John Fairfax TANCRED

John Fairfax TANCRED Update Details

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TANCRED, John Fairfax

Service Number:	QX8806
Enlisted:	10 June 1940
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion
Born:	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 18 April 1912
Home Town:	Kingaroy, South Burnett, Queensland
Schooling:	Toowoomba Grammar School, Queensland, Australia
Occupation:	station hand
Died:	Accidental, At sea (Nino Bixio), Mediterranean Sea, 17 August 1942, aged 30 years
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God" Alamein Memorial, El Alamein War Cemetery, El Alamein, Marsa Matruh, Egypt, Column 94
Memorials:	Alamein Memorial (El Alamein), Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Toowoomba Anglican College Faithful Unto Death

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939:	Involvement Private, QX8806
10 Jun 1940:	Enlisted
10 Jun 1940:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, QX8806, 2nd/32nd Infantry Battalion
17 Aug 1942:	Discharged

Help us honour John Fairfax Tancred's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Cherilyn McMeekin

John was the elder of two sons born to Richard and Ethel (known as Daisy). His parents married in Queensland in April 1909 (see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19571382).

John's father Richard owned Burrandowan Station in Jandowae, near Dalby in Queensland. He died in 1934 aged 59 (see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/182637831).

His family had strong military connections. John's grandfather George TANCRED of Roxburghshire, Scotland, was a Captain in the British Army (2nd Dragoons, known as the Scots Greys). He was born George CLEGHORN but formally changed his name to TANCRED in 1885 to comply with the will of his uncle, Captain James DALTON.

John's younger brother Peter Lumsden TANCRED (1919-1993) also enlisted in WWI. He was a Major, later Brigadier and OBE.

John was one of 41 Australian POWs killed when the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio was torpedoed by a British submarine in the Mediterranean on 17 August 1942. The Nino Bixio was transporting Allied POWs from Libya to Italy. Of the 122 Australian POWs to survive the incident, four died later by execution. Most of the Australian casualties were from the 2/28th Infantry Battalion.

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