Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Arrived in Australia aged 18 years

Son of Alfred and Lucy Rann of Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, England

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Births Dec 1890   RANN Alfred Charles I. Wight 2b 577

He was 25.

He is remembered on the Carisbrooke War Memorial and in the Chapel of St Nicholas, Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight. 

#340  Alfred Charles RANN  11th Light Horse / 5th Light Horse

Alfred Rann, the son of Alfred and Lucy Rann, was born at Calbourne on the Isle of Wight in December 1890. Alfred attended school to a primary level and then worked as a groom at local stables. Living in such close proximity to the great ports of Portsmouth and Southampton, a life at sea beckoned for the young Alfred. He worked as a merchant seaman on the Magdalena and the Atrata, two ships of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, on the routes between Southampton and South American Ports.

According to information supplied by Alfred’s mother after his death, Alfred immigrated to Australia at the age of 18, around the year 1908. By the time that Alfred enlisted in January 1915, he was 24 years old and working in Howard as a miner where he boarded with a Mrs Grimes.

Alfred presented himself for enlistment on 4th January 1915 in Maryborough. Perhaps on the basis of his experience with horses back in England, Alfred was drafted into the 11th Light Horse Regiment. The 11th LHR was to be comprised of two squadrons from Queensland and one squadron from Tasmania. The Queenslanders reported to Fraser’s Paddock at Enoggera and then moved to the Pine Rivers Showgrounds at Lawnton north of Brisbane for training.

On 29th May, the 11th Light Horse led a march from Enoggera into the city of Brisbane. The march drew a large crowd to cheer the Queenslanders of the Light Horse and the 25th and 26th Infantry Battalions, all of which would depart for Gallipoli in the coming weeks. The 11th LHR was the first to sail, leaving Brisbane on the “Borda” on 2nd June. The Light Horse contingents which had arrived in Egypt in late 1914 were originally trained as mounted infantry. The situation at Anzac by early May dictated that the Light Horsemen would be used as reinforcements for the infantry. Upon arrival in Egypt on 23rd July, the 11th LHR Troopers went into camp where they were trained as infantry.

A month later the 11th LHR were sent to Anzac where the regiment was temporarily disbanded and the three squadrons were attached to three Light Horse regiments already there. Alfred Rann, a member of “B” Squadron was attached to the 5th Light Horse. The 5th Light Horse was manning the fire steps at Chatham’s Post when the reinforcements were taken on strength on 29th August.

After the failed offensives by the Australians in early August, with the exception of a minor victory at Lone Pine, both the Australians and the Turks realised that neither side could force an outcome by strength of arms. Both sides settled into a routine of tunnelling, bomb throwing and sniping. It was during this period that a 5th Light Horse private with Chinese heritage became a sensation across the ANZAC front.

Billy Sing, originally from Clermont, was a deadly shot. His sniping caused at least 150 Turkish casualties and he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The Turks also had deadly accurate snipers and one undoubtedly accounted for Alfred Rann when he received a gunshot wound to the head, fracturing his skull on 5th November. Alfred was evacuated from the beach at Anzac Cove on the Hospital Ship “Devanha” the following day and taken to the Baviere Military Hospital on Malta, being admitted on 11th November. A notation in his file records the wound as slight but that is not accurate. On 13th November, Alfred was classed as dangerously ill and his mother was informed by telegram.

On 26th November 1915, Alfred Rann succumbed to his wounds. His file records that he was buried at the Pieta Military Cemetery, in a suburb of Valletta with Chaplain Dodd in attendance. Because the ground in the cemetery is so rocky and difficult to dig, many of the headstones lay flat with several names on the one stone.