READ, Cyril Herbert
| Service Number: | 2477 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 June 1916, Enlisted at Bathurst. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 53rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia , November 1894 |
| Home Town: | Bathurst, Bathurst Regional, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Permanent Way (track) Branch of NSW Railways |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 1 February 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Picardie VII B 8 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bathurst Public School Roll of Honour, Bathurst War Memorial Carillon, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 27 Jun 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2477, 53rd Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Bathurst. | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Sep 1916: | Involvement Private, 2477, 53rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Mashobra embarkation_ship_number: A47 public_note: '' | |
| 14 Sep 1916: | Embarked Private, 2477, 53rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Mashobra, Sydney |
Help us honour Cyril Herbert Read's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Cyril Herbert READ (Service Number 2477) was born at Bathurst about November 1894. He worked in the Permanent Way Branch of the NSW Railways.
Read enlisted at Bathurst on 27th June 1916. Being unmarried he gave his father Herbert, living in Bathurst, as his next of kin. He was allotted to the 53rd Australian Infantry Battalion. He embarked HMAT ‘Mashobra’ on 14th September 1916 and reached Plymouth (England) on 2nd November. In only a few weeks, on 14th December, he proceeded overseas to France on the ‘Princess Henrietta’, and was taken on the strength of the Battalion on 24th December.
he was killed in action on 1st February 1917. Lieut. C W Brebner stated:
‘Pte Read was acting in front of Le Transloy on Jan 2nd/17 and while helping a wounded comrade back to a dressing station he was struck in the stomach by a piece of high explosive shell and killed instantaneously. He was buried by our Pioneer Sergeant and a service was conducted by Capt. Chaplain Greville. The grave, upon which a cross was erected, is in the rear of a battery position close by Waterlot Farm. The Chaplain told me that Read’s personal belongings had been sent home.’
He was buried at ‘Gun Valley, above Waterlot Farm, France Sheet 57C S W SqT80 2½ 3.’ After the war such isolated graves were brought into established cemeteries and Read’s remains were exhumed and re-interred in Guards Cemetery, Les Boeufs, 4½ miles South of Bapaume.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Click images to start slideshow.