Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John Francis Warren (Jack) Weedon was born in Roma, Queensland on 13 August 1889 to parents Stephen Henry Weedon and Mabel Frances Weedon (nee Carter).[i] He was the younger brother of Temple Carter, Elizabeth Grace and Stephen Hertford Weedon, and older brother to Josephine Mabel Weedon.[ii] He grew up in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales and was educated at Sydney Grammar School.[iii] After school, Jack began work as an auctioneer for H.M. Suttor & Co. City Agents, operating out of the Sydney Goods Yard.[iv] Even as an inexperienced man in his early 20s, he was highly respected amongst his peers.

Jack enlisted as an Officer in the AIF on 19 August 1915.[v] He had just turned 26 years old. Jack had previously attended No. 19 Officers School in Randwick.[vi] He embarked Sydney aboard the HMAT Argyllshire on 30 September 1915, disembarking at Suez a month later.[vii] Before he left, Jack was given a send off at the Aaron’s Exchange Hotel.[viii] He was presented a wristlet watch, knives and pipes from his colleagues at H.M. Suttor & Co.[ix]

Jack joined the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on his arrival in Egypt, spending just over a month with them in Tel el Kebir until he was transferred to the Machine Gun School in Ismalia on 20 February 1916.[x] On 30 June 1916, Jack was made a Lieutenant and absorbed on strength into the 19th Infantry Battalion.[xi] He then proceeded overseas to France with the 19th Battalion reinforcements to join the rest of the battalion on the front lines. Jack was put in charge of the Lewis Gunners in the Battalion.[xii] The 19th Infantry Battalion participated in some of the deadliest battles of the War. Jack recalls spending 12 days straight in the firing trenches during the Battle of Pozieres, a battle that cost the Battalion 350 casualties on the first day of fighting.[xiii]

On 29 July 1916, Jack was shot in the abdomen and left buttocks while fighting in Pozieres.[xiv] He was transferred to hospital in England where he remained until 22 November 1916.[xv] He was placed on the supernumerary list on 7 November, but ended up re-joining the 19th Battalion in France. On 13 January 1917, Jack was accidentally wounded during a training drill behind the lines near Flers, France.[xvi] As provided in his evidence to the Court of Enquiry, Jack recalls instructing four Lewis Gunners using dummy ammunition.[xvii] He was walking in front of a gun when a live round was fired, shattering his left leg. The Court of Enquiry investigated how a live round managed to be incorporated with the dummies, and found that the distinction between the two was not sufficient. Jack assures that all precaution was taken when developing the dummy rounds.[xviii]

Thankfully for Jack, the wound was not lethal, in part due to the work of his brother Stephen Hertford Weedon who tended to Jack while invalided in the 2nd Australian General Hospital in Wimereux, France.[xix] His leg did have to be amputated however in order to prevent the infection spreading. He spent until early 1918 in various hospitals across England recovering. Although placed back on the supernumerary list, it was decided that Jack should be sent home to Australia. Jack’s “loss of a pin” put him out of the running for a promotion to Captain, of which he was considered “a certainty”.[xx]

Jack returned to Australia in July 1918, and was greeted in Wagga Wagga by his mother and sister.[xxi] He was officially medically discharged on 6 January 1919.[xxii] Jack married Myra Ousby Martel in Sydney in 1923.[xxiii] They had two children together, Warren and Lesley Ann.[xxiv]He continued his career as an auctioneer, forming John Weedon & Co. Agents and operating in Sydney. He was an extremely successful and highly sought-after auctioneer, “selling more product than any other man in the [Sydney Goods] Yard.[xxv]

John Francis Warren Weedon died on 1 November 1945 at the age of 56. He is buried in the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium in North Ryde, Sydney.

[i] Geni 2022, ‘John Francis Warren Weedon’, Geni.com, viewed 24 October 2022, available at:  <https://www.geni.com/people/Dr-Maj-Stephen-Weedon-MBCh-MFRACS-AAMC-AIF/6000000000024072128>.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] The Farmer and Settler 1915, ‘Send Off to Lieut. Weedon’, The Farmer and Settler, 11 June, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116652592>.
[v] John Francis Warren Weedon, NAA Service Record, p. 1.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Ibid, p. 8.
[viii] The Farmer and Settler 1915, ‘Send Off to Lieut. Weedon’, The Farmer and Settler, 11 June, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116652592>.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] John Francis Warren Weedon, NAA Service Record, p. 8.
[xi] Ibid.
[xii] Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser 1918, ‘Returned from Front – Lieut. Weedon in Wagga’, Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser, 26 July, p. 3, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141966563>.
[xiii] Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser 1918, ‘Returned from Front – Lieut. Weedon in Wagga’, Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser, 26 July, p. 3, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141966563>.
[xiv] Ibid, p. 9.
[xv] Ibid.
[xvi] Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser 1918, ‘Returned from Front – Lieut. Weedon in Wagga’, Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser, 26 July, p. 3, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141966563>.
[xvii] John Francis Warren Weedon, NAA Service Record, p. 28.
[xviii] Ibid, p. 30.
[xix] Sydney Morning Herald 1917, ‘In Hospital – Lieut. Jack Weedon’, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15734154>.
[xx] The Farmer and Settler 1929, ‘Mr. J.F.W. Weedon’, The Farmer and Settler, 23 Nov, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117511023 >.
[xxi] Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser 1918, ‘Returned from Front – Lieut. Weedon in Wagga’, Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser, 26 July, p. 3, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141966563>.
[xxii] John Francis Warren Weedon, NAA Service Record, p. 32.
[xxiii] Geni 2022, ‘John Francis Warren Weedon’, Geni.com, viewed 24 October 2022, available at:  <https://www.geni.com/people/Dr-Maj-Stephen-Weedon-MBCh-MFRACS-AAMC-AIF/6000000000024072128>.
[xxiv] Find A Grave 2022, ‘LT John Francis Warren Weedon’, Find A Grave, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/214298029/john-francis_warren-weedon?_gl=1*bvlwm4*_ga*MTgzNDI1MjQ3OS4xNjY2NTg5OTAy*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*MTY2NjY2MjQ4OS4yLjEuMTY2NjY2MjU5NS41OS4wLjA>.
[xxv] The Farmer and Settler 1929, ‘Mr. J.F.W. Weedon’, The Farmer and Settler, 23 Nov, viewed 25 October 2022, available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117511023 >.

Lieut. J.F.W. Weedon, who was wounded by shell on July 27, 1918, returned to duty on November 19, and was again wounded in one of his leges on January 16 last.  During the week his father Mr. Stephen H. Weedon, of Hunter's Hill, received the following cablegram from the wounded officer's brother, Capt. Hertford Weedon of the A.A.M.C. - "With Jack; leg amputaged, recovering".  Lieut. Weedon, who has been in charge of a Lewis machine-gun section, was formerly a prominent and very popular figure in Sussex Street business circles.  There are three Weedon brothers on active service.