WHITE, Stephen George
| Service Number: | 365 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 29th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 24 December 1894 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Case Maker |
| Died: | Glen Iris, Victoria, Australia, 1962, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Greensborough RSL Sub Branch Memorial Wall |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 365, 29th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Jul 1916: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 365, 29th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), Shrapnel wound to right hip. | |
| 19 Jul 1916: | Imprisoned Repatriated to Ripon, Yorkshire 1 January 1916. | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement Private, 365, 29th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Rob Gray
Stephen George White, was born in Carlton, Victoria, on 24 December 1894. Stephen’s birth year in the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages is 1895, but a birth date of 24 December 1894 is given in his prisoner of war record. It is likely, given a birth on Christmas Eve, that the later date is that of birth registration, rather than actual birth. He was generally known by the family as George.
Stephen enlisted in the AIF on 15 July 1915 in Melbourne. He gave his next of kin as his mother, domiciled at 61 Early Street, Windsor, Victoria. His profession was ‘case maker’. A case maker was usually a craftsman who made ornamental/jewellery cases, often worked in shagreen leather (shagreen – leather prepared from the skin of horses, asses or mules). However, the term may also have been applied to the maker of packing cases.
Joining on the same day as his brother John, he was assigned to A Coy, 29th Bn. Stephen was allocated 365 as his regimental number.
Stephen served alongside his brother until the battle of Fromelles on 19-20 July 1916, where he was wounded by shrapnel in the right hip and captured. He was first moved from the front to Douai in northern France and then on to Festungs-Lazarett 1 in Cologne, Germany.
From there on 1 October he wrote to the Australian Record Base, 130 Horseferry Road, London:
Sir,
Being wounded on the 19-8-16, but now in camp. I would like to receive any assistance you can give me – boots size 6 At the same time Sir I would like you to give me news of my Brother Corp J.H. White No 364 in the same Battalion As myself if he’s alive or wounded
At some point he was moved to another POW camp at Stendal in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. By 30 August 1917 he was interned at Gefangenenlager, Wittenberg, also in Saxony-Anhalt.
He was repatriated to Ripon, Yorkshire, England on 1 January 1919. He returned to Australia on 3 May 1919.