TILBROOK, William Clyde
| Service Number: | 2979 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 7 May 1915, Enlisted at Liverpool. |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Kempsey, New South Wales, 3 April 1894 |
| Home Town: | Kempsey, Kempsey, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway ClerkClerk |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 9 April 1917, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
Beaumetz Cross Roads Cemetery, Beaumetz-les-Cambrai |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 7 May 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2979, 3rd Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Liverpool. | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 1915: | Involvement Private, 2979, 3rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: '' | |
| 30 Sep 1915: | Embarked Private, 2979, 3rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Argyllshire, Sydney | |
| 9 Apr 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 2979, 3rd Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2979 awm_unit: 3 Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-04-09 |
Help us honour William Clyde Tilbrook's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography
William Clyde TILBROOK was born in 1894 in Kempsey , New South Wales
His parents were George Lewis TILBROOK and Annie BROWN
He enlisted on 26th April, 1915 with the 3rd Battalion as a Private
Unit embarked from Sydney on HMAT Argyllshire on 30th September 1915
He had previous military service of 2 years with the Militia & 6 months in New Guinea
William was killed in action on 9th April, 1917 in France
He is buried in Beaumetz Cross Roads cemetery
row F, grave 6, France
Biography contributed by John Oakes
William Clyde TILBROOK (Service Number 2979) was born on 3rd April 1894 at Kempsey. He first worked for the NSW Railways as a junior clerk in the head office of the Permanent Way Branch in Sydney from 3rd February 1913. Immediately on the outbreak of the war he enlisted, at Sydney, in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force which was raised to travel to the islands to the north of Australia to seize German possessions there. Tilbrook’s railway record card shows ‘Leave to join Expeditionary Forces, 16 August 1914’ . Tilbrook had the service number 550 while with the AN&MEF. He nominated his mother Annie living in Kempsey as his next of kin and cited four years’ experience in the Militia and the Senior Cadets. The Force did its work in New Guinea and surrounding islands and returned to Sydney in January 1915. Tilbrook was discharged on 18th January 1915.
His railway record describes the discharge as ‘medically unfit’ on 4th February and suggests that he was suffering from malaria and claiming sick pay from them. Despite this, the military authorites took him back when he volunteered to join the AIF (Australian Infantry Force) to take part in the war in Europe. He enlisted at Liverpool on 7th May 1915 and gave all the same details on his Attestation Papers plus his six months military experience in New Guinea. He was allotted to the 9th Reinforcements to the 3rd Battalion and given the service number 2979. He embarked HMAT ‘Argyllshire’ at Sydney on 30th September 1915 and reached Egypt by late 1915.
On 16th November he was admitted to No. 4 Auxiliary Hospital in Cairo with mumps. This took until 20th December to be cleared up. It was not until 21st January 1916 that he was taken on strength of the 3rd Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir. On 14th February he was placed in isolation for ‘meningitis contact’. Perhaps he did not have the disease but had been in contact with someone who did. It was 3rd March before he was released from this restriction. He did not return to the 3rd Battalion, instead joining the 45th.
He caught a bout of malaria in April. This led to treatment at the 12th Australian Field Ambulance at Serapeum, the 11th Casualty Clearing Station at Tel-el-Kebir, and the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital at Ismailia. His return to the 45th Battalion was brief. On 21st April he caught a new bout of malaria. This led to admission to the 12th Field Ambulance, the 54th Casualty Clearing station and the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital at Heliopolis. In May he was at the Ras-el-Tin Convalescent Depot where he remained until the end of June 1916.
In July 1916 he was transported to England. On the 27th of that month he disembarked ‘Arcadian’ from England and proceeded to the 1st Australian Division Base Depot at Etaples, France. He was taken on strength of the 3rd Battalion at the front, on 16th September. On 22nd December he was accidentally injured in the frontline trenches with a sprain to his left ankle. This produced a sequence of medical admissions to the 5th Field Ambulance, the 36th Casualty Clearing Station No. 23 Ambulance Train, No. 3 Stationary Hospital at Rouen and No. 2. Convalescent Depot. By the time he re-joined the 3rd Battalion it was 19th January 1917. He was promoted to Lance Corporal. In February he was promoted to Corporal. In March he attended the 1st Australian Division School. He re-joined the Battalion on 31st March.
He was killed in action on 9th April 1917.
He was buried on the outskirts of Hermies, 2,500 yards SE of Soignies. After the war in the rationalisation of cemeteries and isolated graves, Tilbrook’s remains were exhumed and re-interred in the Beaumetz Cross Roads Military Cemetery, 5¾ miles E of Bapaume.
At some later time, his mother, Annie Tilbrook, gave her address as ‘Hermies’ Regent Street, Kempsey.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney C entral Station Honour Board.