Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Arthur Plenderleith Walker #1260 11th Light Horse / 11th Field Artillery Brigade

Arthur Walker was born in the Coorparoo / Greenslopes District. He attended school at Dunellen (the former name for Greenslopes State School) and Junction Park State School. He gave his address as “Laurel Bank” Cornwall Street, Greenslopes, as was the address of his next of kin, his father John Plenderleith Walker. (The name Plenderleith was a family name associated with the family’s Caledonian heritage)
Arthur’s occupation prior to enlistment was as a clerk with Sturmfels Ltd in Creek Street Brisbane. Sturmfels was a wool broking and stock agency with stores at Teneriffe and Oxley.

Arthur presented himself for enlistment on 17th August 1915 in Brisbane; he was 25years old. He was originally drafted into the 6th reinforcements for the 11th Light Horse, perhaps on the basis of his association with the land through his work at Sturmfels. The reinforcements embarked for overseas on 27th October from Adelaide. The time between enlistment and embarkation left very little time for training, particularly when at least half of that time would have been spent travelling from Brisbane to Adelaide.

Arthur arrived in Egypt on 22nd February 1916 just as the AIF was being expanded and reorganised for deployment to the Western Front. In April of that year, Arthur was transferred to the 11th Field Artillery perhaps on the basis that Light Horsemen would have the necessary skills of horsemanship to handle the horse teams that pulled the eighteen pounders and howitzers. Arthur’s battery arrived in Marseilles on 10th June and proceeded to Havre to complete the collection of equipment before being deployed in the Armentieres sector.

Arthur’s records have no details between 1916 and early 1918 so it can be assumed that he remained with his unit during actions at Messines, Menin Road and Passchendaele during 1917. In March of 1918, Arthur was granted leave in England and rejoined his unit just as the German Spring Offensive began in the Somme. The 11th Field Artillery was supporting the 4th Division AIF in their efforts to halt the advance, which succeeded at Villers Bretonneux on 25th April.

The next major action was in support at the battle of Hamel on 4th July, Monash’s famous victory which took 93 minutes. The artillery batteries moved up to consolidate the ground won and continued to harass the enemy.

On 12 July, the Brigade War Diary reported that during a routine bombardment a premature detonation of a shell due to a defective fuse as a field piece was being loaded caused two casualties. One of the men wounded was Arthur Walker. He was taken initially to a Field Ambulance but the wounds to his loins and abdomen were serious and he was transferred to a casualty clearing station where died of his wounds the following day. Red Cross reports conducted into Arthur’s death indicate that he was conscious when taken from the field but did not speak. The matron in charge of the CCS wrote to his family after his death. The Red Cross file also contains two notes from a Miss G. Baxter of Harlesden, London enquiring into the circumstances of Arthur’s death. Miss Baxter may have been a relative or a sweetheart who Arthur met on his leave to England.
Arthur Walker was buried near the Casualty Clearing Station in the Crouy British Cemetery with a Reverend Wheeler in attendance. His medals and photographs of his grave were despatched to his father but the memorial scroll apparently went missing in the post. The military authorities in Australia were at pains to point out that the British Authorities had specified that only one scroll per deceased soldier would be issued and that a replacement would be sent once Arthur’s father completed a statutory declaration to the effect that he had not received the original scroll. A replacement scroll was received in 1923.