PRETTY, Hubert Arthur
| Service Number: | 744 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 26 August 1914, Broadmeadows, Vic. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 5th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Launceston, Tas., 1886 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Plumber |
| Died: | 1942, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery, Victoria Methodist Section C Grave 2428 |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 26 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 744, 5th Infantry Battalion, Broadmeadows, Vic. | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 744, 5th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Orvieto embarkation_ship_number: A3 public_note: '' | |
| 21 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 744, 5th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Orvieto, Melbourne |
Help us honour Hubert Arthur Pretty's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Rebecca PRETTY
Of 101 Elizabeth Street, Launceston, Tas.
RETURNED SOLDIER'S FAILING - December 1925
Imprisonment Ordered.
A sad story was related at the City Court on Friday when Hubert Arthur Pretty, aged 48 years a one legged returned soldier, was charged with having insufficient lawful means of support. The bench was occupied by Mr R Knight, P. M. and Messrs T. O'Callaghan W. H. Curtis, T. Latham, and R. Lord, J. P.'s Plain-clothes Constable A McKerral said: -I have known Pretty since 1917. He lost a leg at the war. He spends his pension money in drink as soon as he is paid. He sleeps in the parks or wherever he finds himself. When he is drunk he uses filthy language. He is a pest to the community Cyril George Bartram, officer in charge of the war pensions section, Department of Repatriation said: -In 1920 Pretty was expelled from the Caulfield Military Hospital on account of his drunkenness. He was at Lara for many months after that, and the department held his pension money
in trust for him. He left that institution, and, returning in a drunken condition was discharged. He was given portion of the accumulated pension money and a passage to Queensland where, he had said, he could find a position He received an additional amount of money on arrival so that he would not be without means of support. Our files disclose that he was always drunk there. He was later found destitute in Wodonga. For months after that he received his pension in daily instalments. Often he would be drunk on arrival at the departmental offices early in the morning. He has been drunk every day since he returned from Tasmania some days ago. The deputy commissioner has now decided to suspend Pretty's s pension until such time as he satisfies the department that he can spend his money in a proper manner. On account of his good war record we have the utmost sympathy with Pretty, and have done all we can for him, apparently without effect The police records showed that Pretty had several convictions for minor offences. In sentencing him to imprisonment for 12 months, Mr Knight said -We are sending you to gaol for a long period in your own interests - to wean you from the drink.
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