KNOX, John Alexander
| Service Number: | 2165 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 19th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia, 5 September 1893 |
| Home Town: | Ashfield, Ashfield, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Engineman |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 3 May 1917, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Murrurundi Bowls Club Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 30 Sep 1915: | Involvement Private, 2165, 19th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 1915: | Embarked Private, 2165, 19th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Argyllshire, Sydney | |
| 27 Apr 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 19th Infantry Battalion | |
| 3 May 1917: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 2165, 19th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2165 awm_unit: 19 Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-05-03 |
Help us honour John Alexander Knox's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
John Alexander KNOX (Service Number 2165) was born at Tamworth on 5th September 1893. He joined the NSW Government Railways as a cleaner (first step on the career path of an engineman) at Murrurundi locomotive depot in April 1912. In June 1914 he was transferred to Hamilton for three months, and at the end of August to Werris Creek. In July 1915 he was released from duty to enlist in the AIF at Liverpool.
He embarked from Sydney in September 1915. He spent some weeks in hospital in Egypt suffering from mumps. He then joined the 19th Battalion in February 1916 ehile they were in training. He was sent with them to France in March.
He spent two weeks in hospital with Influenza in May. In November he was again sent to hospital, this time to be treated for venereal disease. He was discharged to base duties in January 1917 and re-joined his battalion at the end of March. On 27th April he was appointed Lance Corporal.
On 3rd May 1917 he was reported missing in action. Seven months later the report was altered to ‘killed in action’.
Harold Bindoff, another railway engineman, who knew him well both in civil life and in the army, told the Red Cross after the war that Knox had been killed in a charge at Bullecourt. He has no known grave but is remembered with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.