CAMPBELL, Arthur John
| Service Number: | 496 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, 1 November 1886 |
| Home Town: | Newcastle, Hunter Region, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Locomotive Fireman |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, 20 May 1915, aged 28 years |
| Cemetery: |
Lone Pine Cemetery, ANZAC Plot III, Row A, Grave no. 7 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, N.S.W.G.R. Loco Depot Port Waratah HR |
World War 1 Service
| 18 Oct 1914: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 496, 2nd Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suffolk embarkation_ship_number: A23 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Oct 1914: | Embarked Lance Corporal, 496, 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Suffolk, Sydney | |
| 20 May 1915: | Involvement Private, 496, 2nd Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 496 awm_unit: 2 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1915-05-20 |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Arthur John CAMPBELL, (Service Number 496) was born in Greta in 1886. He was a signwriter when he married in Redfern in 1912 but gave up this trade to join the NSWGR at Hamilton locomotive depot in June 1914 as a cleaner (first step on the career path of an engineman). When he enlisted in the AIF at Randwick in August he gave his ‘trade or calling’ as ‘loco fireman’, and next of kin as his sister in Islington. His wife, who contacted the authorities when his death became known, stated that ‘the reason my husband enlisted as single was that at that time married men were not accepted’. She also stated that he had been employed as a locomotive fireman at ‘Waratah’, probably the Port Waratah depot, where his name was later recorded on the depot’s roll of honour.
He embarked from Sydney in October 1914, and landed in Egypt in December. He was mentioned in despatches as one of a number of men ‘having performed various acts of conspicuous gallantry or valuable service during the period from 25 April to 5 May’ at Gallipoli. He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 20 May 1915, and buried in Brown’s Dip North Cemetery, 500 yards south of Anzac Cove, but his remains were later exhumed and re-interred in the Lone Pine Cemetery, 1½ miles SE of Anzac Cove.
Submitted 16 May 2023 by John Oakes