DUDLEY, Frank
| Service Number: | 2143 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 26 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, 24 November 1873 |
| Home Town: | Collie, Collie, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Pozieres, France, 29 July 1916, aged 42 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 26 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2143, 28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 2143, 28th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 1 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 2143, 28th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Fremantle |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Frank Dudley was a miner born in Newcastle and he married in 1891 before moving to Collie in Western Australia, resuming his mining career in the Collie coal mines. He was well over 40 years of age. According to his Red Cross file he was known as ‘Old Dud’ and was killed in action at Pozieres on 29 July 1916, with several Australians stating they saw him dead in No Mans Land.
He was the father of 8 children, and his wife Martha Ann Dudley had only given birth to the youngest child a month before Frank was killed. The fact that he was a Dad again was probably unknown to Frank when he died.
Also unknown to him would have been the fact that his younger brother, 3720 Pte. Albert Edward Dudley 1st Battalion AIF had been killed in action at the same place only a few days previous, during the taking of Pozieres. Albert had enlisted from Newcastle in NSW.
Frank’s two eldest boys enlisted before their father joined up. Frank junior, age 21, joined the original 13th Battalion in 1914 from Newcastle and served at the landing on Anzac before being evacuated with rheumatism and returned to Australia during August 1915. A younger son, Albert Dudley joined the 28th Battalion at the age of 18 in 1915 and was recommended for a Military Medal in September 1918.
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