Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Maxwell Angus LILLECRAPP (1895-1922)

Maxwell Angus Lillecrapp was born in Georgetown in South Australia's mid north in 1895.

By the time war broke out in 1914, he and his brother Frank were resident at their parents address at 5 Alexandra Avenue Rose Park in Adelaide's inner Eastern Suburbs.

Maxwell served in the Senior Cadets and the Machine Gun Section of the 79th (Militia ) Battalion prior to enlistment in the AIF.

He embarked for the Middle East on 18 November 1915, disembarking in Suez, from the HMAT 'Geelong' on 18 December 1915.

On 23 January 1916, he was admitted to No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital, Ismailia, (influenza), being discharged to duty, 29 January 1916 and rejopining his unit on the following day.

The AIF was at this stage going through a major e-organisation and Maxwell was detached to the 8th Brigade Machine Gun Company, on 3 March 1916 and formally transferred a few days later at Tel el Kebir on 9 March 1916 and taken on strength two days later and commissioned as an officer and appointed as a Second Lieutenant on 13 March 1916.

He embarked from Alexandria with his unit to join the British Expeditionary Force, 16 June 1916 disembarked in Marseilles, France, a week later on 23 June 1916.

His unit was part of the 8th Brigade in the 5th Division, and their first action was at Fromelles on 19/20 July 1916.  Losses among the infantry Battalions were so severe that the Division took no further part in operations until late in 1916 early 1917.  Maxwell was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 November 1916.

He was wounded and admitted to 1st Anzac Corps Main Dressing Station, 18 January 1917 (GSW - aterm tha could mean either 'General Shrapnel Wound' or 'Gunshot Wound', to his right shoulder).  It was serious enough to warrant evacuation to the UK and he was transferred via No 36 Casualty Clearing Station on 18 January 1917; to No 25 Ambulance Train on 19 January 1917; to No 2 Red Cross Hospital, 20 January 1917; to No 8 Ambulance Train, 24 January 1917; to England, 25 January 1917; to No 3 Lancashire General Hospital, 26 January 1917.  He was discharged on leave, 7 February 1917.

He then began the process of returning to the Front; marching in to Cobham Hall, 23 February 1917; discharged to No 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 1 March 1917 and a month later , proceeded overseas to France, 1 April 1917marching in  to the Machine Gun Depot at Camiers, 3 April 1917, awaiting re-posting.

He Received a Special Mention in Dispatches, 9 April 1917 for the action in which he had been wounded earlier in the year.

Marched out to unit, 14 April 1917 and rejoined his old unit, the 8th Brigade Machine Gun Company, on 15 April 1917.

Like a lot of junior officers at the time he applied for and sat the entrance exam for the Australian Flying Corps, on 25 September 1917.  However he was classified unfit for Australian Flying Corps), 11 October 1917.

The following year he was again wounded in action but not admitted to hospital, 25 April 1918 (gassed, effected eyes and throat for three weeks, also short sighted for same period).  This incident is mentioned in the unit history.

That was effectively the end of Maxwell's front line service .  By the time he recuperated, he was assigned to the General Headquarters of the Machine Gun School on 22 September 1918.  He eventually rejpoined his unit via a detachment to 4th Army Infantry School, on 9 November 1918 being taken on strength at at what had become the 5th Machine Gun Battalion (by merging the 8th, 14th and 15th Machine Gun Companies) on 15 November 1918.

He departed on leave to the United Kingdom, on 28 November 1918.

He was admitted to No 6 Auxiliary Hospital, England, 14 December 1918, then granted leave of absence with pay and subsistence for two months, 2 January 1919.

He commenced return to Australia from Liverpool on board HT 'Czar', 24 March 1919; transhipped to HS 'Dongola', Alexandria, 10 April 1919; disembarked Adelaide, 13 May 1919; appointment terminated (discharged; medically unfit, debility), 18 July 1919.

The effects of his wounds and it seems the gassing in particular began to have compounded adverse health effects.  Maxwell died in 1922 aged just 26 years old, one of the thousands of men to succumb to the effects of their war injuries in the years following the end of the war.  He is buried at West Terrace Cemetery.

Maxwell Angus LILLECRAPP was born in Georgetown, South Australia in 1895

His parents were William RYALL LILLECRAPP & Irene Jane BRICE who married in SA on 21st September 1891

He enlisted on 14th May, 1915 and was promoted through the ranks to Lieutenant & returned to Australia on 13th May, 1919 on the ship Dongola and was discharged due to debility & illness on 18th July, 1919

Maxwell died in Myrtle Bank, SA on 22nd May, 1922

-------

His brother Frank Ryall LILLECRAPP (SN 3395) also served during WW1 and died of wounds on 4th October, 1917 in France