S9963
PARDEY, Ernest Lescombe
| Service Number: | 2346 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 January 1916, Adelaide, South Australia |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Light Horse Regiment |
| Born: | Port Pirie, South Australia, 24 April 1882 |
| Home Town: | Westbourne Park (Cottonville), Mitcham, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Motorman |
| Died: | Adelaide Hospital, South Australia, 6 March 1929, aged 46 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
AIF Cemetery, West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia Section: LO, Road: 1N, Site No: 16 |
| Memorials: | Edwardstown District WW1 Roll of Honor, Unley Town Hall WW1 Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Adelaide, South Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Apr 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2346, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Botanist embarkation_ship_number: A59 public_note: '' | |
| 29 Apr 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2346, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Botanist, Adelaide | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 2346, 3rd Light Horse Regiment |
LCpl Ernest Lescombe Pardey
From How We Served
2346 Lance Corporal Ernest Lescombe Pardey of Clarence Park, South Australia had been married and employed as a motorman when he enlisted for War Service on the Janurary the 17th 1916. Allocated to reinforcements for the 3rd Light Horse Regiment 1st AIF, Ernest was embarked for Egypt and further training on the 26th of April and joined his Regiment in the field in the vicinity of Romani on the 14th of June 1916.
Leslie's service would be continuous aside bouts of sickness which caused him to be hospitalised on several occassions, these included reoccurring pyrexia, gastroenteritis and diarrhoea. With the War's end, Leslie was returned to Australia for demobilisation and discharge from the 1st AIF which took place on the 11th of August 1919. The illness's which Leslie contracted whilst serving during the 'Great War' however had taken their toll on his health, and by the 7th of March 1929, whilst a patient of the Adelaide Hospital, Leslie now aged 45, passed prematurely.
Leslie left behind a widow and their young son and was formally interred within West Terrace Cemetery, South Australia.
Submitted 20 August 2019 by Evan Evans
Biography
In 1916 Ernest was granted extended leave from the MTT to serve in the AIF and returned after discharge. He was 34 years old with a young son (Ray) when he joined the army. It is a family story that because he was in protected service (MTT) he wasn’t obliged to enlist but women kept handing him a white feather. (Chiefly a phenomenon of Britain, white feathers were typically handed over by young women to men out of uniform during wartime, the implication being that the man concerned was a 'shirker' or a coward. The co-called 'Organisation of the White Feather' was initiated by Admiral Charles Fitzgerald in the opening month of the war and was encouraged by a number of writers, including Mary Ward. The organisation was founded as a means of applying pressure to able bodied men to enlist with the British Army. The practice of handing out white feathers gathered pace in 1915 as the result of a growing perception of manpower shortages, and continued sporadically for the remainder of the war. Even soldiers home on leave - and out of uniform - found themselves the (inevitably disgusted) target of bearers of white feathers. For those men who necessarily remained at home in key state industries the effect of being presented with white feathers was often one of shame.)
World War 1 details:
He enlisted on the 17/01/1916, age 33 years, 5'11" (although it is believed he was taller than this) 150 lbs, Medium complexion, blue eyes, dark hair and a Presbyterian. He wrote that he had served for 4 years in the 17 ALH. This could relate to his time as a trooper in Port Pirie. His Service Number was 2346, and he was a Private in the 16th Reinforcements of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. He embarked on the 26/4/1916 for the Middle East.
The 3rd Light Horse Regiment, with the black and white colour patch sourced its soldiers and trained recruits in South Australia and Tasmania. With Chauvel as the commander of the 1st Light Horse Brigade the men of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment were molded into an enthusiastic and efficient body of men. The battle at Gallipolli was over by the time Ernest arrived in Egypt but most Light Horse units, including his, remained in the area of Sinai and Palestine for the remainder of the war. Their contribution helped to confirm the national identity and fighting spirit of the Australians and New Zealanders.
Their courage and determination helped carved a niche in the rich tradition which was to surround the history of the Light Horse. (The Third Australian Light Horse Regiment 1914-1918; by Neil Smith. Melbourne, 1993.)
"PARDEY—On the 6th March, Ernest Lescombe Pardey, beloved husband of Lillian, devoted daddy of Raymond, Audrey, and Ross, of Cumberland-avenue, also only brother of Mrs. H. Verco, Knoxville (late 3rd Light Horse, AIF.)." - from the Adelaide Advertiser 09 Mar 1929 (nla.gov.au)
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