Ernest (Putty ) TORR

TORR, Ernest

Service Number: 1712
Enlisted: 24 May 2015
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 26th Infantry Battalion
Born: Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, 24 April 1891
Home Town: Maryborough, Fraser Coast, Queensland
Schooling: Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Killed in Action, France, 29 July 1916, aged 25 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France)
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World War 1 Service

17 Aug 1915: Involvement Private, 1712, 26th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Shropshire embarkation_ship_number: A9 public_note: ''
17 Aug 1915: Embarked Private, 1712, 26th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Shropshire, Brisbane
24 May 2015: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1712, 26th Infantry Battalion

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Biography contributed by Jennifer Torr

Ernest McKain "Putty" Torr was born on the 24 April 1891, in Wairoa, Hawkes Bay New Zealand. He was the youngest of a sibship of 16 children born to John McKain Torr and Charlotte Harata (Lewis) Torr. Charlotte was the daughter of high-born Maori woman Erena Wharekiri and American Whaling Master William Lewis. 

It is not known when or why Ernest came to Australia. In Queensland, on the 24 May 2015, Ernest enlisted in with 26th Infantry Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force. He was 24 years and 1 month old, standing at 5 foot, 9 1/4 inches, weighing 154 1b, his chest measuring 34 1/2 - 36 1/2 inches. He had a dark complexion, brown eyes, and brown hair. There was a scar on the side of his chest and large scare on the left side of his head. 

He trained at Enoggera Army Camp, located in outer Brisbane. 

He embarked at Brisbane on H.M.A.T "Shropshire" on 20 August 2015. 

Ernest was killed in the early hours of 29 July 2016, in Pozieres, in an ill-fated operation to capture the OG1 and OG2 Lines,  involving the 23rd, 25th, 26th, and 28th Infantry Brigades, at what is known as the Windmill site. Like many others his body was not retrieved. 

A tin containing curios, pipe, metal case holding razing blades, his prayer book and a handkerchief were returned to his mother Mrs Charlotte Torr, The Heads, Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. 

He received the British War Medal, Memorial Plaque, Victory Medal 

 

In November 1916 Miss Nellie Smart, at Dabry Cottage, Fifth Avenue, Wilston, Brisbane, Queensland wrote to the military seeking the address of Ernest's parent. Regretfully, instructions precluded "furnishing the names and addresses of next-of-kin of members of the Australian Imperial Force, unless some satisfactory reason is stated." Who was Nellie, what was her relationship to Ernest.  

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