CORNWELL, Wallace
| Service Number: | 341 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 25th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Windsor, New South Wales, Australia, 17 March 1875 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Butcher |
| Died: | Coronary Occlusion , Eventine, Sandgate, Queensland, Australia, 3 December 1954, aged 79 years |
| Cemetery: |
Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane, Qld Anzac Portion 8 |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 29 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 341, 25th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 341, 25th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Brisbane |
Help us honour Wallace Cornwell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Carol Berry
Australian Remembrance Army
Australian World War One veteran Private Wallace Crowley Cornwell (Service No. 341), 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:
https://www.australianremembrancearmy.com/lutwyche...
WWI service file: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/.../Int.../ViewImage.aspx...
Wallace Crowley Cornwell, also recorded as Cornwall, was born on 17 March 1875 at Windsor, New South Wales, to Henry and Jessie Cornwell (née Crowley).
He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 9 February 1915 in Brisbane, declaring his age to be 36 (although he was in fact 40), and giving his occupation as butcher and his marital status as single. On 29 June 1915, he embarked for overseas service with the 25th Battalion aboard HMAT Aeneas from Brisbane.
He joined the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli later that year and, following the evacuation, returned to Egypt. In February 1916, he was hospitalised with fractured ribs and passed through several medical facilities before rejoining duty with the 49th Battalion.
His time on the Western Front was curtailed by illness. In November 1916, he was admitted with myositis and subsequently evacuated to England. After a period of recovery and classification as medically unfit for further active service, he returned to Australia in September 1917 and was discharged on 17 December 1917 as medically unfit, his condition compounded by being over the prescribed age.
Wallace experienced significant hardship following the war. In 1930, he was admitted to the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum on North Stradbroke Island, a Queensland Government institution for the aged, infirm, and destitute. This marked the first of many admissions over the following years. When the asylum closed in 1946, he was transferred to Eventide Nursing Home at Sandgate, Brisbane.
Private Wallace Crowley Cornwell died on 3 December 1954, aged 79, and was buried in Anzac Portion 8, Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane. He received a pauper’s burial organised by the RSL.
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 has now been restored.
We have remembered him.
Lest We Forget.
We received grant funding for this plaque from the Australian Government under the Marking (First World War) Private Graves Grants Program.
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