SPEAKMAN, Norman Henry
| Service Number: | 2626 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 July 1916, Perth, WA |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 43rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Danbury, Chelmsford, Essex, England, United Kingdom, 1889 |
| Home Town: | Dowerin, Dowerin, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Framlingham College, Suffolk, United Kingdom |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Gun shot wound to spine, Paraplegia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, 17 March 1920 |
| Cemetery: |
Fremantle Cemetery, Western Australia Church of England section, Plot AA, Grave No. 1606 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Koorda War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 27 Jul 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2626, 43rd Infantry Battalion, Perth, WA | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Nov 1916: | Involvement Private, 2626, 43rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Nov 1916: | Embarked Private, 2626, 43rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Argyllshire, Fremantle | |
| 26 Aug 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 43rd Infantry Battalion, Reverted to Private 5.11.1917 | |
| 14 Mar 1918: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 43rd Infantry Battalion | |
| 30 Mar 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, 2626, 43rd Infantry Battalion, County Middlesex War Hospital 5.4.18 - Gun shot wound to jaw | |
| 17 Jul 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, 43rd Infantry Battalion | |
| 1 Sep 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, 2626, 43rd Infantry Battalion, Gun shot wound to the spine - Paraplegia | |
| 17 Mar 1920: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 2626, 43rd Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2626 awm_unit: 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1920-03-17 |
Help us honour Norman Henry Speakman's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Elizabeth Allen
Norman Henry SPEAKMAN was born in 1889 in Danbury, Chelmsford, Essex, England
His parents were Henry Holmstead SPEAKMAN and Kate SMITH who married in 1888 in Chelmsford, Essex
Norman arrived in Australia in early 1911 from London on the ship Orontes and embarked at Fremantle, Western Australia
He was living at Badgerin Rock via Dowerin, WA before he enlisted in Perth, WA on 27th July, 1916 and was a Private with the 43rd Battalion, 5th Reinforcements - they embarked from Fremantle, WA on the HMAT Argyllshire on 9th November, 1916
He was wounded 3 times and the last time on 1st September 1918 he received a gunshot wound to the spine which caused paraplegia. He was transferred to the King George Hospital in England from the 83rd General Hospital in Boulogne on 14th September, 1918 dangerously ill & a paraplegic. -
He was discharged from Hospital on 28th August, 1919 & immediately returned to Australia on the same day on the ship HT Kanowna
He died in the 8th Australian General Hospital, Perth, Western Australia on 17th March, 1920 - and is buried in Fremantle Cemetery, Western Australia
Norman was awarded the British War Medal & the Victory Medal and his name is memorialised on the Australian War Memorial and the State War Memorial in Western Australia
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Norman was born in Danbury in 1889, the son of Harry Holmsted Speakman, (1857) a farmer and grazier born in Galleywood, and his wife Kate (1861) born in East Hanningfield. In 1891 the family was living at Garlands Farm, Runsell Hamlet. In 1901, 11-year-old Norman was the eldest of four children, the others being Frank (1892), Edward (1895) and Irene (1897). The family had two 15-year-old servants living in: nursemaid Emma Enefer born Woodham Walter and general domestic Alice Miller from Wiltshire. Nine years later, in December 1910, Norman was one of 508 passengers on board the “Orontes”, travelling to Fremantle, Western Australia. In 1916, when he enlisted on 29th July with the Australian Imperial Force, his occupation was recorded as farmer, and unmarried. He was 5ft 10 ins tall, with a fresh complexion, fair hair and blue eyes, weight 156 lbs. Norman was appointed to 5/48 Reinforcement and embarked for England. In June 1917 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, and shipped to France in November. Wounded in action in March 1918 he returned to England for treatment and then re-joined his unit four months later. However, he was again wounded in action on 1st September 1918, resulting in paraplegia. He was invalided back to England and admitted to the King George Hospital, an emergency wartime facility created in Stamford Street, Waterloo in what is now the Franklin-Wilkins building of King's College London. Nearly a year later Norman was returned to Australia on the TSS “Kanowna”, an Australian vessel requisitioned by the government for transporting troops. He remained in hospital in Australia, where he died on 17th March 1920, the primary cause cited as gunshot wound to the spine
In the United Kingdom, he is commemorated on the war memorial in the church of St John the Baptist at Danbury, Essex.
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