shaw.
The couple settled in the inner-eastern and southern suburbs of Adelaide (including Parkside, Kensington Park, and Hyde Park) and had eight children:
Edith May (1887)
Henry John Percival (1889)
Edward Gordon (1891)
Florence Irene (1893)
Isabell Mabel (1895)
Arnold Stanley (1897)
May (1899)
Dorothy Irene (Sady) (1901)
War Service (1915–1917)
On 27 January 1915, Harry enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Although he stated his age was 44, he was actually 50 years old at the time. He was assigned to the 27th Battalion (and later the 50th Battalion) with the service number 393.
His service record reveals a gruelling timeline:
Gallipoli (1915): Harry served at Gallipoli but was evacuated to a Greek hospital in Alexandria in December 1915 suffering from severe frostbite, a common affliction for soldiers in the trenches during the freezing winter of late 1915.
Western Front (1916): After recovering, he was transferred to the 50th Battalion and sent to France in June 1916.
Wounded in Action: On 16 August 1916, Harry was wounded in action in France. He was hospitalized with "Shell Shock" and "Debility".
He was returned to Australia on the hospital ship Runic in May 1917 and medically discharged on 1 August 1917, classified as "Overage and Shell Shock".
Later Life and Death
After the war, Harry returned to his wife Elizabeth and their home on Harley Street, Hyde Park. He lived for another 17 years.
Harry Mason passed away on 21 February 1934, aged 69. He was interred in the AIF Cemetery (West Terrace). His headstone bears the colour patch of the 50th Battalion (Blue over Pink in a circle) and the inscription "Husband of E.A. Mason".
Biography by Trevor Pyatt 29/11/2025
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