LUKE, Arthur
| Service Number: | 2198 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 March 1916, Enlisted Charters Towers |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 47th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, 1894 |
| Home Town: | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in action, Dernancourt, France, 5 April 1918 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2198, 47th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted Charters Towers | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 2198, 47th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Boorara embarkation_ship_number: A42 public_note: '' | |
| 16 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 2198, 47th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Boorara, Brisbane |
Help us honour Arthur Luke's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Arthur Luke was the son of Frederick Charles and Elizabeth Mary Luke, Landport, Portsmouth, England.
He enlisted at Charters Towers, Queensland but his place of association is Brisbane, Queensland.
Arthur landed in England during late 1916 and joined the 47th Battalion on the Western Front on 18 February 1917. He was wounded in action at Messines on 8 June 1917 and was evacuated to England with a gunshot wound to the thigh soon after. After he recovered, he took a couple of ‘absent without leaves’ for a few days, perhaps to visit relatives in England. He rejoined his battalion in France on Christmas Eve 1917.
Arthur was reported missing after the Battle of Dernancourt on 5 April 1918 when the 47th Battalion defended a railway embankment at Dernancourt against two divisions of attacking German infantry. In his Red Cross wounded and missing file evidence from 2755 Private William Henry James states that he was alongside Luke at the railway embankment when a heavy shell exploded and blew Luke clean over the bank. He said he went to Luke but he could not speak and was in a very bad way. James said they had to retire from the ground within the hour and the Germans occupied the area where Luke was last seen.
Sergeant Ralph Featherston also reported he had seen Luke killed by a shell on the railway embankment at 7.30 am in the morning.
Arthur Luke’s mother, Elizabeth Mary, wrote a heart-rending letter to the Red Cross on 12 May 1918 from her home in Portsmouth, England. “Sir, my son, Arthur Luke, 2198 of ‘A’ Company 47th Battalion of the Australian force has been reported missing since the 5 April. Sir, will you kindly try to find him for he is my only boy and I love him so I cannot bear this suspence and sir he has been such a good boy to me I have no one to depend on for a living, only my boy, his father being nearly always ill and cannot work, oh sir do try and find my boy for me and I shall be ever greatful to you and you will ease a mother’s heart let me know as soon as possible for my son is all in all to me and my heart will break if I don’t hear soon that my boy is safe, greatful, Mrs. E.M. Luke.”