LATIMER, Tom Binney
| Service Number: | 3484 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 7th Light Horse Regiment |
| Born: | Tarnagulla, 1871 |
| Home Town: | Violet Town, Strathbogie, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Bootmaker |
| Died: | Sydney, 1934, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Euroa Telegraph Park, Violet Town Honour Roll WW1 |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Nov 1917: | Involvement Private, 3484, 7th Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '2' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Commonwealth embarkation_ship_number: A73 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Nov 1917: | Embarked Private, 3484, 7th Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Commonwealth, Melbourne |
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LATIMER Tom Binney 3484 TPR
7th Australian Light Horse
1871-1934
There were three surviving brothers born to George and Julia (née Binney) Latimer; the rest of the family was made up of eight sisters. Two of the brothers, Tom and Percy served in WW1; Tom, the older of the two, born in 1871 in Tarnagulla, followed in his father George’s footsteps and worked as a bootmaker. The rest of the family lived in Central Victoria – all with different branches of work.
An advertisement in the Euroa Advertiser in 1893 states that George Latimer was a ‘Fashionable Bootmaker’ in Railway Street, Euroa and at Violet Town. Every description of Ladies’ and Gents’ Boots and Shoes made to measure, pegged or sewn. Perfect fit guaranteed. Jockeys’, Riding and Hunting Boots a Specialty. Repairs neatly done.’
On 4 April 1917 when he was 41 Tom left his employment in Junee NSW to enlist.
After enlisting, Tom spent the following six months in training before embarking on HMAT Commonwealth in October. Two months later he disembarked at Suez and as part of the 2nd Reinforcements was sent to Reinforcements Camp at Moascar, North east of Cairo. The camp, which was established in 1916, was described by the artist George Lambert as ‘miles and miles of tents and desert, thousands of sweating, sun-bronzed men and beautiful horses.’
In July 1918 Tom was taken on strength by the 7th Light Horse Regiment which was taking part in the northern advance east of the Jordan River to Amman which was captured in September 1918. The extreme heat and strenuous army training in the sandy desert took its toll on a number of soldiers, Tom included. In September he entered hospital suffering from bleeding haemorrhoids and debility. Two weeks later, the bleeding had subsided but the debility had not, so he spent the next months at a rest camp awaiting return to Australia in June 1919.
The HT Madras took him to Sydney where he was discharged on 20 October 1919.
Tom resumed his pre-war occupation as a bootmaker at Junee until his death in 1934 at a Military Hospital at Granville, a suburb of Sydney; he would have been 63. A quote from the Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser dated Wednesday 3 October 1934 reports that ‘Mr Thomas Latimer, for many years in business in Violet Town and Junee, died in a Sydney military hospital. A bachelor, he served in the Great War and did not enjoy the best of health on his return from Egypt. When in good health his fine bass voice was heard in many choirs and concerts of the two states.’
His sister Alice who married John Mitchell in Echuca in 1910 also had a beautiful voice and along with her brother, sang at money-raising concerts in Violet Town and surrounding districts.
Service Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Tom’s name is inscribed on the Violet Town Memorial Hall Honour Board.
His name appears on one of the metal plaques affixed to the external wall of the Memorial Hall. It is thought that these plaques identified trees in the original 1917 Memorial Avenue planting.
In 2013 a Ceratonia siliqua - Carob Tree - was planted in McDiarmids Road in his memory.
© 2015 Sheila Burnell