BRAIN, Percy Sydney Raymond
| Service Number: | 2580 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 18th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Menangle, New South Wales, Australia, 29 May 1894 |
| Home Town: | Elderslie, Camden, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Public School, Camden, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Blacksmith |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 22 July 1916, aged 22 years |
| 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
| 2 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 2580, 18th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 2580, 18th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Julie Duncan
He still remains in an unmarked grave out on the battlefield of The Somme. No brothers or sisters to remember him only distant cousins.
On May 29 1894 Ellen (née Reynolds) presented her husband Thomas Brain with their first born son.
Percy Sydney Raymond Brain.
Prior to her early death Ellen had 4 children
Nellie 1889
Sara 1891.
Percy 1894
Charles Aka Claude 1896-1913.
In 1896 sadly Ellen died. And the children then show up as being raised by their paternal grandparents. William and Sarah. Their father deserting them for the north of NSW. This is Percy's story as I have uncovered so far.
Born 1894 in Douglas Park NSW he and his siblings moved in with their grandparents at Elderslie NSW when Percy was aged 2.
Percy grew up to be a Blacksmith.
Brown of hair and eyes. 5ft 10" (1.778cm) tall 168lb (76.2kg) chest 98cm.
I know that Percy's maternal aunts and uncles (the Reynolds and Stratton family) were a close knit family and can assume they would have kept a close eye on their sister Ellen's kids.
In 1913 Percy's younger brother Claude died.
In August 1915 21 year old Percy enlisted at Camden. He listed his NOK as his grandfather William Brain.
He embarked on board HMAT Euripides November 2nd 1915.
conflicting info has him in 18th Infantry Battalion. And 3rd Infantry Battalion.
At the time of his death he was with the 3rd.
Percy Sydney Raymond Brain was buried by explosions in the trenches near Pozieres on the Somme. Like many others who died on the Somme they know not where his body lies.
His date of death is listed as between July 22-27 1916. He was 22 years old
There is no grave for young Percy where we can go to pay respects; to lay flowers. His name does show on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
The Battle of Pozières was a two-week struggle for the French village of Pozières and the ridge on which it stands, during the middle stages of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Though British divisions were involved in most phases of the fighting, Pozières is primarily remembered as an Australian battle. The fighting ended with the Allied forces in possession of the plateau north and east of the village, in a position to menace the German bastion of Thiepval from the rear. The cost had been very large for both sides and in the words of Australian official historian Charles Bean, the Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth."
I have read enough info to know that I don't need to read the battalion diaries. Percy I have read of the angst your passing and that of your cousin Bruce Stratton caused my great grandmother. You like Bruce have not been forgotten Lest We Forget
#ANZAC
* One cannot imagine what it was like for these young men. We visited the AWM late last year (2016) and the Pozieres battlefield model was devastating to see.
Click images to start slideshow.