SAMUEL, Alexander Davidson
| Service Number: | 4214 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 17th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Airdrie, Scotland , 26 April 1888 |
| Home Town: | Narrabri, Narrabri, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Locomotive Drver |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 3 May 1917, aged 29 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Remembered with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Narrabri Wee Waa Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour, Narrabri West & District Railway Roll of Honor, Narrabri West Great War Memorial, Narrabri and District Soldiers' Memorial Clock Tower, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 8 Mar 1916: | Involvement Private, 4214, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Star of England embarkation_ship_number: A15 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Mar 1916: | Embarked Private, 4214, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Star of England, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Alexander Davidson SAMUEL (Service Number 4214) was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland, on 26th May 1888. He joined the NSW Government Railways as a cleaner (first step on the career path of an engineman) at Narrabri West locomotive depot in May 1912. In February 1913 he was promoted to fireman. In October 1915 he enlisted in the AIF at Narrabri. He gave his ‘trade or calling’ as ‘Loco Driver.
He was allotted to the 10th Reinforcements of the 17th Battalion. He was embarked from Sydney in March 1916. After a brief time in Egypt he re-embarked there at the end of May and was landed in England in June. After training he was sent to France in September. He was ‘taken on strength’ by his unit the same month.
He was killed in action on 3rd May 1917. He was buried at a map reference ‘in the vicinity of Bullecourt Hindenburg line’. After the war the grave could not be located. He is however remembered with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
His parents in Scotland made claims for war pensions but they were refused, as it was deemed they already had ‘adequate means of support’.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.