BROWN, Harold Baylie
| Service Number: | 1159 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 September 1914, An original member of H Company 15th Bn |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 15th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, 9 May 1892 |
| Home Town: | Hamilton, Central Highlands, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Queens College, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupation: | Council clerk |
| Died: | Killed in action, Gallipoli, Turkey, 2 May 1915, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Devonport ANZAC Centenary Commemoration Gallipoli Campaign, Devonport Cenotaph, Gretna War Memorial, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Sep 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1159, 15th Infantry Battalion, An original member of H Company 15th Bn | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec 1914: | Involvement Private, 1159, 17th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 22 Dec 1914: | Embarked Private, 1159, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Melbourne | |
| 2 May 1915: | Involvement Private, 1159, 15th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1159 awm_unit: 15th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1915-05-02 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Harold Baylie Brown and his brother, William Alder Brown, were both tragically killed on Gallipoli, their deaths being recorded on the same day, 2 May 1915, a week after the Anzac Landing. They were not in the same battalion, William having enlisted in Victoria, served with the 14th Battalion, Harold as a Tasmanian in the 15th Battalion.
They were the only sons of William George and Clara Alice Brown, of Hamilton, Tasmania. Their parents struggled deeply to come to terms with their loss. Their father wrote to the AIF, “They were my only sons, and my wife and I would ask if it were possible that the headstones for them might be erected side by side (the body of our younger son, Harold Baylie Brown, was never recovered.)
If the authorities can under the circumstances permit their headstones to be erected side by side it would be a great kindness and comfort to their mother and myself ….”
No reply is recorded in the boys’ service file but Harold’s death was a great mystery, no accurate account is found in his Red Cross Wounded and Missing file. Originally listed as missing, his parents had to wait for some 8 months before his death was confirmed. He is remembered on the Lone Pine Memorial.
Harold was for nearly five years assistant council clerk to the Hamilton Council, and for some two years prior to his death assistant council clerk at Devonport, Tasmania. The Warden stated he and had been “throughout a painstaking and conscientious public servant.”
The bothers are commemorated in St Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton, Tasmania. An inscription on tablet, referring to the two brothers, reads: 'In death as in life united'.
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