FELTHAM, Lindsay Ernest Samuel
| Service Number: | 2061 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 March 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Bombardier |
| Last Unit: | 13th Field Artillery Brigade |
| Born: | Geelong, Victoria, Australia, 1894 |
| Home Town: | Benalla, Benalla, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farm Hand |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 20 January 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Picardie Plot VIII, Row A, Grave No. 4 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Benalla Holy Trinity Anglican Church Honor Roll, Benalla War Memorial, Broken Creek School No 862 Honor Roll, Canowindra Soldiers Memorial Hospital and Honour Roll, Canowindra World War 1 Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 4 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2061, 5th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Apr 1915: | Involvement Private, 2061, 5th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Apr 1915: | Embarked Private, 2061, 5th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne | |
| 27 Mar 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Gunner, 13th Field Artillery Brigade | |
| 21 Dec 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Bombardier, 13th Field Artillery Brigade |
Help us honour Lindsay Ernest Samuel Feltham's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by T A Rumble
Bombardier Lindsay Ernest Samuel (Lindsay) Feltham was born in 1894 in Geelong, Victoria. He was the second son of three children born to Courtney Feltham and his first wife, Amelia (nèe Colenso). Lindsay’s mother died in Benalla, Victoria in 1898, shortly after the birth of his younger sister, Martha. His father remarried in 1900.
As a very young boy, Lindsay attended the Broken Creek School, near Benalla, Victoria. When he was older, he came to Canowindra in NSW to live with his aunt and uncle, Robert and Agnes Ridout. Agnes was the younger sister of Lindsay’s father, and she and her husband had a large sheep farm on the Walli Road, named Spring Vale.
Lindsay was much loved by the Ridout family. He worked with his uncle Robert on the farm and played cricket and tennis for the Walli, Chaucer and Sunny Ridge clubs. On 4 March 1915, Lindsay enlisted in the AIF, submitting his papers at the Broadmeadows Camp in Victoria. Before leaving the district, he was given a send-off by the residents of Walli.
On 17 April 1915, Lindsay embarked from Melbourne on HMAT Hororata for the Dardenelles. In early July, he joined 5 Battalion in the field. He saw action at the Battle of Lone Pine in August 1915. After becoming ill in September, Lindsay was admitted to the No 3 Australian General Hospital in Lemnos.
Back with his unit in Egypt, Lindsay was transferred from 5 Battalion to a newly formed Artillery Battery of the 13th Field Artillery Brigade. In March 1916 he attended the Signals School at Zeitoun, and soon after was promoted to Gunner. Lindsay and the Brigade were then deployed to the Western Front, arriving in Marseilles on 23 June 1916. On the same transport ship and attached to the same Brigade was another Canowindra local, Bombardier Phillip Wyld (3564).
For the next 6 months, the 18-pounders of the 13th Field Artillery Brigade supported the efforts of the infantry along the Hindenburg Line. On 21 December 1916, Lindsay was promoted to Bombardier but on 20 January 1917, he was killed in action, near the town of Ginchy, in northern France.
In March 1917, Lindsay’s death was reported in the Canowindra Star and in the same edition the Ridout family placed a Memorial Notice. In 1922, Mr L Bassingthwaite, on behalf of the Sunny Ridge community, wrote to the Canowindra Hospital Committee seeking to erect a name plate on a hospital bed to honour the memory of three local boys; L.E.S Feltham (2061), H. Lang (6827) and A. Millar (1959).
Bombardier Phillip Wyld (3564) survived the war and returned to Australia. On 2 February 1924, he married Lindsay’s cousin, Annie May Ridout. Phillip and Annie lived in Canowindra all their lives.
Lindsay is buried in the Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, France (Plot VIII, Row A, Grave No 4). His is the 74th name recorded on the Honour Roll at the Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital, Canowindra (/explore/memorials/14455). Phillip Wyld’s name is the last.
Contributed by Tracey Rumble for the Canowindra Historical Society and Museum
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