Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Harry was born on 6 Apr 1895 at Sheringa to William Phillip Cabot and Lelia Cabot (nee Winstanley).  He was the 3rd eldest of 10 children in the family, 8 boys and 2 girls. His father was a builder at Sheringa prior to the family moving to Yallunda Flat in 1903 and taking up land which had previously been part of Koppio Station. They called this farm “Glenreath”. The journey from Sheringa to Yallunda Flat by horse drawn wagon took the family 10 days. 

He went to school at Yallunda Flat, as did all the children in the family, leaving to work on the family farm. On enlistment he gave his occupation as farmer, his address as Yallunda Flat and his mother as Next of Kin.

After enlistment on 24 Aug 1915 he was sent to 2nd Depot Battalion (Bn) for training; during which he was allocated to 8th Reinforcements/ 27th Bn.

On 11 Jan 1916 he embarked aboard HMAT “Borda” for Suez, disembarking at Alexandria and moving to Reinforcements Camp at Serapeum, arriving on 28 Feb 1916. On the same day he was transferred to 10th Bn and taken on strength by that unit at Serapeum (Egypt).

On 27 Mar 1916 he embarked at Alexandria aboard HMAT “Saxonia” bound for France, disembarking at Marseilles on 3 Apr 1916. A month later he was appointed driver.

The 10th Bn was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during WW1; the Bn was recruited in South Australia. It was the first ashore at Gallipoli on 25 Apr 1915. In Mar 1916 the Bn arrived on the Western Front, its first major action was at Pozieres in Jul 1916; it was here that Harry was taken on strength by his unit.

He then saw action at Ypres before returning to the Somme for the extremely cold winter of 1916/17, before returning to Belgium to be involved in the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. In Mar and Apr 1918 the Bn helped stop the German “spring offensive” and then participated in the “Great Allied Offensive”, seeing action near Amiens on 8 Aug 1918. This advance by allied troops was the greatest success in a single day on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as "the black day of the German Army in this war". The Bn was withdrawn from the line in late Sep 1918, but just prior to this Harry was appointed Lance Corporal.
On Christmas Day 1918 Harry reported sick to 15th Field Ambulance; he was sent to 55 Casualty Clearing Station for evacuation to UK aboard HS “Cambria” and admitted to War Hospital Exeter with a fracture of his right foot. He remained in hospital for 14 days before being transferred to 3rd Auxiliary Hospital at Weymouth and then released to 1st Convalescence Depot where he remained for a month. On 2 Mar 1919 he embarked on SS “Derbyshire” for return to Australia, disembarking at Adelaide on 20 Apr 1919. He took his discharge at Adelaide on 4 Jun 1919.

After discharge he returned to Wudinna and assisted his brother Cliff, who also served during WW1, on his farm block. Whilst at Wudinna he married May Alice Coleman on 5 Dec 1921 at the Glen Osmond Baptist Church. Their first child, a girl, was born whilst they were at Wudinna. Shortly after this they moved to Pinnaroo and purchased a farm there; their second child, a boy, was born in that location.

Labour was difficult to get during WW2, so in 1943 Harry sold the farm and the couple moved to Adelaide, purchasing a house in Plympton South.

Harry died on 15 Jul 1971 at Daw Park Repatriation hospital whilst residing at Plympton South and is buried in Centennial Park Cemetery (SA). His wife died on 18 Apr 1979 and is buried beside her husband.