PAYNE, Thomas
| Service Number: | 2252 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Light Railway Operating Company |
| Born: | Liverpool, England, 1891 |
| Home Town: | Wallerawang, Lithgow, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Salisbury Road Board School, Liverpool, England |
| Occupation: | Railway Night Officer |
| Died: | Accidental (Injuries), Belgium, 23 February 1919 |
| Cemetery: |
Ypres Town Cemetery Extension III C 21 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Wallerawang War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 7 Nov 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 2nd Light Railway Operating Company, Promoted in Melbourne before he left Australia. | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Nov 1917: | Involvement Sergeant, 2252, Railway Unit (AIF), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Sydney embarkation_ship_number: A15 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Nov 1917: | Embarked Sergeant, 2252, Railway Unit (AIF), HMAT Port Sydney, Melbourne | |
| 26 Feb 1918: | Transferred AIF WW1, Sergeant, 2nd Light Railway Operating Company | |
| 23 Feb 1919: | Involvement Sergeant, 2252, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2252 awm_unit: 2nd Australian Light Railway Operating Company awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1919-02-23 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Thomas PAYNE (Service Number 2252) was born in Liverpool, England, in 1891. He was educated at the Salisbury Road Board School there. He came to Australia aged 20 with a brother.
''He worked for the NSW Railways. During his residence [at Wallerawang, prior to his enlistment in 1917] he was night officer at Cox’s River crossing loop.
He was a prominent member of the local Rifle Club, and was well liked and respected’: Lithgow Mercury, 12/3/1919.
He enlisted in the AIF at Lithgow at the end of August 1917. This was in the middle of the great railway strike that year. In October, he was medically examined and passed fit at Victoria Barracks in Sydney. At the end of the month he was sent to Melbourne to join the Railway Unit being formed there for service on the Western Front.
He was appointed Sergeant on 7th November 1917 and on 9th November embarked from Melbourne, landing in Egypt a month later. With other reinforcements, he was sent on within a week to Italy, then to England in January 1918, and to France, in February. He was ‘taken on strength’ by the 2nd Australian Light Railway Operating Company on 26th February. This unit was formed to operate ‘field railways’ of 60cm (2 foot) gauge, which transported men and ‘materiel’ closer to the front line than the ‘broad’ or standard-gauge railways.
He had 12 days leave in France in October 1918. After the Armistice in November he enjoyed a fortnight’s leave in England over Christmas. He re-joined his unit in Belgium on 10th January 1919.
On 22 February, a rainy day, he was at a place called ‘Garden Valley’ near Ypres with a party of other men when he:
‘was accidentally killed through a [railway] van door jamming on his head. Much regret was expressed as a result of this unfortunate happening… [The next day] Light rain falling. Sgt. T. Payne buried in the Ypres Communal Cemetery with full military honours’: War Diary of the 2nd Australian Light Railway Operating Company.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.