KING, George William
| Service Number: | 6036 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Walgett, New South Wales, Australia, 30 September 1876 |
| Home Town: | Wellington, Wellington, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Fitter's Labourer. |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 17 September 1917, aged 40 years |
| Cemetery: |
Birr Cross Roads Cemetery |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Wellington Cenotaph, Wellington Hall of Memory Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 6036, 2nd Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 6036, 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wiltshire, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
George William KING (Service Number 6036) was born on 30th December 1876 at Walgett. He began working for the NSW Government Railways as a temporary fuelman at Wellington Locomotive Depot in January 1911. A couple of months later he was made permanent and in September 1912 his job was changed to that of fitters’ labourer at the same depot.
It was from this role that he was released to join the Expeditionary Forces on 7th March 1916. Two days after his enlistment at Dubbo he married Frances Annie. He was allotted to the 19th Reinforcements to the 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion.
King left Australia from Sydney aboard HMAT ‘Wiltshire’ on 22 August 1916 and reached Plymouth (England) on 13th October 1916. After a couple of months further training with the 1st Training Battalion he proceeded overseas to France on board SS ‘Arundel’ and joined the 2nd Battalion on 18th December.
In January he was disciplined for ‘Disobedience of orders in that he was using a naked light in billet’. For this offence he was confined to barracks for 14 days.
Four months later he was admitted to the 8th Field Ambulance with a shrapnel wound to his left leg. He returned to duty eight days later. After another four months at the front, King was killed in action in Belgium on 17thSeptember 1917. Private C.R. Daly (2921) reported:
‘… at about 5 p.m. on 17/9/18 the Battalion relieved some English regiments at Ypres. At about 7 p.m. Fritz started shelling and the second shell burst he put over landed right amongst a group of about a dozen soldiers including King and another soldier named Hagan (No. 5383) both of whom were killed and three others wounded. The following morning these two men, together with four others, who had been previously killed were buried in the one grave about 30 yards away from the line. The grave was surrounded by a barbed wire fence and when [I] left they were making a cross with the names of the six soldiers on it, to be placed on the grave.’
This burial was at a point about 1-mile NE of Zillebeke. After the war, in 1926, it was located and King’s remains exhumed and re-interred at Birr Cross Roads Cemetery, Zillebeke, 1¾ miles E of Ypres.
Pensions were granted to his widow and to two children, George Richard and Grace Myrtle.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.