Charles Oliver KNIGHT

KNIGHT, Charles Oliver

Service Number: 4174
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 20th Infantry Battalion
Born: Araluen, New South Wales, Australia, 5 December 1885
Home Town: Araluen, Palerang, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Railway Blacksmith's Striker
Died: Killed in Action, France, 1 March 1917, aged 31 years
Cemetery: Warlencourt British Cemetery
VIII C 45
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Eastwood War Memorial, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board
Show Relationships

World War 1 Service

11 Mar 1916: Involvement Private, 4174, 20th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Orsova embarkation_ship_number: A67 public_note: ''
11 Mar 1916: Embarked Private, 4174, 20th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Orsova, Sydney
4 Aug 1916: Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 4174, 20th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , Gunshot wound to right arm. Sent to England.

Help us honour Charles Oliver Knight's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by John Oakes

Charles Oliver KNIGHT (Service Number 4174) was born at Araluen on 5th December 1885.  He joined the NSW Government Railways and Tramways as a blacksmith’s striker at the Randwick tramway workshops in July 1908 and transferred in the same role to the railway workshops at Eveleigh in October 1912.  In October 1915 he enlisted in the AIF at Holdsworthy.

He embarked from Sydney in March 1916. He was sent via Egypt to France, where he landed in May.  He was treated for scabies in June before joining the 20th Battalion ‘in the field’ on 30th July.  Five days later he was wounded in action at Pozières (gunshot wound right arm), and sent to England. hee was discharged from hospital on 1st September and classed fully fit.  He enjoyed a fortnight’s leave before returning to camp. he then spent  two weeks suffering from mumps.  In January 1917 he was sent back to France and re-joined his unit on 19th February. 

On 1st March 1917 he was killed in action and buried at a map reference SE of Le Sars, 3½ miles SW of Bapaume.  After the war his remains were exhumed and re-interred in the Warlencourt New British Cemetery, 2½ miles SW of Bapaume.

- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great sydney Central Station Honour Board.

Read more...