SPRIGGS, Ernest William
| Service Number: | 3599 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 August 1915, Enlisted at Warwick Farm. |
| Last Rank: | Gunner |
| Last Unit: | 14th Field Artillery Brigade |
| Born: | Bourke, New South Wales, Australia, August 1889 |
| Home Town: | Wyalong, Bland, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Traffic Officer |
| Died: | Died of wounds, Belgium, 24 October 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Glebe Roll of Honor, Glebe War Memorial, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Sutherland WW1 Memorial Wall, Waterfall Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3599, 4th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Warwick Farm. | |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 3599, 4th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: '' | |
| 13 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 3599, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Lincoln, Sydney | |
| 24 Oct 1917: | Involvement Gunner, 3599, 14th Field Artillery Brigade , Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3599 awm_unit: 14 Field Artillery Brigade awm_rank: Gunner awm_died_date: 1917-10-24 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Ernest William Spriggs was born at Bourke about August 1889. He worked in the Traffic Branch of the NSW Railways, including at Waterfall in 1914.
Spriggs enlisted at the Warwick Farm on 17th August 1915 and gave his mother, Louisa Spriggs living in Glebe Point as his next of kin. He had been in the Senior Cadets but had been previously rejected for military service because of ‘teeth trouble’. He was allotted to the 11th Reinforcements to the 4th Battalion. He embarked HMAT ‘Port Lincoln’ at Sydney on 13th October 1915 and reached Egypt a few weeks later. In February he transferred to the 53rd Battalion and then the 5th Division Artillery, specifically the 115th Battery of the 25th Howitzer Brigade in March.
In June he embarked HMT ‘Georgian’ at Alexandria for passage to join the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in France through Marseilles where he passed on 27th June 1916.
In July he moved to the 114th Battery and in December 1916 he transferred to the 14th Field Artillery Brigade. At the end of June and the beginning of July he had leave. On 24th October he received multiple gunshot wounds in action and was transferred to the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station in Belgium where he died the same day.
Corporal W Hodgens (3127) reported:
‘I saw him killed by a shell at Ypres on Anzac Ridge, Westhoek. I took him to a Horse Ambulance, which took him to D/Station at Menin Road. His right leg was blown off and he was badly wounded in the chest. His grave is in the British Military Cemetery at Flamertinghe. I knew him. He came from Sydney.’
He was buried in the Ljssenthoek Military Cemetery 1¾ miles SW of Poperinghe.
A pension of £2 per fortnight was awarded to his widowed mother Louisa from 3rd January 1918.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.