STANLEY, George Seymour
| Service Numbers: | 1120, 1120A |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 26 February 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 30th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Strathpine, Queensland, Australia, 25 September 1893 |
| Home Town: | Strathpine, Moreton Bay, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 10 October 1917, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Caboolture District WW1 Roll of Honour, Kallangur Pine Rivers Memorial Gates, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient), Strathpine District Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 26 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1120, 42nd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Jun 1916: | Involvement Private, 1120, 42nd Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: '' | |
| 5 Jun 1916: | Embarked Private, 1120, 42nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Borda, Sydney | |
| 10 Oct 1917: | Involvement Private, 1120A, 30th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1120A awm_unit: 30th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1917-10-10 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Ian Lang
STANLEY George Seymour #1120 42nd/ 30th Battalion
When George Stanley presented himself for enlistment at Adelaide Street on 26th February 1916 he was 22 years old. He named his mother, Mary Ann Stanley, a widow, as his next of kin. George stated his occupation as labourer. He was born at Strathpine and had lived with his mother at Strathpine until he entered the AIF. It is likely that George (his mother called him Georgie) was the youngest of Mary’s children and also the only boy.
George reported to Enoggera where he was placed in the 11th Depot Battalion before being allocated to the 42nd Battalion. He departed Australia from Sydney on 5th June 1916 and allocated 3/- a day to his mother.
George landed at Southampton on 23rd July and marched into Lark Hill camp, the base for the 3rd Division being trained under Monash. July would prove to be one of the bloodiest months for the AIF divisions that were in France. Ten days before George arrived in England, the Australian 5th Division was hastily added to the order of battle at Fromelles. The division suffered 5000 casualties on 12th July, with one brigade accounting for more than 2000 casualties.
New recruits in England, regardless of the battalions they had been assigned to back in Australia, were transferred into the battalions of the 5th Division to make good the losses. So it was that George found himself transferred to the 30th Battalion, 8th Brigade, 5th Division. George made his way to France and joined the 30th in billets in and around Flers. The entire 5th Division was so decimated by the events at Fromelles that the division was effectively withdrawn from all action for the remainder of 1916 and into 1917.
George would have seen little action during this time as the Brigade was employed mainly in road mending and fatigues. In June of 1917, the 30th Battalion were still in France in billets at Senlis, north of Paris. George was charged with being in possession of liquor in the street of the town for which he was given 2 days field punishment and fined four day’s pay. At the end of September, the battalion moved north into Belgium in preparation for the first full scale attack by the 5th Division since Fromelles.
The 30th Battalion war diary records the battalion moving up to the front line at Polygon Wood in the first week in October. A few days later the division was engaged in the attack on Broodseinde Ridge. The war diary confirms that on 12th October, 7 ordinary ranks were killed and 17 wounded. George Stanley was killed in action. There were reports that he had been killed by an artillery shell and was buried between Broodseinde and Zonnebeke and that a wooden cross had marked his grave.
When the Graves Registration Unit began scouring the battlefields for isolated graves in 1919, no trace of George’s grave was found. Instead he is commemorated on the tablets of the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, amongst 30,000 other British and Dominion soldiers who perished in Flanders and have no known grave.
Mary Stanley wrote frequently to a number of agencies seeking information about her son’s death and burial. George’s sister, Mrs Brookings of Caboolture, even wrote to a 30th Battalion company commander when she saw his name mentioned in the newspaper, seeking information. The Red Cross Wounded and Missing report which contains eye witness accounts surrounding George’s death is preserved in the Australian War Memorial archive.
Each evening since 1928, the citizens of Ypres honour the memory of those who gave their lives in the battles in Flanders. The ceremony at the Menin Gate concludes with the recitation of the Ode and playing of the last post.
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
George's parents were Thomas Stanley and Mary Ann Dooner. The Stanley family came to Strathpine in the 1800s. George was just five years old when his father passed away in 1898, his mother Mary Ann was left to raise him and five older siblings alone. George enlisted on 26 February 1916 in Brisbane. His unit embarked from Sydney on HMAT A30 Borda on 5 June 1916. George was killed in action aged 23. Interviews conducted by the Red Cross with men in hospital and returning on ships in 1919 indicate that an artillery shell made a direct hit on the trench occupied by George and several other men.