S8344
DAVIES, Norman Alexander
| Service Number: | 2389 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 1st Australian Reserve Park |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia, 24 August 1888 |
| Home Town: | Mount Pleasant, Barossa, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Motor Trolley driver |
| Died: | Mile End, South Australia, 20 January 1973, aged 84 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia |
| Memorials: | Mount Pleasant Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement 2389, 1st Australian Reserve Park, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '21' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Armadale embarkation_ship_number: A26 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: | Embarked 2389, 1st Australian Reserve Park, HMAT Armadale, Melbourne | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Sergeant, 2389 |
Help us honour Norman Alexander Davies's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Paula Bartsch
Enlisted 12 September 1914 in Australian Reserve Park 1 Company at Morphettville, South Australia.
Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria on board HMAT A26 Armadale on 20 October 1914.
Served Alexandria, Montreal, Cairo, Marseilles and France.
To be Corporal 3 March 1916.
Suffered concussion 24 May 1917 (not military related, private boxing).
Granted Special Leave 11 October 1918.
Employed in private sector as Engineer and Farmer 14 May 1919 to 14 October 1919.
Married Hilda K Scutt of Castle Villa, Rowland Castle, Hant, England.
Died 20 January 1973, resided Mile End, South Australia, cremated Centennial Park.
Commemorated on Mount Pleasant Soldiers' Memorial Hall Honor Board, Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church Honor Board and Mount Pleasant Anglican Church Honor Board.
Returned to Australia, living from 1921 to 1941 at Yatala, now Rosewater. Divorced in 1946.
Norman was actively involved in the Labor movement, and converted a large barn that was on their property at 37 Peel Street, Yatala, to hold dances, socials and other meetings to assist the unemployed in the Unemployment Camps in the Port Adelaide area. Norman was an amateur boxer and ran boxing classes for the lads, helping keep them out of trouble. Also involved them in playing football and cricket, forming teams that played weekly.
Norman and Hilda became involved with the Spiritualist movement in South Australia and used the barn as a hall for what they called the New Age Mission, for many years, holding Sunday Services there, and classes during the week.
By 1941 Norman and Hilda had moved to 24 Invergowrie Ave, Rosefield. By 1943 they were at 8 Ailsa Street, Fullarton Estate. This was the address for Hilda in 1946 when she applied for divorce, with Norman living at Childers Street, North Adelaide, and being accused of adultery.
Norman focussed on other interests after the divorce, whilst Hilda continued to run the New Age Mission until her death in December 1956.
(latter detail provided by Lis Harwood, researching the history of the New Age Mission)