GRANT, Alexander
| Service Number: | 541 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 August 1914, Enlisted at Blackboy Hill, WA |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 11th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, 1878 |
| Home Town: | Kalgoorlie, Kalgoorlie/Boulder, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Died: | Died of wounds - head, At sea on board HS Rewa, Gallipoli, 1 August 1915 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Panel 33, Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 541, 11th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Blackboy Hill, WA | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Nov 1914: | Involvement Private, 541, 11th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
| 2 Nov 1914: | Embarked Private, 541, 11th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Fremantle | |
| 31 Jul 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 541, 11th Infantry Battalion, Shrapnel wounds to the head | |
| 31 Jul 1915: | Wounded ANZAC / Gallipoli |
Help us honour Alexander Grant's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Carol Foster
Son of John Grant and Jane Ann Grant nee Maine of Park Street, Kalgoolie, WA. Brother of Agnes Grant of Chidlows Well, WA
Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Biography contributed by Geoff Tilley
Alexander James Grant was born at Raywood near Bendigo Victoria in 1878 to parents John James and Jane Ann Grant, his father died in Victoria in 1904. Alexander conducted five years’ service in the 5th Battalion Infantry Brigade in Bendigo.
In August 1902 he married an Eleanor Mabel Ann Marsh in Bendigo where they had three children. In 1911 Eleanor applied for a divorce from Alexander, where it is believed, he had travelled to Western Australia.
It is unclear when Alexander moved to Western Australia, but it is believed to be around 1909 that he was working in the goldfields of Kalgoorlie as a miner. His mother Jane and a brother Charles William Grant where also living in Kalgoorlie. Alexanders mother died in 1922 at Midland Junction.
Alexander enlisted into the AIF in September 1914, conducting his training at Blackboy Hill, Perth recording that he was single. His brother Charles also enlisted into the AIF, returning to Australia in 1918.
Alexander embarked for overseas from Fremantle in November 1914 attached to 11th Battalion. Disembarking in Egypt in preparation for the assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915.
Alexander along with 11th Battalion were one of the first battalions to land on the beaches of Gallipoli in the early hours of 25th April 1915. Surviving the first few months of the campaign it was on the 31st August 1915 that Alexander with a party of 200 men were ordered to storm and capture Turkish trenches immediately in front of Tasmania Post.
It was during this assault on the trenches that Alexander was wounded in action by shrapnel, he was evacuated to the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station before been transferred to the hospital ship HMHS Rewa where he died of his wounds on 1st August 1915 where he was buried at sea by Chaplin Keelan.
He is remembered on the memorial at Lone Pine Gallipoli Peninsula, he was 36 years of age.
Private Alexander James Grant you are remembered with honour.
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