SALISBURY, John Clarence
| Service Number: | 553 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 March 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 5th Machine Gun Company |
| Born: | Richmond, Victoria, Australia, 1892 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Labourer |
| Died: | Cerebral Haemorrhage, France, 30 July 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais - Hauts-de-France Plot I, Row P, Grave 5, Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Wimereux, Nord Pas de Calais, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Morpeth St James Anglican Church Honour Roll, Woodville Roll of Honor, Woodville Volunteers Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 553, 5th Machine Gun Company |
|---|
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Edward FOSTER-GRIFFITHS, (Service Number 553) as he was known to the NSWGR when he joined them as a fitter’s labourer in Newcastle in November 1913, claimed to have been born in Cornwall in 1891. However, he produced a statutory declaration rather than the usual birth certificate to verify his age. In fact, his true name was John Clarence Salisbury: he had been born in Australia, not in Cornwall, and had served on HMS ‘Prometheus’, but after condemnation of that ship (it was sold for scrap in May 1914) had deserted and assumed the name of Edward Foster-Griffiths. As Foster-Griffiths, he was granted leave by the Railways to enlist in the AIF and did so in Newcastle in March 1915.
On 28 July he was admitted to hospital in Boulogne with ‘cerebro-spinal meningitis’. He died there on 30 July of ‘cerebral haemorrhage’. He was buried in Wimereux Cemetery, five miles N of Boulogne.
When his true name was discovered some time later, his military records were altered and in due course the headstone on his grave was engraved to show both his true name and the name under which he served. He was listed, under his assumed name, on a Roll of Honour erected in the Woodville School of Arts hall (he had lived in Woodville, near Newcastle, for a time), on an Honour Board at Honeysuckle Point railway workshops, and on the 1921 NSWGR&T Roll of Honour.
Submitted 8 July 2023 by John Oakes
Biography contributed by Robert Kearney
Enlisted and served under alias Edward Foster GRIFFITHS
Biography contributed by John Oakes
John Clarence SALISBURY aka Edward FOSTER-GRIFFITHS (Service Number 553) joined the NSW Government Railways [under his alias] as a fitter’s labourer in Newcastle in November 1913. He claimed to have been born in Cornwall in 1891, but produced a statutory declaration rather than the usual birth certificate to verify his age. In fact, his true name was John Clarence Salisbury. he had been born in Australia, not in Cornwall, and had served on HMS ‘Prometheus’ After condemnation of that ship (it was sold for scrap in May 1914) he had deserted and assumed the name of Edward Foster-Griffiths.
As Foster-Griffiths, he was granted leave by the Railways to enlist in the AIF and did so in Newcastle in March 1915.
He was sent, apparently per HMAT ‘Ceramic’ where his oath of enlistment was formally recorded at sea in July 1915, to Gallipoli via Egypt. At Gallipoli he was made Lance Corporal in August 1915, before the withdrawal of Anzac forces to Egypt in December.,He joined a Machine Gun Company in Egypt and was sent with them to France in March 1916, landing at Marseilles.
On 24th July he was admitted to a casualty clearing station suffering ‘fits and hysteria’. On 28th July he was admitted to hospital in Boulogne with ‘cerebro-spinal meningitis’ He died there on 30th July 1916 of ‘cerebral haemorrhage’. He was buried in Wimereux Cemetery, five miles N of Boulogne.
When his true name was discovered some time later, his military records were altered. Eventually, the headstone on his grave was engraved to show both his true name and the name under which he served. He was listed, under his assumed name, on a Roll of Honour erected in the Woodville School of Arts hall (he had lived in Woodville, near Newcastle, for a time), on an Honour Board at Honeysuckle Point railway workshops, and on the 1921 NSW Government Railways and Tramways Roll of Honour.
- based on notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board