SAMPSON, Arthur George
| Service Number: | 3132 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Gunner |
| Last Unit: | 1st Field Artillery Brigade |
| Born: | Menindee, New South Wales, Australia, 24 October 1886 |
| Home Town: | North Sydney, North Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Tram Driver |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 15 August 1917, aged 30 years |
| Cemetery: |
Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Ypres |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Glebe Roll of Honor, Glebe War Memorial, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Dec 1914: | Involvement Gunner, 3132, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec 1914: | Embarked Gunner, 3132, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, HMAT Borda, Melbourne | |
| 23 Nov 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Gunner, 3132, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, ANZAC / Gallipoli, Wounded in the thigh by shrapnel. Evacuated by hospital ship to St Ignatius Hospital on Malta. | |
| 15 Aug 1917: | Involvement Gunner, 3132, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3132 awm_unit: 1st Australian Field Artillery Brigade awm_rank: Gunner awm_died_date: 1917-08-15 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Arthur George SAMPSON (Service Number 3132) was born at Menindee on 24th October 1886. He joined the Tramways in Sydney in December 1908 as a conductor. In August 1913 he became an electric tram driver. Two weeks later his tram collided with the rear of another, and he was demoted to conductor for a month for lack of care. In December he again collided with the rear of another tram, and this time his driver’s certificate was cancelled. He appealed to the Appeals Board, pleading ‘guilty under extenuating circumstances’. He said the rails were wet and greasy, and the brakes were not working properly, and that the tram in front had misled him by stopping a car-length beyond the tram stop: he had thought it was going on. His appeal was dismissed, although one of the Board thought he should be given a chance to regain his certificate in three months. In fact, he regained it in six months. He continued as an electric driver until he was released from duty in September 1914 to enlist in the AIF in Sydney.
He was allotted to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade Reinforcements. He was embarked from Melbourne in December 1914 for the Middle East. In July 1915 he ws sent to Gallipoli.
He was wounded in the thigh by shrapnel on 23rd November and evacuated by hospital ship to St Ignatius’ Hospital in Malta. After 2½ months in hospital and further weeks in a convalescent camp, he was returned to Egypt. Later the same month he was sent on to France, where he landed at the end of March 1916.
He was absent Without Leave from 25th January until 28th January 1917. When he was apprehended, he was punished by 10 days C.B. (confinement to barracks) and the forfeiture of 10 days’ pay. This, together with losing four days absent, meant 14 days loss of pay in all. In March 1917 he was sent to hospital for treatment for venereal disease and was discharged to base duties at the beginning of May.
He re-joined his unit on 23rd May 1917.
On 15th August 1917 he was killed in action by shellfire. His commanding officer wrote that he had died instantly:
‘The Battery was in action between Maple Copse and Zouave Wood in the Ypres Sector at the time. Owing to the prevailing conditions it was quite out of the question for his body to be taken to the nearest cemetery and he was buried by the remaining members of his gun detachment quite close to the battery. A cross was erected and his name, Battery, etc. carved thereon…’
After the war his remains were exhumed and re-interred in Perth (China Wall) Cemetery, 1¾ miles ESE of Ypres.
War pensions were granted to his mother and to his widow: he had married just a month before leaving Australia.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.