KNUCKEY, Frederick William Lawrence
| Service Number: | 66 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 February 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 38th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, October 1881 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Bank Manager |
| Died: | Lost in the sinking by U-Boat of the RMS Leinster, Irish Sea, United Kingdom, 10 October 1918 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Lost at Sea, Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bendigo Great War Roll of Honor, Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 66, 38th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Jun 1916: | Involvement Private, 66, 38th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Jun 1916: | Embarked Private, 66, 38th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Melbourne | |
| 7 Jun 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 66, 38th Infantry Battalion, Battle of Messines | |
| 8 Sep 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 38th Infantry Battalion | |
| 4 Oct 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 66, 38th Infantry Battalion, Broodseinde Ridge | |
| 14 Nov 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 66, 38th Infantry Battalion, 2nd Passchendaele , Gas poisoning, hospitalised for 3 months. | |
| 21 Mar 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 66, 38th Infantry Battalion, German Spring Offensive 1918 |
Help us honour Frederick William Lawrence Knuckey's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He is one of six Australian born soldiers of the Great War who perished in the sinking by torpedo from U-Boat of the RMS Leinster. The bodies of the other 5 were recovered and interred in Grangegorman Military Cemetery, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The "Leinster" graves are in several trenches in the different denominational plots.
Biography contributed by Robert Wight
RMS Leinster was an Irish ship operated by the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company. She served as the Kingstown-Holyhead mailboat until she was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine UB-123 on 10 October 1918, while bound for Holyhead.
The ship's log states that she carried 77 crew and 694 passengers on her final voyage under the command of Captain William Birch. The ship had previously been attacked in the Irish Sea but the torpedoes missed their target. Those on board included more than one hundred British civilians, 22 postal sorters (working in the mail room) and almost 500 military personnel from the Royal Navy, British (& Dominion) Army and Royal Air Force. Also aboard were nurses from Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
Just before 10 a.m. as the Leinster was sailing east of the Kish Bank in a heavy swell, passengers saw a torpedo approach from the port side and pass in front of the bow. A second torpedo followed shortly afterwards, and it struck the ship forward on the port side in the vicinity of the mail room. Captain Birch ordered the ship to make a U-turn in an attempt to return to Kingstown as the ship began to settle slowly by the bow; however, the ship sank rapidly after a third torpedo struck the Leinster, causing a huge explosion.
The exact number of dead is unknown but researchers from the National Maritime Museum believe it was at least 564, which makes it the largest single loss of life in the Irish Sea.
Frederick Knuckey's body was never recovered.
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