Thomas HAMILTON

HAMILTON, Thomas

Service Number: 4323
Enlisted: 7 September 1915
Last Rank: Corporal
Last Unit: 12th Infantry Battalion
Born: Westbury, Tasmania, Australia, 15 November 1889
Home Town: Westbury, Meander Valley, Tasmania
Schooling: Westbury Convent School, Tasmania, Australia
Occupation: Carpenter
Died: Killed in action, Belgium, 6 October 1917, aged 27 years
Cemetery: Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood
Plot XIX, Row D, Grave 12.
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Gunns Plains Memorial Seat, Westbury War Memorial
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World War 1 Service

7 Sep 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4323, 12th Infantry Battalion
5 Jan 1916: Involvement Private, 4323, 12th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: ''
5 Jan 1916: Embarked Private, 4323, 12th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Afric, Melbourne
6 Oct 1917: Involvement Corporal, 4323, 12th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4323 awm_unit: 12th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-10-06

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Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

Thomas Hamilton was one of three brothers from Tasmania who served during WW1. He was described in a local paper as ‘not robust of frame but he was wiry and agile and regarded it as a duty to enlist to do his bit in the grand cause.’ He was trained at a Lewis Gun School in England during early 1917. He developed into a very effective Lewis Gunner and was twice awarded the Military Medal, ‘For gallantry under fire and devotion to duty” for his brilliant and deadly work with the Lewis Gun, once at Lagnicourt in April 1917, and then again at Bullecourt only three weeks later in May 1917. On the first occasion he rushed forward during a German attack and opened up a deadly fire on the enemy, causing heavy casualties and forcing the enemy to retire and the second award was for similar work when ‘he mounted his gun on the parados and opened fire on German attackers inflicting severe losses and materially helping to repel the enemy.’

Thomas was killed in action on 6 October 1917 during the Battle of Broodseinde in Belgium. Buried in the field, his remains were located during 1920 and reinterred in the Buttes New British Cemetery at Polygon Wood.

His younger brother 5712 Private Robert Francis Hamilton 12th Battalion AIF was killed in action the very next day on 7 October 1917, aged 25.

A third brother also served in the 12th Battalion, 4322 Private James Hamilton, who enlisted the same day as Thomas. He was twice badly wounded in action and returned to Australia in 1919.

They were the sons of Robert Richard and Honora Hamilton, all born at Westbury, Tasmania. Their mother had passed away when they were quite young, during 1906. The father, Robert received the news of his two sons’ deaths within the same week.

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