NELMES, Arthur Reginald
| Service Number: | 944 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 16 February 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 18th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England , 28 October 1879 |
| Home Town: | Leichhardt, Leichhardt, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Hamilton, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Boilermaker |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, 22 August 1915, aged 35 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Memorialised at Lone Pine Memorial, and Roll of Honour Canberra |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hamilton St. Peter's Anglican Church Honor Roll, Hamilton Superior Public School Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Leichhardt War Memorial, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Feb 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 944, 18th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Mar 1915: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 18th Infantry Battalion, Promoted while still at Liverpool NSW. | |
| 25 Jun 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 944, 18th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 22 Aug 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 944, 18th Infantry Battalion, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli, KIA at Hill 60 |
Help us honour Arthur Reginald Nelmes's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Steve Larkins
Born in Gloustershire, England to parents Charles and Carrie NELMES. AT the time of enlistment he was married to Edith NELMES, Waratah Road, Broadmeadow, Newcastle New South Wales.
Biography contributed by Evan Evans
From Gary Mitchell, Sandgate Cemetery
Memorialised at Sandgate Cemetery.
On the 22nd August 1915, Lance Corporal Arthur Reginald Nelmes, referred to as Reg, 18th Battalion (Reg No-944), boilermaker (Eveleigh Railway Workshops, N.S.W.), father of five (Edith Constance, Alwyn Arthur, Lorna Edith Annie, Reginald Irving, Doris Esme), was Killed in Action at Hill 60, Gallipoli Campaign, age 35. Cause of death not stated.
Arrived in Australia at 3 years of age.
Born at Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England about 1879 to Charles Joseph and Caroline (Carrie) Jane Nelmes nee Warner from Tenterfield, New South Wales; husband of Edith Harriet Nelmes nee Critchley (married 1899, Hamilton, N.S.W. as Harriet E, possibly remarried as Jackson, 1932, Wickham, N.S.W., died 28.12.1954?) of "Josephville", Tudor Street, Hamilton, New South Wales and Waratah Road, Broadmeadow, New South Wales, Reg enlisted on the 16th February 1915 at Liverpool, N.S.W.
Reg’s name has been inscribed on the Lone Pine Memorial (Panel 60), Gallipoli, Turkey.
Mr. Nelmes’s name has also been inscribed on the Hamilton Superior Public School Roll of Honor, Hamilton St. Peter's Anglican Church Honor Roll, St. Peter's Church Memorial Trees, Hamilton, Book of Gold, Leichhardt First World War Memorial, NSW Government Railways and Tramways, First World War Roll of Honour, Central Station, Loco Shop Chullora, Honour Roll 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, Railway Remembrance Wall, Central Station and The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall.
Place of Association - Leichhardt, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
An individual Memorial plaque has been placed on The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall, located in the grounds of the cemetery, date and person responsible unknown.
Younger brother Ernest H (born 25.2.1890, Wickham, N.S.W., enlisted 19.7.1915, Liverpool, N.S.W., 30th Battalion, Reg No-725, labourer from Burren Junction, New South Wales, RTA 30.4.1919, 5th Australian Machine Gun Battalion, died?).
https://www.findagrave.com/.../568.../arthur-reginald-nelmes
Contact with descendants would be greatly appreciated.
For more detail, see “Forever Remembered “
http://www.commemoratingwarheroes.com/cemetery-main-search/
Lest We Forget.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Arthur Reginald NELMES was born on 28th October 1879 at Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England. He came to Australia when he was three-years-old and went to school at Hamilton in Newcastle, NSW. On 26th June 1895 he joined the NSW Government Railways and Tramways as an apprentice in the Locomotive Branch at Newcastle. On 1st July 1900 he became an Improver, also in the Locomotive Branch at Newcastle. On 24th October 1900 he transferred to Murrurundi as a Boilermaker in the Locomotive Branch and he stayed in this position for over 10 years. He transferred to Eveleigh at the same grade on 24th March 1911. On 19th February 1915 he was released from duty to join the Expeditionary Forces.
His official date of joining the AIF was 16th February 1915. He joined with the rank of Private (Service Number 944) and was posted to C Company, 18th Infantry Battalion. He nominated his wife, Edith Harriet (Nelmes), as his next of kin. At the time their family home was at Leichhardt in Sydney.
By the time he enlisted Arthur and Edith had five children. The oldest was Doris Esme who was born on 11th October 1901 (birth registered at Hamilton in 1901), followed by Lorna Edith Annie (birth registered at Hamilton in 1903), Reginald Irving (birth registered at Hamilton in 1907), Edith Constance (birth registered at Hamilton in 1910) and finally Alwyn Arthur (birth registered at Newtown in 1912).
Arthur was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal on 30th March 1915 while still in camp at Liverpool, NSW. The 18th Infantry Battalion left Australia for Egypt in early May 1915. It trained in Egypt from mid-June to mid-August 1915 and landed at Anzac Cove on 20th August 1915. It had been ashore for less than a day when it was committed to the attack on Hill 60, an operation which lasted until 29th August 1915 and cost the Battalion 50 per cent casualties.
Arthur was among the earliest of these casualties as he was killed in action on 22nd August 1915.
The site of Arthur’s grave is unknown, and he is commemorated at the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey. His place of association is Leichhardt, Sydney, NSW. However, about time of his death his family moved back to Hamilton in Newcastle, NSW.
After his death his widow and five children were awarded dependants’ pensions totalling £117 per annum with effect from 25th October 1915 (28th October 1915 in the case of Doris). These were adjusted somewhat subsequently and the pension for Doris, his eldest child, is shown in his military record as ceasing on 11th October 1917, her 16th birthday.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
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