CAIN, John
| Service Numbers: | 637, 237, 5293 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | Tunnelling Companies |
| Born: | Sandhurst, Victoria, Australia, 1867 |
| Home Town: | Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer, Hatter |
| Died: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 18 March 1930, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Toowong (Brisbane General) Cemetery, Queensland Plot: 5-12-1 |
| Memorials: |
Boer War Service
| 1 Oct 1899: | Involvement Private, 637 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Oct 1899: | Involvement Private, 237, 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry | |
| 1 Nov 1899: | Embarked Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Private, 237, 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry, AWM Boer War Unit Details, Murray p. 448 notes 1st QMI embarked 1 Nov 1899 aboard Cornwall arriving Cape Town 13 Dec 1899. | |
| 23 Jan 1901: | Discharged Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Private, 237, 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry, AWM Boer War Unit Details, NAA- Boer War Dossier and Murray p. 449 notes 1st QMI embarked 13 Dec 1900 returning to Australia aboard Orient arriving Brisbane 17 Jan 1901, disbanded 23 Jan 1901. | |
| 20 Aug 1901: | Embarked Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Private, 637, 6th Queensland Imperial Bushmen, AWM Boer War Unit Details, Murray p. 506 notes he was part of 1st Draft of 6th QIB embarked Sydney 20 Aug 1901 arriving Cape Town 22 Sep 1901. | |
| 14 Aug 1902: | Discharged Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Private, 637, 6th Queensland Imperial Bushmen, Qld State Archives- Boer War Service Paybooks 5th QIB, Bk 4 p. 75, notes returned to Australia aboard Norfolk arriving Brisbane 7 Aug 1902, discharged 14 Aug 1902. |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Sep 1916: | Involvement Sapper, 5293, Mining Corps, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Suffolk embarkation_ship_number: A23 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Sep 1916: | Embarked Sapper, 5293, Mining Corps, HMAT Suffolk, Melbourne | |
| 30 Sep 1916: | Involvement Sapper, 5293, Tunnelling Companies, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Suffolk embarkation_ship_number: A23 public_note: '' | |
| 30 Sep 1916: | Embarked Sapper, 5293, Tunnelling Companies, HMAT Suffolk, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Claude McKelvey
John Cain served twice in the South African (Boer) War and again in WW1. First service was as a Private S.N. 237, 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry, B Company, Boer war. Second service was as a Private S.N. 637, 6th Queensland Imperial Bushmen (1st Draft), Boer war. Third service was as a Private S.N. 5293, Tunnelling Companies/1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital AIF, WW1.
When he joined the 1st QMI in 1899 and his details were published with the rank and file in The Brisbane Courier, 18 Nov 1899, he was recorded as single with contact address of Patent Office, Melbourne, Victoria. In the Boer War Service Paybooks for the 1st QMI, Bk 2 p. 14, it is noted he gave his address as 87 Adelaide St, Brisbane. He served the full tour with the 1st QMI and was discharged in Brisbane in Jan 1901.
Not long after he was selected in the First Draft of the 6th QIB and embarked again for South Africa in Aug 1901. The members of the draft mainly consisted of men who had served in previous contingents in South Africa and were assembled as reinforcements for the 5th and 6th QIB contingents already in South Africa. Men in the draft were not recorded in the original nominal roll for the 6th QIB but are recorded in the Boer War Service Paybooks.
He was recorded in the Boer War Service Paybooks for the 5th QIB (to which he was allotted), Bk 4 p. 75 where it is noted he directed part of his pay to his wife Mary Ellen Cain, 297 Adelaide St, Brisbane. As noted later, he had married Mary Ellen Townsend on 6 Aug 1901 after returning from service with the 1st QMI and 12 days prior to embarking again with the 6th QIB.
The Brisbane Courier, 16 May 1902, notes when the 5th QIB embarked to return to Australia that, S.N. 637, Private John Cain, remained in South Africa for further service. The Boer War Service Paybooks for the 5th QIB, Bk 4 p. 75, notes he returned to Brisbane and was discharged 14 Aug 1902.
He enlisted again in 1916 at Melbourne for WW1 and his Attestation Paper, dated 8 Mar 1916, notes that; he was born at Bendigo, Victoria and was 48 years 1 month of age; he was married and a labourer; his N.O.K. was his wife Mary Ellen Cain, 13 Evelyn St, East St Kilda, Victoria; and he had previous active service. The address for his wife was later amended on the Attestation Paper to Hutton Lane, Brisbane.
It is unclear whether John simply travelled to Victoria to enlist, and whether his wife accompanied him, as the address in St Kilda was where his married sister Mabel was residing. Due to age and health issues he did not serve for long with the Tunnelling Companies before being transferred to 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital. He was returned to Australia and discharged on 3 Sep 1918.
John Cain was born in 1867 at Sandhurst, Victoria, a son to John Cain Snr. and Margaret Cecilia Cain (nee Jeffreys). His father worked for and resided at the Patent Office in Melbourne. His mother passed in 1870 with his father remarrying the same year and had more children in Victoria. A half brother, William, passed in Victoria in 1899, the same year John first enlisted, and his funeral notice noted the funeral would move from his father's residence, the Patent Office, Lonsdale St, Melbourne. This was the same contact address John gave when he first enlisted in 1899.
John Cain married Mary Ellen Townsend (nee Simpson) on 6 Aug 1901 in Brisbane. Mary had been previously married to John Thomas Townsend in England and after coming to Australia they had several children. her first husband John passed in Apr 1900 after a protacted illness and his funeral notice noted the funeral would move from his residence 87 Adelaide St, Brisbane.
This was the same Brisbane address that John Cain provided for his entry in the Boer War Service Paybooks in Nov. 1899 for the 1st QMI service. It appears he knew the Townsend's prior to enlisting in 1899. John and Mary never had children and lived at Hutton Lane, Brisbane, with two of Mary's spinster daughters, up until Mary passed in 1926 and John in 1930. Hutton Lane, Brisbane was the address given for his wife as N.O.K. on his WW1 enlistment in 1916.
(source- AWM Boer War Nominal Roll , Murray p. 455 and 518; National Archives Australia- Boer War Dossier 1st service; Qld State Archives- Boer War Service Paybooks 1st QMI, Bk 2 p. 14, and 5th QIB, Bk 4 p. 75; National Archives Australia- WW1 service record; ANZAC Biographies: Cain, Private John- Maryborough Military Museum, Military Historical Society of Australia).