S81720
BOTTRILL, Edward Charles Percival
| Service Number: | 1619 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 2 February 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 56th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Wilcannia, New South Wales, Australia, 1 October 1895 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Mintaro, South Australia, 29 November 1969, aged 74 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Mintaro General Cemetery, South Australia Plot 1 |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, 1619, 56th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Apr 1916: | Involvement Private, 1619, 56th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 14 Apr 1916: | Embarked Private, 1619, 56th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 1619, 56th Infantry Battalion | |
| 29 Oct 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, 1619, 56th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Edward Charles Percival Bottrill's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Paul Lemar
Edward was born in Wilcannia, New South Wales to Tom and Susie Bottrill (nee Hams).
Both of his parents were descendants of English migrants who arrived in Adelaide in the mid-1800s.
They were a family of three boys and one girl.
The elder two brothers Sid and Chas enlisted in WW1, and both saw service on the Western Front.
Chas' time in action saw him gassed and suffering from shell shock at different times, with periods of convalescence back in England.
It’s believed that Chas met his future wife Annie Paddy during one of these breaks from fighting and they married in December 1917.
His brother Sid married Annie's sister Gertrude in July 1919 and both couples sailed to Australia to build a new life.
Like so many returned soldiers, Chas found it difficult to cope following his war experiences and life was shaped by the struggle to find work to support his wife Annie and two young sons, Alfred who was born in England and Robert, born in Melbourne.
The latter part of the 1920s saw the family living in Terowie, South Australia and by 1931 Chas was working at Lock 7 on the River Murray. Disaster struck when Annie was taken ill and died of a burst appendix at the Cottage Hospital in 1933.
In the 1930s and 40s Chas was working as a carpenter at lake Everard and Mulgathing Stations in outback South Australia and his specialty was building windmills and sinking bores.
In the 1950s he was first working at Radium Hill and then lived for a time with his son Robert and family in Broken Hill.
His last known carpentry work was in Naracoorte helping to build a house for a distant family member, and his final years were at Mintaro where he lived and worked at the Magpie 'n Stump Hotel.
He died in 1969.
Chas often used to arrive for an unannounced visit at his son Robert's family home in Broken Hill. It was a source of great excitement for his grandchildren to get up in the morning to see Pop's hat on top of the cupboard, knowing that he had arrived while they were asleep.
He also visited his son Alfred's family in Sydney.
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