BRAIN, Edward George
| Service Number: | 1512 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 March 1915, Enlisted at Toora, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 22nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Geelong, Victoria, Australia, 1895 |
| Home Town: | Stratford, Wellington, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Launceston Grammar School, University of Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupation: | School Teacher |
| Died: | Enteric Fever, At sea (HS Nevasa), 24 October 1915 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Buried at sea R.M. Cole-Hamilton officiated Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Launceston Church Grammar School WW1 Honour Board, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing, Stratford Holy Trinity Anglican Church Memorial Windows & Plaque, Stratford War Memorial, University of Tasmania |
World War 1 Service
| 13 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1512, 22nd Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Toora, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 1512, 22nd Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: '' | |
| 28 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 1512, 22nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Berrima, Melbourne |
Help us honour Edward George Brain's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Carol Foster
Son of Alfred Brain and Annie Marshall Brain nee Baker of The Rectory, Stratford, Victoria. Brother of Alfred William Brain who returned to Australia on 23 July 1918 having served with the 60th Battalin
Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Served with the Citizen Military Forces and the school cadets from 1909
Studied for 1 year with the University of Tasmania
Biography contributed by Andreena Hockley
The father of Private Brain, the Reverend A. Brain, M.A., of Stratford, writes :
"Edward George Brain was born in Geelong on 24th June, 1895, his father being then incumbent of All Saints', Lorne. From there he went to Echuca, and then to St. George's Rectory, Hobart, for eleven years, where the subject of this memoir attended the Franklin House School until he passed the Junior Public examination. He then went for two years to the Launceston Church of England Grammar School, and, being a fine athlete, he worked his way into the first football and cricket teams.
At sixteen years, he passed the Senior Public examination in seven subjects, and commenced the B.Sc. course at the Tasmanian University; but, at the end of the first year, his father was made rector of Holy Trinity, Stratford, and the whole family of mother and four sons moved to Gippsland in 1913. After a year at the High School, Sale, where he made many friends by his sterling character, he entered the service of the Education Department, and was put in charge of the State school at Ryton, 3586, in South Gippsland; but, after six months' teaching, he volunteered and joined the A.I.F. at Easter, 1915.
He went with the A Company, 22nd Battalion, 6th Brigade, from Egypt to Gallipoli, and entered the Lone Pine trenches on 6th September. they marched to the trenches, a comrade was shot through the chest. This first sight of war nearly made Brain sick, but he soon got used to it, for a shell killed two or three close by him in the trench, and blew a man's hand off. After six weeks of trench life, he felt poorly, but would not go to the doctor and desert his mates until so ordered by his officer, and, on 20th October he went into hospital. On the 21st or 22nd, he was carried on board the hospital ship Nevasa, unconscious and delirious from severe typhoid, died on the 24th, and was buried at sea in the Doro Channel, south of the Island of Euboea, at the age of 20.
The Ryton School Committee and parents esteemed their young teacher very highly, and the children loved him. They have hung an enlarged photograph of him in the schoolroom."
Source: The Education Department's Record of War Service, Victoria, 1914-1919.
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