NICHOLSON, Percival Frank
| Service Number: | 3106 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 June 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Second Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 57th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Richmond, Victoria, Australia, 1885 |
| Home Town: | Essendon, Moonee Valley, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Essendon State School No 483, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Law Clerk |
| Died: | KIA - hit by shell, Villers-Bretonneux, France, 5 April 1918 |
| Cemetery: |
La Neuville British Cemetery II G 7 |
| Memorials: | Essendon State School No 483 Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 28 Jun 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3106, 6th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Sep 1915: | Involvement Private, 3106, 6th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Osterley embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 29 Sep 1915: | Embarked Private, 3106, 6th Infantry Battalion, RMS Osterley, Melbourne | |
| 5 Apr 1918: | Involvement Second Lieutenant, 57th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: 57 Battalion awm_rank: Second Lieutenant awm_died_date: 1918-04-05 |
Help us honour Percival Frank Nicholson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Frank and Emily NICHOLSON, 62 Richardson Street, Essendon, Victoria
Biography contributed by Evan Evans
From How We Served
The private commemoration for; - 3106 Second Lieutenant Percival Frank Nicholson of Moonee Ponds, Victoria, who prior to his enlisting for War Service on the 28th of June 1915 had been employed as a law clerk.
Percival was allocated to reinforcements for the 6th Battalion 1st AIF and was embarked for Egypt and further training on the 29th of September.
Following the end of the failed Gallipoli campaign, Percival was officially taken on strength with his Battalion on the 7th of January 1916, whilst the Unit was encamped at Tel-El-Kabir. By the next month he had been transferred over to the newly created 5th Australian Division on the 17th of February, where he was posted to join the 58th Battalion.
Percival was again transferred the following month and formally taken on strength with the 57th Battalion, with which he was embarked for France with, departing Egypt on the 17th of June.
Within a month of his arrival in Northern France his Battalion was committed to the capture of Fromelles on the 19th of July, with Percival surviving this battle unscathed.
By the 2nd of April 1917, Percival was sent to England to attend an Officers Training School at Cambridge, and having graduated as a Second Lieutenant, he was sent back to his Battalion in the field, officially re-joining his Unit on the 22nd of August.
Percival was wounded in action by shrapnel to his left arm on the 25th of September and due to this he was returned to England for hospitalization on the 29th of October.
Recovering from these wounds, Percival was returned to Northern France where he re-joined his Battalion on the 8th of February 1918. Percival’s service in the trenches would be continuous, and he would be with his Unit when it was committed to the fighting in the vicinity of Villers-Bretonneux.
It was during these operations that Percival was seen to be hit by a high explosive shell on the 5th of April 1918, and with his body being recovered he was able to receive an official burial.
To this day Percival rests within La Neuville British Cemetery, Picardie, France. Percival had been aged 33 at the time of his death.
Back in Australia the grieving family of Second Lieutenant Percival Nicholson would have his supreme sacrifice made during the ‘Great War’ unofficially commemorated at the Nicholson family’s collective burial site within Fawkner General Cemetery, Victoria.
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