Sir Wilfrid Selwyn (Billy) KENT HUGHES KBE, OBE, MVO, MC, MiD

KENT HUGHES, Wilfrid Selwyn

Service Numbers: 60, VX26600
Enlisted: 17 August 1914, Melbourne, Victoria
Last Rank: Colonel
Last Unit: 8th Division Headquarters
Born: Melbourne, Victoria, 12 June 1895
Home Town: Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
Schooling: Trinity Grammar School & Melbourne CofE Grammar School
Occupation: Student (later Printer)
Died: Natural causes, Kew, Victoria, 31 July 1970, aged 75 years
Cemetery: Not yet discovered
Memorials: Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Prahran City of Prahran Lodge No 115 Honour Roll WW2, St Martins Hawksburn HB
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World War 1 Service

17 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 60, Melbourne, Victoria
19 Oct 1914: Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 60, 7th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1,

--- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: ''

19 Oct 1914: Embarked AIF WW1, Sergeant, 60, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne
1 Apr 1915: Promoted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 7th Infantry Battalion
25 Apr 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 7th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli
30 Jan 1920: Discharged AIF WW1, Major, 8th Light Horse Regiment

World War 2 Service

13 Jun 1940: Involvement Colonel, VX26600, 8th Division Headquarters
13 Jun 1940: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Colonel, VX26600
29 Aug 1946: Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Colonel, VX26600

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Biography

Cremated at Springvale, Victoria

"Sir Wilfrid Selwyn (Billy) Kent Hughes (1895-1970), soldier and politician, was born on 12 June 1895 in East Melbourne, second of seven children of Wilfred Kent Hughes, a Victorian-born surgeon, and his English-born wife Clementina Jane, née Rankin (d.1916). Ellen Kent Hughes and Gwenda Lloyd were his sisters. Billy attended Trinity Grammar School until the age of 13 when he won a scholarship to Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. The brightest boy of his year, he became school captain, an officer in the cadets, and captain of athletics and football.

On 17 August 1914 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and was posted to the 7th Battalion. In Egypt, Sergeant Kent Hughes learned that he had won a Rhodes scholarship. Commissioned in April 1915, he transferred to the headquarters of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, commanded by his uncle Frederic Godfrey Hughes. Billy was to serve at Gallipoli, and in the Sinai, Palestine and Syria. In 1917 he won the Military Cross for his work as staff captain. He was promoted major and appointed deputy adjutant and quartermaster general, Australian Mounted Division. Mentioned in dispatches four times, he wrote his first book, Modern Crusaders (Melbourne, 1918), describing the exploits of the Light Horse..."READ  MORE  LINK (adb.anu.edu.au)

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