CAMPION, Charles Guest
| Service Number: | 619 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 4th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Brecknock, Breconshire, Wales., October 1882 |
| Home Town: | Waverley, Waverley, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Ship’s Steward |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 15 April 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement 619, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: | Embarked 619, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney | |
| 26 Oct 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal | |
| 15 Apr 1917: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 619, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 619 awm_unit: 4th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-04-15 |
Help us honour Charles Guest Campion's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Births Dec 1882 CAMPION Charles Guest Brecknock 11b 99
The district Brecknock is in the county of Breconshire.
He is remembered on the Brecon war memorial which stands in the grounds of St Mary’s Church. He is one of three Australian casualties of the Great War who are commemorated on this memorial
The memorial was unveiled in November 1920 by Mrs Best, who lost three sons in February and April 1917, all killed in Mesopotamia. The Celtic cross remembers the fallen of the First World War while the flower beds and gates nearby are dedicated to the memory of those who died in the Second World War.
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Charles Guest Campion was born in Brecon in October 1882, the son of Thomas and Jane. Thomas was born in Ireland but settled in Brecon and was a grocer and provisions dealer, and later a commercial traveller. Jane Guest married Thomas in 1866. She was born in Westminster but had lived in The Struet, Brecon since a small child. The family were living in High Street soon after the marriage, but had moved to The Struet by 1881. The birth of Charles and a younger sister Clara at Llanddew suggests they were living there in the early 1880s. Charles' father died in 1886, aged 46 with youngest daughter Helena born in January, 1887. The family had moved to 4, Harp Terrace by 1891 and Jane lived there for most of the rest of her life, dying in 1928, aged 84. By 1901, Charles, at 18 years old, was still living at home, but working as a footman. He emigrated to Australia in the early 1900s and appears to have worked as a steward on the passenger ships for some years. His sister, Helena Beatrix, had also emigrated there and managed a millinery establishment. Another sister, Florence Jane, emigrated there in 1913. 36 Charles joined the Australian Army at Sydney in 1914, and sailed with the Australian Expeditionary Force in October that year. They initially went to Egypt, then went to Gallipoli, serving in practically the whole operation there, before returning to Egypt. He was then sent to France in April 1916. He spent a leave later that year in Brecon; at the same time his brother Frank, a sergeant major with the Royal Engineers, was also home on leave. On return to France he rejoined the battalion who were fighting on the Western Front, mainly in the Somme valley and around Ypres. Charles was reported missing in France, in April 1917 and his death in action was confirmed later in the year.