Thomas George DRIVER

DRIVER, Thomas George

Service Number: 1750
Enlisted: 12 January 1915, Perth, Western Australia
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 11th Infantry Battalion
Born: Waterloo, England, January 1875
Home Town: Perth, Western Australia
Schooling: Battersea Grammar School, England
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Non Battle Casualty, Military Hospital, Devonport, Devon, England, 1 October 1915
Cemetery: Plymouth (Weston Mill) Cemetery Plymouth, Devon, England, United Kingdom
Row C. Grave No. 3690
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kalamunda District Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

12 Jan 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1750, Perth, Western Australia
19 Apr 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1750, 11th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: ''
19 Apr 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 1750, 11th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Argyllshire, Fremantle
4 Jun 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1750, 11th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli

Scouting Connection

Thomas Driver was the Founder and Scoutmaster of the 77th South London Kent Street (Good Service) Troop and is named on the UK Scout Association's First World War Roll of Honour

https://heritage.scouts.org.uk/exhibitions/scouting-in-the-first-world-war/

Thomas George Driver - Arrives in Western Australia - 1913

From this report - we can understand what Thomas Driver was doing in WA, when he enlisted into the Army.

Commissioner Dunn then read his report for the year, (1913) [1] (of Scouts WA.)

District Scoutmaster Driver, with three senior Boy Scouts, form London had arrived, and they hoped to establish a Scout colony in this State. They were at present engaged in the country acquiring local experience so that if everything turned out well they would be ready to receive a batch of boys next season and place them in positions. He was watching this venture very closely, as Mr. Driver had informed him that, should it prove successful an almost unlimited number of selected senior lads ready for work could be obtained.

No danger was anticipated of causing any influx of labour into the towns, as the boys so selected for Australia were trained on one of the scout farms in England and were only sent out on condition that they followed farming pursuits. In regard to placing Boy Scouts on the land, South Australia was somewhat ahead of Western Australia, that State having recently assisted 40 senior lads to come out from England, all of whom were making good progress in their new sphere of life.

[1] The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) Thu 6 Nov 1913
Page 4 BOY SCOUTS' ASSOCIATION. (use Ctrl+F = Driver)
Found in Trove : [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26889472]

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Biography contributed by Evan Evans

The summary below was completed by Cathy Sedgwick – Facebook “WW1 Australian War Graves in England/UK/Scotland/Ireland

Died on this date – 1st October…… Private Thomas George Driver was born at Nine Elms, Waterloo, London, England around 1875.

Thomas George Driver, Builder & Decorator, aged 38, was a passenger on Orsova which departed from the port of London, England on 18th July, 1913 & arrived at the port of Fremantle, Western Australian on 19th August, 1913.

Thomas George Driver enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) on 12th January, 1915 as a 35 year old, single, Labourer from P.O. Kalamunda, Western Australia.
Private Thomas George Driver embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia on HMAT Argyllshire (A8) on 19th April, 1915 with the 4th Reinforcements, 11th Infantry Battalion. He joined 11th Battalion “B” Company from 4th Reinforcements at Dardanelles on 4th June, 1915.

Private Thomas George Driver was admitted to 2nd Field Ambulance at Gallipoli on 23rd August, 1915 with Influenza (Dysentery). He was transferred to 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station then transferred to Mudros. Private Driver was admitted to 1st Australian Stationary Hospital at Lemnos on 27th August, 1915 with Pyrexia (Fever). Private Driver was transferred to Base on 8th September, 1915. He was invalided to England from Malta on 9th September, 1915 on Hospital Ship Itonus.

Private Thomas George Driver was admitted to Military Hospital, Devonport, Devon, England on 22nd September, 1915.

Private Thomas George Driver died on 1st October, 1915 at Military Hospital, Devonport, Devon, England from Dysentery.

He was buried in Weston Mill Cemetery, Plymouth, Devon, England where 4 other WW1 Australian War Graves are located.

(The above is a summary of my research. The full research can be found by following the link below)
https://ww1austburialsuk.weebly.com/weston-mill.html

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