Arthur Henry (Snowy) HILL

HILL, Arthur Henry

Service Number: 914
Enlisted: 1 September 1914
Last Rank: Lance Corporal
Last Unit: 4th Infantry Battalion
Born: Chippendale, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 10 August 1888
Home Town: Liverpool, Fairfield, New South Wales
Schooling: Cleveland Street Public School, Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation: Professional Boxer
Died: Killed in Action, France, 15 April 1917, aged 28 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
name at Villers-Bretonneux Memorial M.R. 26 Part III G-J. Also on his Mother's headstone at Rookwood Cemetery Church of England Section T Zone C Row 5 Grave 1563 and also at the Cenotaph at Ariah Park near Temora where Snowy spent the last few years of his life before enlisting
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France)
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World War 1 Service

1 Sep 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4th Infantry Battalion
20 Oct 1914: Involvement Private, 914, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: ''
20 Oct 1914: Embarked Private, 914, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney
9 Feb 1916: Embarked 914, Snowy was returned to Australia on H.T. Nestor on Escort Duty, he stayed in Australia fir 7 months then returned to England on H.M.A.T. A14 Euripides
9 Sep 1916: Embarked Private, 914, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney
9 Sep 1916: Involvement Private, 914, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: ''
15 Apr 1917: Involvement Lance Corporal, 914, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 914 awm_unit: 4th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-04-15

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Biography contributed by Sue Slater

Snowy is my Dad's cousin, sadly his parents were alcoholics so he was left to fend for himself for most of his childhood & spent a lot of time on the streets around Surry Hills & Redfern & like his parents was known to the police. As a result of this he was picked up for stealing a cabbage & also for truancy & on 26 NOV 1900 was committed to the boys training ship "Sobraon" which was docked in Balmain Bay. From the ship he was apprenticed to a Mr George Gray of Kiama but by 1903 he had absconded & was seen heading north to Sydney.

It is unsure what Snowy did in the next few years but it's possible that he spent some time with his Mother's twin sister, Annie & her husband who lived in Woollahra in Sydney, Aunt Annie was kind to him & organised his Mother's grave in 1907 & also a memorial to Snowy 10 years later. His Father, also named Arthur Henry was absent from Snowy's life from when he was a young boy.

By 1912 Snowy was living in Ariah Park near Temora, he played football with Ariah Park Football Club & he was also a boxer with bouts held at Graham's Hippodrome, Hoskins Street, Temora, Bill Speirs from the Temora Historical Society kindly provided photos & information about this part of Snowy's life, Bill also organised a memorial for Snowy & other veterans near the football club.

Jeane from the Sir John Monash Centre in Villers-Bretonneux told me it is thought that Snowy probably died near the village of Demicourt halfway between Bapaume & Cambrai.

 

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