MURPHY, John Joseph Francis
| Service Number: | 2693 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 30th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia., 17 December 1895 |
| Home Town: | Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Porter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 9 April 1918, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
Adelaide Cemetery Villers-Bretonneux, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Sutherland WW1 Memorial Wall, Waterfall Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Apr 1916: | Involvement Private, 2693, 30th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Nestor embarkation_ship_number: A71 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Apr 1916: | Embarked Private, 2693, 30th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Nestor, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
John Joseph Francis MURPHY (Service Number 2693) was born on 17th December 1895 at Sydney. He began working as a probationer in the Traffic Branch in Sydney on 29th August 1910, progressing to a junior porter on 1st January 1911. He was still in this role when he was released from duty to join the Expeditionary Forces on 27th January 1916.
Murphy had enlisted at Liverpool a couple of days before his formal leave was granted. He gave his age as 21 years and 9 months, though he was in fact just a month beyond 20 years. He was unmarried and nominated his father, care of the Post Office Waterfall, as his next of kin. Patrick Hill Murphy was a railwayman at that town, and later his address is shown as ‘Railway Depot, Brooklyn.’ John Murphy also admitted that he had been refused enlistment earlier on the grounds of deficient chest measurement – he was still a growing boy, too undeveloped to be a soldier.
He was allotted to the 30th Battalion. He embarked HMAT ‘Nestor’ at Sydney on 9th April 1916. After a brief stop over in Egypt re-embarked on HMAT ‘Franconia’ at Alexandria on 6th June for passage through Marseilles, However, he did not go directly to the front but passed through France to England where he was with the 8th Training Battalion. He proceeded to France and the 30th Battalion on 26th September.
In February 1917 he was admitted to the 5th Divisional Rest Station with frost bite to his toes. He spent two months in various convalescent depots at Etaples and Cayeux until he re-joined his Battalion on 22nd April.
In June he was in hospital again, this time with an accidental injury to his hand incurred while digging at the rifle range. He was deemed to be not to blame for the accident. It was 12th July before this injury had healed sufficiently for him to re-join his unit. In August it was a septic finger which caused him to be admitted to the 8th Australian Field Ambulance, the 59th General Hospital and the Hospital Ship ‘St Andrew’ for passage to England. There he was treated at Cambridge Hospital and the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital. Then he had furlough follwed by a sequence of Command Depots and training units in England. It was 15th January 1918 before he was again with the 30th Battalion in France.
Murphy was killed in action on 9th April 1918. His remains are now interred in Adelaide British Cemetery 2½ miles S of Corbie.
- based on the Australian War Memoral Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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