MARVELL, William Clarence
| Service Number: | 1894 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 May 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 40th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia, December 1896 |
| Home Town: | Invermay, Launceston, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Chair caner |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Messines, Belgium, 7 June 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Albert Park Methodist Church WW1 HR, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Launceston Cenotaph, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient), Tasmanian Government Railways |
World War 1 Service
| 14 May 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1894, 40th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 1894, 40th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Hobart embarkation_ship: HMAT Ballarat embarkation_ship_number: A70 public_note: '' | |
| 8 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 1894, 40th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ballarat, Hobart |
Help us honour William Clarence Marvell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
William Clarence Marvell and Charles Roy Marvell were born in Beaconsfield Tasmania. Their family lived in various homes around Launceston, moving every couple of years before residing permanently at 20 Mayne Street, Invermay. It is likely that William and his closest brother, Charles Roy, attended Beaconsfield State Primary School during their early years as their father worked at the Beaconsfield Gold Mine. During his years growing up in Launceston, William and his family were parishioners of the Holy Trinity Anglican Church and William and Charles are one set of eight pairs of brothers who enlisted from the parish remembered on the honour board at the Church.
At the age of 16 years, William and his younger brother Charles watched their eldest brother, George Eric, pass away at their family home and as his father suffered from the effects of Phthisis (tuberculosis), brought on by his lengthy time as a miner, William maintained his mother and his siblings for approximately three years before his enlistment into the Australian Imperial Force. Together with Charles, the brothers enlisted on the 14 May 1916 at Claremont in the state’s south, just three days after Charles’ eighteenth birthday. William was 19 years old. Both served in the 40th Tasmanian Battalion. Their father died a few months after they left Australia.
William was hit by a shell and killed instantly on the 7 June 1917, aged 20, and though said to be buried on the battlefield, his grave was lost and his name is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial.
Only a fortnight later His younger brother, Charlie Marvell, was with a working party on Messines Ridge when he was killed instantly by a “whizz bang” shell.
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