MAYER, Henry
| Service Numbers: | 15737, 2873 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 55th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Stockport, Lancaster, England, 1 January 1893 |
| Home Town: | Mortdale, Hurstville, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | NSW Gov Railways |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 20 July 1916, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery Plot 1V, Row B, Grave 5 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Mortdale War Memorial, Sutherland WW1 Memorial Wall |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Apr 1916: | Involvement Gunner, 15737, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Apr 1916: | Embarked Gunner, 15737, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , HMAT Ceramic, Sydney | |
| 20 Jul 1916: | Involvement Private, 2873, 55th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2873 awm_unit: 55th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-07-20 | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement 55th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix) |
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in 2009 a mass grave was located after an Australian, Lambis Englezos persauded the Australian Government that he had information that soldiers killed during 1916 had been buried in 3 areas after the Battle of Fromelles.
Private Henry Mayer's body was one of those found and identified using DNA.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Henry MAYER (Service Number 2873) was born on 8th June 1893 at Stockport, Lancaster, England. He began work for the NSW Government Railways as a temporary junior porter in the Sydney District from 12th June 1912. Three weeks later he was dispensed with, but re-employed, still as temporary, from 13th February 1913. Two weeks later he was made a permanent employee, and on 8th June 1914, his 21st birthday, a porter. It was from this role that he was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces on 16th July 1915.
Mayer had already enlisted at Liverpool two weeks earlier. Being unmarried he gave his brother Joseph living at Mortdale as his next of kin. He was initially allotted to the 9th Reinforcements to the 3rd Australian Infantry Battalion. He was in Egypt by 21st January 1916 to be taken on the strength of the 3rd Battalion.Three weeks later he was transferred to the 55th Battalion. At Ferry Post on 18th April he was punished with three days’ Field Punishment No. 2 for hesitating to obey an order. On 11th May, ‘Conduct to prejudice of good order & military discipline’ brought a further six days.
On 19th June Mayer embarked HT ‘Caledonian’ at Alexandria for passage to Marseilles and the Western Front in France.
He was killed in action on 20th July 1916 at the Battle of Fromelles.
There is no contemporary record of a burial. The bodies of a large number of British and Australian soldiers lying behind German lines were collected and buried in a mass grave whose location was lost, though the Germans had collected identity discs and passed them through the lines.
The mass grave was located in 2008 and the remains exhumed and re-interred at a new cemetery at Pheasant Wood. A significant proportion were individually identified by DNA methods, including Henry.
Henry Mayer is now buried in Pheasant Wood Cemetery, France.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
Click images to start slideshow.