EGERTON-WARBURTON, Wilbraham
| Service Numbers: | 140, 5342 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 23rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | North Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia , 2 February 1882 |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | St Peter's College, Adelaide, South Australia |
| Occupation: | Electrical Engineer |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 25 July 1918, aged 36 years |
| Cemetery: |
Crouy British Cemetery, Crouy-sur-Somme Crouy British Cemetery, Crouy St Pierre, Amiens, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hackney St Peter's College Fallen Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 28 Nov 1914: | Embarked Private, 140, 3rd Infantry Battalion, SS Eastern, Sydney | |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Nov 1914: | Involvement Private, 140, 3rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '21' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: SS Eastern embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 1 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 5342, 23rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Miltiades, Melbourne | |
| 1 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 5342, 23rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Miltiades embarkation_ship_number: A28 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Jul 1918: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 5342, 23rd Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 5342 awm_unit: 23 Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1918-07-25 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Elizabeth Allen
Wilbraham EGERTON-WARBURTON was born on 2nd February, 1882 in North Adelaide, South Australia
His parents were Roland James Egerton WARBURTON and Annie HART who married in South Australia in 1872
Biography
From the book Fallen Saints - Wilbraham Egerton-Warburton of ‘Tarpoley’ Caulfield, Victoria was born at North Adelaide, South Australia in 1882. After completing his studies at St Peter's College Adelaide he was employed as an Electrical Engineer, with the Eastern Extension Cable Company and had served two years in the Hong Kong Volunteers.
Wilbraham Warburton is on furlough from the East. He has had a long and interesting career in the Eastern Extension Company, and has had many varied experiences, amongst them he was located at Wei-hei-Wai during the Russian- Japanese War. He has visited the German settlement in China, and we have a shrewd suspicion the informative account of a ‘Modern Berlin in the East’ that appeared in a late number of the Register while he was in Adelaide was the outcome of an interview with him. He is now with his people in Victoria, and rumour says that it is quite possible he may be included on the staff of the Second Pacific Commissioner, Colonel Pethebridge, CMG, and whose head-quarters may probably be at Samoa, so lately taken from the Germans. [1]
He enlisted in Melbourne on 25 November 1914 and three days later Private Wilbraham Egerton-Warburton, C Company, 3rd Infantry Battalion, Naval and Military Forces - Special Tropical Corps, sailed from Sydney to Rabaul aboard the SS Eastern.
On 18 January 1916 after having served 14 months in Rabual he was honourably discharged from the AN&MEF in Melbourne and that same day enlisted for service with the AIF. He was posted to the 23rd Depot Battalion, Royal Pak on 26 January and made an acting Sergeant on 16 March.
On 24 June he joined the 14th quota of reinforcements for the 23rd Battalion and after further training and with a new regimental number, he sailed from Melbourne aboard HMAT Miltiades on 1 August 1916. He disembarked at Plymouth on 25 September 1916 and proceeded to France on 19 November. The day before joining the battalion in the field on 2 December he reverted to his substantive rank but was appointed lance corporal on 12 December. Suffering with cystitis he was admitted to 10th General Hospital, Rouen on 22 January 1917 and evacuated to England aboard HS Lanfranc on 14 February; there he was admitted to the V.A.D. at Cheltenham with nephritis. (Inflammation of one or both of the kidneys.) Commencing 3 March he was granted two weeks furlough and upon his return was transferred to No 4 Commonwealth Depot until posted to the 67th Battalion at Windy Hill on 28 April. When the 67th Battalion was disbanded, he was reposted to the 23rd Battalion and after rejoining them in the field on 22 September was attached to the Brigade Observers in October.
Towards the end of February he was granted a week’s leave in Paris and returned to the battalion on 5 March 1918. In a letter dated 29 May 1918, Wilbraham wrote: …I am writing in a shell-hole. The authorities seem pleased with what we have done lately, and the French are very complimentary, but we ourselves are very weary, as we have had no spell since February.[2]
On 23 July, 5342 Lance Corporal Wilbraham Egerton-Warburton was gassed and wounded in the fighting at Villers Bretonneux-France and died on 25 July 1918; he was 35 years of age.
Upon receiving news of his death the SPSM Editor wrote: It is not strange that one whose ancestors fought in the Crusades and with Charlemagne should in this war find a last resting place on the fair fields of France, true to one of his family’s mottos, ‘Je volve droit avoir.’ [3]
Reports and witness statements [4]
From 23rd Battalion headquarters to AIF Headquarters, London - report dated 12 August 1918.
Died of wounds at 47th Casualty Clearing Station 25/7/18. Gun Shot Wound knee (slt) and gas shell mustard.
Private Edward Wilson MM when interviewed in September 1918 stated Wilbraham was gassed while in the line at Villers Bretonneux. ‘The Boches dosed us heavily with gas shells 160 of our Battalion being gassed, among whom was Warburton. I was told that he lived a week or more after this, dying at the C.C.S. D/S. I do not know where he is buried. ’
On 28 September 1918 Lance Corporal William Waddell who claimed to have known Wilbraham ‘pretty well’ said that in Australia ‘he was well-to-do, in business as a commercial traveller and had travelled in China and elsewhere. We were in the line together for four months - he had been in A Company but had been transferred to H.Q. He was fair sized and between 30 and 40.’
[1] St Peter’s School Magazine - W K Thomas & Co, Adelaide, December 1914, p. 40
[2] ibid, May 1918, p. 68
[3] ibid
[4] Australian War Memorial, Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files - Egerton-Warburton, Wilbraham / 2851006, viewed 8 April 2006
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