Leonard Fitzroy (Roy) WILKINSON

WILKINSON, Leonard Fitzroy

Service Number: 3954
Enlisted: 29 July 1915
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 21st Infantry Battalion
Born: Kardella, Victoria, Australia, 18 September 1895
Home Town: Kardella, South Gippsland, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Killed in Action, France, 27 August 1916, aged 20 years
Cemetery: London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Korumburra War Memorial
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World War 1 Service

29 Jul 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3954, 21st Infantry Battalion
8 Feb 1916: Involvement Private, 3954, 21st Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Warilda embarkation_ship_number: A69 public_note: ''
8 Feb 1916: Embarked Private, 3954, 21st Infantry Battalion, HMAT Warilda, Melbourne
21 Mar 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 3954, 21st Infantry Battalion, embarked Alexandria for Marseilles on board HT Oriana

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Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

Son of Henry James Wilkinson and Emma Wilkinson, of Kardella, Victoria Australia.

Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Private Leonard Fitzroy Wilkinson (Service No:3954) enlisted in the AIF on 29 July 1915 and was attached to 21st Infantry Battalion on 8 February 1916 when he embarked with his Unit from Melbourne for Egypt on board HMAT A69 Warilda. Embarking from Alexandria for Marseilles on 21 March 1916 on board HT Oriana, Private Wilkinson was at Moquet farm in France on 28 August 1916 when he was KiA. Originally reported Wounded and Missing, on 20 July 1917 a Court of Inquiry determined he was KiA on 28 August 1916. His mother wrote in 1917 that, not having received official notification or any of her son's effects, she still felt he was alive (Red Cross WWounded and Missing Files). In 1937, Private Wilkinson's family was advised that 'during the course of recent exhumation work in the vicinity of Mouquet Farm the Imperial War Graves Commission was successful in recovering the remains of this soldier (Private Wilkinson) ... The disc by which the remains were identified, together with two engraved fittings .... (NAA) were returned to the family.

Roy was born in 1895 at Kardella via Korumburra, Victoria, fifth of eight children of Henry James Wilkinson (b1852 at Korumburra, Victoria) and Emma Roughead (b1864 in Chiltern, Victoria). Henry's Obituary (Trove: 1941) stated that he  started work at twelve years of age as a Road Haulier and Boy Driver between Melbourne and Mt Pleasant, carting sleepers for the main Gippsland railway. Henry and Emma married in Melbourne in 1883 and lived in Yarragon, Mirboo, Boolarra and Melbourne before settling at Kardella via Korumburra, where they raised their family and Henry was a Labourer.

Roy worked as a Farm Labourer in Kardella via Korumburra before enlisting in the AIF in 1915.

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