STEPHENSON, Albert
| Service Number: | 690 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 17th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Died of wounds-shell wound, France, 2 June 1918, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Vignacourt British Cemetery, Picardie Grave III. B. 17. INSCRIPTION TO MY DEAREST SON WHO DIED FOR FREEDOM PITIFULLY PROUD AM I MOTHER , Vignacourt British Cemetery, Vignacourt, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 12 May 1915: | Involvement Private, 690, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Themistocles embarkation_ship_number: A32 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 May 1915: | Embarked Private, 690, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Themistocles, Sydney | |
| 2 Jun 1918: | Involvement Corporal, 690, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 690 awm_unit: 17th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1918-06-02 |
Help us honour Albert Stephenson'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 was 32 and the son of Joseph and Louisa Stephenson, of 56, Offley Rd., Brixton, London. His mother chose this inscription for his war grave:
TO MY DEAREST SON WHO DIED FOR FREEDOM PITIFULLY PROUD AM I MOTHER
He is commemorated on the Grays War Memorial which stands at the north end of Grays High Street; the names of the borough’s Great War dead are inscribed on the east and west panels, while the south-facing panel is inscribed with four lines from the poem, "Bivouac of the Dead" written by Danville, Kentucky native, Theodore O'Hara to honour his fellow soldiers from Kentucky who died in the Mexican-American War. The poem increased its popularity after the Civil War, and its verses have been featured on many memorials to fallen soldiers throughout the world,
“On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.”
Other locally born casualties who fell whilst serving with Australian forces in the Great War who are commemorated on the Grays War Memorial are:
Henry C. Aslett
Frank [Francis] Walter Facer
William Mears
Cecil Charles Mitcham
Bertram Neal
Josiah Needham Smith
William George King
It has to be assumed that the following locally born Australian casualties didn’t make it to any of the borough’s war memorials, possibly because there were no living relatives still around in the area when the lists were created.
George Seth Clayton
Charles Culley
Jesse Humphrey
John Musgrove
Richard Turnbull
C. Webb
Click images to start slideshow.