19502
SHAUGHNESSY, William John
| Service Number: | 179 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 September 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 43rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia, 18 June 1894 |
| Home Town: | Mount Gambier, Mount Gambier, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Mount Gambier High School |
| Occupation: | Wool Classer |
| Died: | Natural Causes, Victor Harbour, South Australia, 18 December 1966, aged 72 years |
| Cemetery: |
Victor Harbor General Cemetery, South Australia |
| Memorials: | Mount Gambier High School Great War Roll of Honor, Mount Gambier Knight & Cleve Pictorial Honour Rolls |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 179, 43rd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Jun 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Sergeant, 179, 43rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Lieutenant, 179, 43rd Infantry Battalion | |
| Date unknown: | Wounded 179, 43rd Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour William John Shaughnessy's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Graeme Roulstone
179 William John SHAUGHNESSY was born at Mount Gambier on 18 June 1894 and was enrolled at Mount Gambier High School on 21 January 1907 by his father, John Shaughnessy, baker, of Arbor Street, Mount Gambier. He left this school on 20 December 1907.
He enlisted in Adelaide on 22 September 1915 (21, wool classer, single, Methodist) naming his mother, Mrs Matilda Louisa Shaughnessy of Mount Gambier, as his next of kin. He attended a school for non-commissioned officers from 1 November to 31 December 1915 and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant on 9 March 1916 before embarking from Adelaide on the ‘Afric’ on 9 June 1916.
He arrived in France on 25 November 1916 where he joined the 43rd Battalion. He was promoted to second lieutenant on 15 February 1917 and lieutenant on 30 May 1917. During much of 1917 the 43rd Battalion were based in Flanders. Shaughnessy was wounded by shrapnel (fractured jaw, severe) during an enemy bombardment on 4 April 1917 and evacuated to England on 14 April. He left England for return to Australia on 10 March 1918 on board the ‘Durham Castle’. He transferred to the ‘Orontes’ at Capetown in South Africa and disembarked at Melbourne on 10 May 1918. He was discharged ‘medically unfit’ on 16 August 1918.
Published in Ours: the origins and early years of Mount Gambier High School and Old Scholars who served in the Great European War by Graeme Roulstone
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