Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Cpl. William Frederick Church (service number 3427) was born on in January of 1886 in the town of Woolwich, located in Kent, England. Prior to his enlistment in the Australian Imperial Forces, he operated as a ships steward, living in South Melbourne. Church had 5 years of service experience prior to his enlistment in the First World War with the Royal Horse Artillery unit. He stood at 5’9 inches tall, with blue eyes and brown hair. He was religious and belonged to the denomination of the Church of England. He enlisted when he was 28 years old.

While serving with 2nd Field Artillery Brigade, Cpl. Church was sentenced to 90 days of detention in December 1915 for disorderly drunkenness and damage to public property. He was relocated to the Abbassier barracks in Heliopolis in Egypt, to complete his sentence. Upon serving his punishment he rejoined strength with the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade and continued to serve alongside them until the 15th of May 1916, when he transferred to the 21st Field Artillery Brigade and resumed service as a gunner. During his time in service, Church served in Egypt, Gallipoli, France and later in Belgium.

Cpl. Church endured numerous dental problems while in active service. A medical entry listed in the National Archives states that in January 1916 Cpl Church had 14 teeth removed by a field dentist in one day and was taking pain relieving medication (anodyne capsules, likely opium or morphine derivatives) to cope with the pain of having so many teeth forcibly removed at once and using a hydrogen peroxide or saline mouthwash for its antiseptic properties.

On the 10th of September 1915, While in Gallipoli, Church was hospitalised for 2 months with Dysentery due to the unsanitary conditions in the trenches. He survived and recovered to later take on strength in Belgium, where he died a little more than 12 months later on the 23rd of September 1916, due to wounds received in service. He was unmarried and did not have any recorded children. He was buried in Dickebusch New Military Cemetery, 3 and 1/2 miles south west of Ypres.

It took 3 years after Cpl. Churches death for the subsequent collection and verification of his will, which was found scrawled on the back of a photograph, to be distributed. Cpl. Church’s money and personal belongings were recovered and returned to Australia to Miss Joan Derwin, who he affectionately described in his pay book as “his nearest friend.”

The items consisted of the following;

His military pay book,

Field Gunners catechism,

3 french franc notes; one for 20 francs, one for 10 francs and one for 5 francs,

A black book endorsed “continuous certificate of discharge”, containing multiple discharge papers,

A notebook and a couple of photographs.

Joan requested and received two photographs displaying the description and location of his grave in later correspondence with the Victoria Barracks Base Records Office. His grave is listed as resting in row L, grave no.9.

A certificate of death and a victory medal was issued to his mother back in his home of Fitzroy, Victoria. His mother also received some of his personal effects including a razor, 3 military books, his bible, 2 notebooks, razor straps, linen collars, 3 brushes, a cigarette case and a balaclava cap.