KING, Edward James
| Service Number: | 847 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 12 July 1915, An original member of C Company |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 29th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Traralgon, Victoria, Australia, 1897 |
| Home Town: | Traralgon, Latrobe, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Traralgon State School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Carpenter |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 29 November 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen Block O, Plot III, Row Q, Grave No. 1. LIFE'S RACE IS RUN LIFE'S DUTY NOBLY DONE THEN COMES REST |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Traralgon War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 12 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 847, 29th Infantry Battalion, An original member of C Company | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 847, 29th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
| 10 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 847, 29th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Edward James was the youngest son of John Gardiner King and Emily King, of Traralgon, Victoria. He was only 19 years of age when he died.
His older brother, 1970 Pte. Walter Macintosh King 7th Battalion AIF, was killed in action on Gallipoli 27 August 1915, aged 24.
Edward had only been in camp for a few weeks when news that his brother Walter had died during the Dardanelles campaign. Edward was mortally wounded by shell fire on 26 November 1916. He died of his wounds three days later in a Stationery Hospital in Rouen, France.
His death was reported in the Gippsland Farmers’ Journal during December 1916, “He had only just turned 18 years old when he went into camp, two or three weeks before his brother was killed. He and his cousin, Private Jack Grubb, who is about the same age, were eager to serve their King and country, and enlisted as soon as their parents gave consent. They were drafted into the Infantry of Colonel Tivey's Brigade, but more than once were stood aside on account of their extreme youth, but they pleaded hard, and as their shooting was good, were eventually accepted. They left Australia on November 10, 1915 for Egypt, and after several months' training they landed in France on July 23 this year. The two lads kept together, and were put on the Lewis machine guns, and have been kept pretty close in the trenches for the past five months. In their more recent letters home they have casually remarked that the promised relief has not come, and they were still in the trenches.”
Jack Grubb was badly wounded at the same time King was killed. He was sent home to Australia with a bullet wound to his right arm during 1917.
Edward’s older brother, John Liddington King, had served in the Boer War. John, (better known in Traralgon as Jack), had returned to South Africa and joined the South African Expeditionary Force raised by General Botha to fight the Germans in East Africa.
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