MARKSTEDT, John David Anton
| Service Numbers: | 9650, 9651 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 August 1915, 2 years Swedish Army |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | 1st Divisional Ammunition Column |
| Born: | Skellefteå, Sweden, 18 August 1881 |
| Home Town: | Rockhampton, Rockhampton, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 7 July 1952, aged 70 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane, Qld Anzac Portion 8, Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane. |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Gunner, 9650, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , 2 years Swedish Army | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Dec 1915: | Involvement Gunner, 9651, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Dec 1915: | Embarked Gunner, 9651, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , HMAT Berrima, Sydney | |
| 30 Jul 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Driver, 9651, 1st Divisional Ammunition Column, 1st MD |
Help us honour John David Anton Markstedt's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Australian Remembrance Army
Driver John David Antonius (Anton) Markstedt (Service No. 9651), an Australian World War One veteran, is among almost 800 previously unmarked WWI veterans’ graves in Lutwyche Cemetery we have now marked with a plaque recognising their service for Australia.
We unveiled his plaque in Lutwyche Cemetery on 23 September 2023, along with a further 300 plaques on the previously unmarked graves of Australian World War One veterans:
See Australian Remembrance Army Facebook page
John David Antonius (Anton) Markstedt was born on 18 August 1881 in Skellefteå, Sweden. In 1907 he married in England, and a daughter was born there in 1909. It appears that the marriage ended, and by 1911 he had emigrated to Queensland.
Because he was not a British subject, he completed the Oath of Allegiance for naturalisation on 21 August 1915 at the Gladstone Police Magistrate’s Office, and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Rockhampton two days later, aged 30 years and 11 months. He stated that he had two years of previous service in the Swedish Army.
Markstedt was allotted to the 13th Reinforcements, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, with the rank of Gunner, and was later appointed Driver while in Egypt. He served initially in the Egyptian theatre, then embarked for France, disembarking at Marseilles in April 1916.
His subsequent service was with the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column, operating in France and Belgium. His record notes a period of medical treatment in early 1916 for concussion, after which he returned to duty. Further hospitalisation occurred in October–November 1917 for illness while serving in Belgium. He also received leave in England in 1917.
Throughout 1916–1918 he remained with artillery and ammunition-column units, with periodic administrative transfers but no recorded wounds in action. After the Armistice, he returned to Australia aboard H.T. Suffolk, embarking on 23 April 1919 and disembarking on 5 June 1919. He was subsequently medically discharged from the A.I.F.
Following his return to Australia, he is recorded in 1925 as living in Maryborough, Queensland, where he worked as a labourer. On 3 June 1935 he married Ethel Helen Mabel Watts. By 1937, he and Ethel were living in Brisbane, where he was again working as a labourer.
Driver John David Antonius Markstedt (also recorded as Markstead) died on 7 July 1952, aged 70, and was buried two days later in Anzac Portion 8, Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane.
After decades without recognition at his place of burial, his grave now bears a plaque commemorating his service to Australia — ensuring his name endures among those remembered for their duty and sacrifice. His identity and dignity have now been restored.
We have remembered him.
Lest We Forget.
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