BULS, August Henry
| Service Number: | 2454 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 29th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Liverpool, Lancashire, England., 1887 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Fireman-Mercantile Marine |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 11 April 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Mar 1916: | Involvement Private, 2454, 29th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Anchises embarkation_ship_number: A68 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Mar 1916: | Embarked Private, 2454, 29th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Anchises, Melbourne |
Help us honour August Henry Buls's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He was the son of John Buls and Margaret (nee Martin) who were married at St.James the Less C.of E. Church, Liverpool, in 1876.
His father was a marine fireman from Hamburg, Germany and his mother was born in Scotland.
August had six siblings who survived childhood; William, Jean, James, Katie and Jessie.
By 1891 the family were living at 7 Molyneux Street, Bootle. They were at 18 Pine Grove, Bootle in 1901 and at 198 Marsh Lane, Bootle in 1911.
August was also a marine fireman like his father. He enlisted in the Australian Forces at Melbourne as Henry Buls on the 2nd September 1915.
He embarked for the front in March 1916 and was taken on strength when his ship H.M.A.T. Anchises reached Tel-el-Kebir in April. From there he joined the British Expeditionary Force at Marseilles in June. He was declared missing in action on the 11th April 1917 and was later presumed to have died on that date.
He is remembered on the Merseyside Roll of Honour.
His brother, James Buls, also a marine fireman, enlisted at Melbourne just a month later giving his address as 2 Silvester Street, Liverpool. James survived the war.
In 1915, [August] Henry gave his next of kin as his father, John Buls of 17 Boreland Street, Bootle. This was changed in red pen: John Buls was Interned at No 210 Liberty Hall, Ware, Herts. Margaret Buls was living at 21 Paxton Street, Everton.
"Liberty Hall" was Libury Hall, originally a German Industrial and Farm Colony set up to provide work and shelter for German-speaking unemployed and destitute men.
At the start of 1915 it was converted into an internment camp for elderly, infirm and rheumatic men whose health is likely to be very seriously injured by detention in Military Camps. 188 internees lived and occasionally died there. It continued to operate as a farm colony producing most of its own requirements.