FLETCHER, Walter Bell
| Service Number: | 445 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 11 September 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 14th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Cockermouth, Allerdale Cumberland, United Kingdom, 11 April 1879 |
| Home Town: | Traralgon, Latrobe, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Board School |
| Occupation: | Draper's Assistant per the 1901 census-Contractor by trade, originally a carpenter. |
| Died: | Shot By Sniper Whilst Fetching Water, Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 5 May 1915, aged 36 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hampton RSL Gallipoli Memorial Gardens, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing, Traralgon War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 11 Sep 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 445, 14th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec 1914: | Involvement Private, 445, 14th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
| 22 Dec 1914: | Embarked Private, 445, 14th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne |
Help us honour Walter Bell Fletcher's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
In 1901 he was resident at 1, Fletcher Street, Cockermouth, Cumberland.
He had previously served with 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, The Border Regiment (Cockermouth).
Emigrated in 1911 aged 31.
He was 37 and the son of James and Isabella Fletcher; husband of Margaret Bryce Fletcher, of 137, Cochrane St., Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia.
Extract from De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914-1918:
FLETCHER, WALTER BELL, Private, No. 445, 4th Platoon Coy.. 14th Battn. 4th Infantry Brigade, Australian Imperial Force, son of James Fletcher, of 2, Fletcher Street, Cockermouth, by his wife. Isabella, daughter of John (and Elizabeth) Atkins; born Cockermouth,Cumberland, 11 April, 1879; educated at Board School, Cockermouth, afterwards joining the Cockermouth Volunteers when 18 years of age.
He went to Australia in 1911, and settled at Traralgon, Victoria, and on the outbreak of war he joined the Commonwealth Expeditionary Force ; left for Egypt with the main force, and was killed in action at the Dardanelles, 5 May, 1915. He had been 10 days in the trenches at Gaba Tepe, and was shot by a sniper when going for water. He m. in Edinburgh 15 years ago, (Ethel Street, Lock Park, Traralgon, Victoria, Australia). daughter of John Walker, of Portobello, and had three sons and two daughters. : James, b. 1902 ; John William, b. 1906 ; Walter, b. 1908 ; Winifred, b. 1904 ; and Emily Isabel, b. 1913.
He is remembered on the Cockermouth War Memorial.
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