Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Before the war

According to records obtained from the Australian Army, Central Army Records Office, Reginald “Reggie” Brown was born in 1888 in Bristol, England in the United Kingdom and was one of 11 children. His father was Richard Henry Brown and his Mother was Ellen Brown. In 1902, his Mother passed away followed soon after by his grandparents. Later his oldest brother Joseph migrated to Australia settling in Perth, where he made a life for himself, married and had a family. Joseph didn’t register to fight in the war. Joseph was followed the move to Australia with his brother Ernest, instead of moving to Perth like their brother, they moved to Sydney to stay with their mother’s brother, Joseph Warren.

The call to arms by the Australian government occurred in 1914. Reginald didn’t sign up for another year, enlisting according to the Australian archives, the same day as his brother Ernest, the 25th of May 1915. Both Reginald and Ernest enlisted in Sydney. Reginald also had other brothers however they stayed in London and signed up for the British Army, Joseph was the only brother who didn’t sign up for the army of all the seven male siblings, therefore the Brown family had six siblings fighting in WWI.

During the war

According to the Australian Archives when Reginald enlisted, he was 26 and 10 months old, 5 foot six inches, 136 lbs, blue eyes, fair hair and a member of the Anglican Church, with the service number 2336.  Reginald was enlisted to the 1st Battalion 7th Reinforcement and was trained in Sydney. His records show that was shipped off to Alexandra Egypt on 18th of October 1915 and was stationed there before Gallipoli. Reggie’s war records indicate that on the 6th of November 1915, he landed at Gallipoli and in a month and a half (2 weeks) before the full evacuation took place. 

After the Gallipoli campaign, Reginald went back to Egypt. Reginald wasn’t promoted at all during the war and records indicate that he never went to the hospital due to him getting sick or injured. On the 28th of December 1915, Reginald disembarked at Alexandra from the “Hunts Green” and went through another three months of training and drill. On the 22nd of March 1916, Reginald as a member of the Australian 1st Battalion embarked from Alexandria on the ship “Ivernia” and disembarked at Marseilles, in the south of France, under the command of General Birdwood. According to a website, the Australian troops are then moved by train to the Somme Offensive. Later Reginald was stationed in the St Omer-Aire-Hasbrouck region of the French Flanders which was known as the "Nursery".

On approximately 25 July 1916 Reginald Brown was killed in action in the fighting at Pozières. He was buried on the field but, because the area continued to be fought over, his body could not later be found. Therefore there is no known grave for Reggie. His name is listed on the wall of the Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, in France of which I visited in 2014 while on a family holiday to Europe. His brothers, Ernest (Australian Army no known grave) and Sidney (British Army and known grave) are also mentioned yet Sid has a grave. At the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, over 10,000 Australians have graves, or their names are put on the memorial wall for those of whose bodies could not be found. The Memorial was made to honour all the Australians who fought on the hollowed grounds in France.

Records from the Australian Army Central Army Records Office indicate that both brothers (Reginald and Ernest) were awarded multiple medals. They were recipients of the 1914/1915 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the ANZAC Commemorative Medal.

According to family records, Joseph married Ann “aunty” Tyler and had seven kids and they named one of the children after Reginald and one after Ernest, however their son Reginald (born 1924) died from meningitis and Ernest died from brain damage supposedly being dropped by one of the kids. Both died before they turned one.