KNIGHT, Raymond
| Service Number: | 125 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 29 August 1914, Sydney, New South Wales |
| Last Rank: | Gunner |
| Last Unit: | 1st Field Artillery Brigade |
| Born: | Burnley, Victoria, 1891 |
| Home Town: | Canterbury, Boroondara, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Balwyn State School and Canterbury Baptist Church School |
| Occupation: | Professional Soldier |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 31 July 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient) |
World War 1 Service
| 29 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sydney, New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Oct 1914: |
Involvement
AIF WW1, Gunner, 125, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: '' |
|
| 18 Oct 1914: | Embarked AIF WW1, Gunner, 125, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, HMAT Argyllshire, Sydney | |
| 31 Jul 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Gunner, 125, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 125 awm_unit: 1st Australian Field Artillery Brigade awm_rank: Gunner awm_died_date: 1917-07-31 |
Letter home from Mena Jan 1915
Ray Knight wrote home to his younger sister Elsie from Camp Mena in Egypt on 28 January 1915.
Dear Elsie,
I received your letter a few days ago and was very glad to hear from you and also that you were having a good time at Healesville. Camping is alright when you have plenty to eat and you are your own boss to do as you like, but when you have about thirty bosses and no tucker to speak of, come home at night and find the detail pot empty it is not up to much.
Tom Hyde wishes to be remembered to you all. He is pretty well. Syd Witton is in the infantry over here and is camped only a little way from us. Also Herbert Hillier. How is George getting on. I thought that you would have been married before this. It is a wonder Harry hasn't got married before this too.
There is very little news to write about. We are still in Egypt and have no idea when we are leaving. The weather is getting very hot and plenty of dust storms. We had a good trip over but was not allowed off at any of the ports we called at. Some of the men tried to get away in the empty coal boats but was caught. Jim Shiels spent the day that we crossed the equator in the cells.
We were just about two months on the boat and slept in hammocks. It was alright in the hammocks, sometimes a horse would fall down just above your head and wake you up, they never had room to lay down and their legs got too tired to hold them up. A good few died and was thrown overboard.
Their nearly all niggers here. Arabs and Egyptians and a lot of French people but only an odd one can speak English. When we are out drilling the niggers nearly drive you mad selling oranges. They call out “oranges big one” 3 for half Paistie or “eggs a cook” 2 for half Paistie.
All donkey’s mules and camel here, very few horses and what there is are very small. This is about all I can write now as I must write to Eva too. Have had two letters from her. Will write again soon. Remember me to George. Good bye.
With love to all
Ray
Submitted 17 June 2015 by Chris Hughes Hughes
Biography
Raymond Knight (known as Ray) was the second son born to Joseph and Melvina Knight and, although born in Burnley, the family were resident in the Shepparton/Mooroopna area at that time.
He was was one of nine children. He had six sisters and two brothers. Ray also had two older step brothers and three step sisters from his father Joseph's first marriage to Martha Moore.
During Ray's childhood the family moved to Maling Road, Canterbury. It was during this time that he attended Balwyn State School and Canterbury Baptist Church.
Before the outbreak of WW1, Ray was serving with the Royal Australian Field Artillery (RAFA - Regular Army) in New South Wales. He was in the first convoy to leave Australia in October 1914. Prior to embarking for Gallipoli, the Field Artillery Brigade (Battery 1) spent several months training at Camp Mena, located ten kilometers from Cairo. Ray's Brigade was amongst the first to arrive at Gallipoli on the morning of 25 April 1915. He spent several months fighting in the Artillery before receiving a gunshot wound to the leg and spent 6 weeks in hospital at Mena. He rejoined his Brigade on the Gallipoli Peninsula and shortly after was part of the mass evacuation of the ANZACs in January 1916. On several occasions he was promoted: firstly to Bombardier then Corporal and then temporary Sergeant. Records indicate he was unhappy with the roles assigned to him under these promotions and was subsequently reduced in rank to Gunner. He left Egypt for the Western Front in March of 1917.
Ray's mother Melvina Knight expressed concern for her son in a letter she wrote to The Age (published on 6 July 1917). Melvina outlines Ray's apparent exhaustion, as indicated by his letters home, in being at war for nearly three years. She pleas that her son (and others who went with the first division) be sent home. Ray was killed in action 3 weeks later.
Ray and a comrade were killed by a shell whilst in a trench in Sanctuary Wood, Ypres on 31 July 1917. Ray was 26 years old. Despite eye witness accounts of his death, provided by the Red Cross, he has no known grave. His name appears on the Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient).
His name also appears on the WW1 Honour Board at the Canterbury Baptist Church, Balwyn Road, Canterbury Victoria.
Prior to embarkation in 1914 Raymond married Annie Victoria Whitney in Paddington NSW. They had no children.
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