FITZHANNAM, Charles Edgar
| Service Number: | 604 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 November 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Trooper |
| Last Unit: | 5th Light Horse Regiment |
| Born: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 1889 |
| Home Town: | Mackay, Mackay, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Bowen House, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed In Action, Gallipoli, 27 August 1915 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing, Mackay Cenotaph, Mackay Old Town Hall Honour Roll, Mackay Railway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 10 Nov 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 604, 5th Light Horse Regiment | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Dec 1914: | Involvement Private, 604, 5th Light Horse Regiment, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '2' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Persic embarkation_ship_number: A34 public_note: '' | |
| 21 Dec 1914: | Embarked Private, 604, 5th Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Persic, Sydney | |
| 27 Aug 1915: | Involvement Trooper, 604, 5th Light Horse Regiment, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 604 awm_unit: 5th Australian Light Horse Regiment awm_rank: Trooper awm_died_date: 1915-08-27 |
Help us honour Charles Edgar FitzHannam's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Mrs. Kate Holyoake, of Victoria St., Mackay, Queensland, and the late Charles Fitzwilliam Hannam.
A SOLDIER'S LETTER,
The following is an extract from a letter received last mail by Mrs. W. W. Holyoake, from her son, Trooper C. E. Fitzhannam, after being wound ed at the Dardanelles : — I got shot in the hand with a machine gun bullet, but it is getting all right, and will not affect my hand eventually. I received your cable last night. You get the casualties list very quickly in Australia. It only happened on the 28th June. I suppose you saw in the papers the account of the 'Triumph' being sunk; it all happened right in front of our trenches. We saw the submarine and all that, happened as plain as anything. From our trenches to where she sank is not more than half a mile. We got a hot time the day we went out on the charge. It is not too nice at first, to be laying down on the grass and hear the shells going all round you, especially when a couple drop alongside you and you see three or four of your mates go up in the air. That friend of mine I have told you of Mr. Arndtzen was the first to get killed that day. I do not know how to explain the feeling you get at first under shell fire; at first it was all right when you found you were not hit, but one shell came right between my head and another man's that was alongside me. and it just got about 30 yards off and burst. We both got knocked down a big gully, and were dazed for a long while. When I came to the first thing I thought of was getting as far away from shells as I could, and then I thought to myself, what a coward I was, to think of such a thing, so got back quick and lively as soon as I got my senses properly. I just got back to where I got knocked from, and fired a few shots when I got knocked down the gully again, this time with a bullet through the hand, and so was knocked out of action. Some people say they never knew they were hit until they saw the blood. They could never have got hit with a Turkish bullet. I felt as if my hand was swollen up to 10 times its size, and burst into a thousand pieces. All the wounded Light Horse are going back to Maadi to look after the horses for a while, so I do not suppose I shall get over to Turkey again for some time, although I would sooner be there than in Egypt. It is very hot here, and the sandflies are awful. This convalescent hospital is right under the pyramids and a little away from the Sphynx. We have swimming baths and are well looked after. The first hospital we went, to was a beautiful building which had belonged to the late Sultan of Egypt; there was a staircase of marble said to have cost quarter of a million pounds Hope all well. Don't worry
—Gar."
Mrs. W.W. Holyoake received news last night that her son — Private. C. E. Fitz-Hannam— one of the 5th Light Horse contingent at the Dardanelles, had been killed in action. In consequence of the receipt of this news the pharmacy will not be open to-day. Private Fitz-Hannam was one of the company of Colonel Hubert Harris (previous to the war general secretary of the Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade), who was also one of the losses we sustained in the war.