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DAWES, Sydney Charles
| Service Numbers: | 8992, 6992 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | London, England , date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Cook |
| Died: | 31 March 1968, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Dec 1916: | Involvement Private, 8992, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Dec 1916: | Embarked Private, 8992, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Berrima, Adelaide | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Private, 6992, 10th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Sydney Charles Dawes's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by St Ignatius' College
Sydney Charles Dawes was ranked a Private throughout his 993-days of service at war. He was born in London, England, and was a part of the Church of England as his religious domination. He moved to Adelaide, South Australia where he married Constance Edna Dawes. Prior to enlistment in war, he was a cook. Standing at 5ft 3 inches tall at the age of 31 he enlisted on the 1st of May 1916. He embarked from Adelaide, South Australia on board the HMAT A35 Berrima on 16th December 1916, and he disembarked in Devonport on the 16th of February 1917. To take a ship to join a base depot in France Europe to fight on the Western Front.
His service record reveals that he was hospitalised on a ship on New Year's Day 1917 and then was sent to England for treatment and rest before returning to his unit on the 3rd May 1917. Once again he had a stay in hospital on the 9th of May 1917, on war memorial site it shows that there were 60 deaths on this day, along with this in the unit diary it was said that there were 12 injuries reported, no names were mentioned but we can assume that one of the injured soldiers was Dawes. This shows us the dangerous conditions of life and death that all the soldiers had to live through. After 9 days of rest on the 18th of May 1917 Dawes joined the 10th Battalion in France.
After around a month on the 22nd of June 1917 Dawes was sent to rest at the hospital due to haemorrhoids and infection. He spent 14 days in the hospital re- joining to the 10th Battalion again on the 6th of July 1917. During August of 1917, Dawes attended a training program.
Dawes suffered from shell shock twice. The first time on the 5th of October 1917, located in western Belgium near the border with France. Then the second on the 12th of December 1917, this is clearing showing us the mental torture that the soldiers had to go through during the war. When Dawes got it the second time, he had to be admitted to the hospital to recover. During this in the unit diaries it states that his Battalion (10th Battalion) were on duty in the trenches. On the 16th February 1918 he was wounded in the arm and again sustained a gunshot wound on the 3rd June 1918 and needed hospital treatment on both occasions.
Dawes returned to Australia on the 25th of January 1919. Despite his illness, wounding and mental trauma from shell shock, Dawe lived until the 31st March 1968
Bibliography
10th Battalion – October 1917 | A World Away | South Australia’s War 2022, Sa.gov.au, viewed 7 April 2022, https://southaustraliaswar.history.sa.gov.au/blog-posts/10th-battalion-october-1917/
2022, Adfa.edu.au, viewed 7 April 2022, https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=75127&printFormat=print
Australian Soldiers, Memorials and Military History 2022, Vwma.org.au, viewed 7 April 2022, https://vwma.org.au/#show-sign-in-dialog
Terrace, V 2022, View digital copy, Naa.gov.au, viewed 7 April 2022, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3492511
AWM4 23/27/22 - August 1917 2016, Awm.gov.au, viewed 7 April 2022, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1341854?image=6