Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The summary below was completed by Cathy Sedgwick – Facebook “WW1 Australian War Graves in England/UK/Scotland/Ireland 

WW1 Australian War Graves in UK & Ireland
2h  · 
 
Died on this date – 7th November…… Frederick James Sleep was born at Crookwell, NSW on 6th February, 1888.

He enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) in August, 1914.

Private Frederick James Sleep embarked from Cairns, Queensland for Thursday Island (War Station) for Garrison Duty. He re-embarked at Thursday Island on 16th August, 1914 on Troopship Kanowna to take part in the capture of German New Guinea. Private Sleep returned to Townsville, Queensland on 18th September, 1914, on account of the trouble caused by the firemen on the troopship. He did not participate in the capture of German New Guinea. He was discharged on 18th September, 1914.

On 24th February, 1916 Frederick James Sleep re-enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He was a 28 year old, single, Farmer from Gooroolba, Gayndah Line, Queensland.

Private Frederick James Sleep, Service number 6098, embarked from Brisbane, Queensland on HMAT Itonus (A50) on 8th August, 1916 with the 9th Infantry Battalion, 19th Reinforcements & disembarked at Plymouth, England on 18th October, 1916.

Reinforcements were only given basic training in Australia. Training was completed in training units in England. Some of these were located in the Salisbury Plain & surrounding areas in the county of Wiltshire.
Private Frederick James Sleep died on 7th November, 1916 at Fulham Military Hospital, Hammersmith, England from Cerebro Spinal Fever.

He was buried in All Souls Cemetery, Kensal Green, London, England where 19 other WW1 Australian War Graves are located.

His mother was contacted by Base Records to advise that the remains of her son had ben exhumed & re-interred in Grave No. 8, Section 173, Kensal Green Cemetery, London. The letter stated that “This work is carried out with every measure of care and reverence in the presence of a Chaplain.”

(The above is a summary of my research. The full research can be found by following the link below)
https://ww1austburialsuk.weebly.com/kensal-green--all...

 
#1796 and #6098  SLEEP Frederick James AN&MEF, 9th Infantry Battalion
 
Fred Sleep was born in Crookwell NSW and attended school there before the family moved to the Gooroolba district. At some time before the outbreak of war in August 1914, Fred and his brother Sidney relocated to North Queensland. A cousin, Frank Ritson, was also working in the area. Frank was a member of the Kennedy Regiment, a militia unit and it is likely that Fred Sleep, and perhaps Sidney, were also militia members.
The Kennedy Regiment had its genesis during the Boer War. Although based in Charters Towers, the regiment had independent rifle companies in Townsville and Ravenswood and had the primary defence role in North Queensland.
 
When war was declared against Germany in August 1914, the British Government requested the Australian Government to take steps to neutralise German threats in the Western Pacific, particularly wireless stations in New Guinea. As a result of this request, the Australian Government put together a combined force of militia and naval reserves, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, to be deployed to New Guinea. As part of the AN&MEF, several companies of the Kennedy Regiment were also mobilised.
 
Fred Sleep and Frank Ritson were mobilised on the 8th August 1914 and along with other militia, boarded the “Kanowna” in Cairns and then joined the rest of the Expeditionary Force at Thursday Island on 16thAugust. In addition to the militia and naval reserves, the Expeditionary Force also was supported by two Royal Australian Navy Cruisers, HMAS Sydney and HMAS Melbourne, two submarines and a number of requisitioned transports.
 
Of primary concern was the wireless station at Rabaul on New Britain which could provide intelligence to the German East Asia Squadron of the German Navy under Admiral Graf von Spee. When the AN&MEF Fleet set sail from Thursday Island, a situation developed on the “Kanowna” which could have been serious. The stokers and fireman refused to work until the ship returned to Australian waters. The haste with which the expedition had been assembled created a number of grey areas of responsibility and command. The militia men were technically under King’s orders and were subject to military discipline but the crew of the Kanowna were civilians and the conditions of their engagement were open to interpretation. The engine room crew demanded an increased rate of pay for working in a war zone. It also was discovered that in the haste to depart from Cairns, insufficient stores of food and water had been loaded and the stokers working in the tropical heat demanded a better supply of water.
 
After almost a month of attempts to settle the dispute, it was decided to return the “Kanowna” to Townsville with soldiers stoking the boilers; docking on 18th September. None of the Kennedy Regiment men set foot on Papuan or New Guinean soil. Frank and Fred were discharged and returned to their civilian occupations.
 
Fred returned to the family farm at Gooroolba for the next 15 months before deciding to enlist in the AIF. He enlisted in Brisbane on 24th February 1916 and was soon allocated as a reinforcement for the 9th Infantry Battalion. Fred embarked on the “Itonus” in Brisbane on the 8th August 1916 for overseas; arriving in Plymouth on 18th October.
 
Soon after landing in England, Fred became unwell. He was transferred to the Fulham Military Hospital, Hammersmith in London where he died of cerebro spinal fever on 7th November 1916. Fred was buried in the soldier’s plot of the Kensal Green Cemetery, Hammersmith.
 
Frank Ritson, Fred’s cousin, died of wounds in France in August 1918. He is commemorated on the Degilbo Shire Memorial in Biggenden. Sidney Sleep, Fred’s brother, survived the war and died in 1985. He is also listed on the Gooroolba War Memorial.