HOPE, Edward James
| Service Number: | 4188 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 October 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 54th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia, 29 September 1887 |
| Home Town: | St Marys, Penrith Municipality, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Fetler |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 20 July 1916, aged 28 years |
| Cemetery: |
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery Recovered from an unmarked mass grave in 2009, with 250 of his mates. Grave I. D. 4 INSCRIPTION WE ADMIRE YOUR COURAGE AND YOUR SACRIFICE. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE LOVED, HONOURED AND REMEMBERED |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Penrith S P School Honor Roll, Springwood District Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Oct 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4188, 54th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Dec 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4188, 2nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 16 Feb 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 54th Infantry Battalion, 2nd Battalion was split to create the 54th and 'seeded' with experienced officers NCO and soldiers as well as newly arrived reinforcements | |
| 19 Jun 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4188, 54th Infantry Battalion, Embarked on the 'Caledonian' disembarking on 29 June in Marseilles | |
| 20 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4188, 54th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4188 awm_unit: 54th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-07-20 |
Pte Edward James Hope
Over 100 years ago, local soldier Edward James Hope from Kingswood went missing 12 months after he enlisted in the Australian Army.
His remains have just been identified in France.
For 103 years, Edward’s body lay with other soldiers in a mass grave in Fromelles.
Researcher and President of St Marys Historical Society, Lyn Forde, has been assisting with the DNA identification process for the last ten years.
"I admit I cried when I received the news," Lyn said. "He will now be buried with all honours and a headstone in the new cemetery."
Read the full story in this week's Nepean News
From Memories of St Marys - South Creek NSW, Australia
Submitted 25 March 2019 by Evan Evans
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He was 28 and the son of Amy Hope and the late William Hope. Native of Kingswood, New South Wales.
A new headstone bearing his details will be dedicated to him at a ceremony on the 19th July 2019. He was previously commemorated on the V.C. Corner Australian Memorial; his name will be removed when the appropriate panel is next replaced.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Edward James HOPE (Service Number 4188) was born on 29th September 1887 at Kingswood. He commenced working in the Per-Way Branch of the NSW Government Railways in the Metropolitan Division as a packer on 7th January 1913. Not much more than a year later he had progressed to relief fettler, and then fettler. This was the ‘calling’ that he gave when he eventually enlisted. In 1914 he worked between Emu Plains and Raglan, and in 1915 between Wentworthville and Penrith.
On 23rd September 1915 he was released from duty to join the Expeditionary Forces and he enlisted the same day at Holdsworthy. Being unmarried, he gave his only sister, Florence Monique Hope, as his next of kin.
He left Australia from Sydney aboard HMAT ‘Aeneas’ on 20th October 1915 and travelled to Egypt for further training. He was allotted to the 54th Australian Infantry Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir. He embarked at Alexandria on 19 June and reached Marseilles ten days later.
He was posted as missing in France on 20th July 1916 in the Battle of Fromelles – the first engagement of Australian troops on the Western Front.
Several of his comrades had seen him killed. However, in the chaos of the battle they knew nothing of any burial. Soon his identity disc was passed from the Germans and on 9th January 1917 the 54th Battalion decided of his fate:
‘The fact that Pte Hope’s name appeared on the German Death lists with mention of personal effects is only another proof that he died in the front trenches, but that his body was found & probably interred by the Germans’
This was in fact the case, although the site of the mass burial by the Germans was lost. A German mass burial site at Pheasant Wood was identified in the 21st century and many of the remains individually identified by DNA analysis were re-interred in individual graves in a new cemetery. Hope was not included in the first group and he was remembered at the VC corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial, Fromelles, France. His remains have since been identified and he received a headstone in the new cemetery in 2019.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll, notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board and notes by Geoffrey Gillon.
Click images to start slideshow.