23718
WEIR, Stanley Price
| Service Number: | Commissioned Officer |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 August 1914, Although enlisted specifically as Commanding Officer of the 10th Infantry Battalion, normally a Lieutenant Colonel position, he had held the rank of Colonel prior to the war and retained it until his AIF appointment was terminated on 14 December 1916. |
| Last Rank: | Colonel |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Norwood, South Australia, 23 April 1866 |
| Home Town: | St Peters (SA), Norwood Payneham St Peters, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Moore's School, Norwood Public School and the Pulteney Street School |
| Occupation: | Public servant |
| Died: | Natural causes , St Peters, South Australia, 14 November 1944, aged 78 years |
| Cemetery: |
West Terrace Cemetery (General) Adelaide, South Australia Plan Z |
| Memorials: | Adelaide Crown Lands Department WW1 Honour Board, Adelaide Grand Masonic Lodge WW1 Honour Board (2), Adelaide Pulteney Grammar School WW1 & WW2 Honour Board, Norwood Primary School Honour Board, Payneham District Council Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Lieutenant Colonel, Commissioned Officer, 10th Infantry Battalion, Although enlisted specifically as Commanding Officer of the 10th Infantry Battalion, normally a Lieutenant Colonel position, he had held the rank of Colonel prior to the war and retained it until his AIF appointment was terminated on 14 December 1916. | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: |
Embarked
AIF WW1, Colonel, Commissioned Officer, 10th Infantry Battalion, embarkation_roll: roll_number: 10 embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: |
|
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement AIF WW1, Colonel, Commissioned Officer, 10th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, Raised the AIF Training Camp at Morphettville Racecourse and the 10th Infantry Battalion. | |
| 25 Apr 1915: |
Involvement
AIF WW1, Colonel, Commissioned Officer, 10th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, He commanded the Battalion at the Landing, through the Defence of Anzac and the August Offensive and therafter until evacuated sick with Enteric Fever in August 1915. |
|
| 6 Aug 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Colonel, Commissioned Officer, 10th Infantry Battalion, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli | |
| 23 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Colonel, Commissioned Officer, 10th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières | |
| 30 Nov 1916: | Discharged AIF WW1, Colonel, Commissioned Officer, 8 Nov 1916 AIF Appointment Terminated 1917-1920 Appointed Aide de Camp to the Governor General 1921 on retirement Appointed Honorary Brigadier |
Long and Dedicated Public Service
Brigadier-General S. Price Weir, D.S.O., V.D., Public Service Commissioner of South Australia, has completed 50 years' in the civil service. His office staff presented him with an address of appreciation and a cigar case. He entered the Department of Lands and Surveys on April 17, 1870, and on August 16, 1914, was appointed to command the 10th Battalion of tho A.I.F. On his return from the war he was appointed first Public Service Commissioner of South Australia. Brigadier-General Weir is chairman of the Public Service Classification and Efficiency Board.
Submitted 14 January 2023 by Faithe Jones
Biography
Stanley Price Weir (1866-1944)
This biography was first published in "The Fighting Tenth", the Battalion History of the 10th Battalion in the Great War, by Cecil Lock - With permission.
Stanley Price Weir was the inaugural Commanding Office of the 10th Battlion AIF and thus has a key place in the military and social history of South Australia.
He was the son of an early South Australian pioneering family, his father, Alfred Weir, having arrived on the ship Prince Regent in 1839.
Born at Norwood, an inner eastern suburb of Adelaide, in 1866, he was schooled at Moore's School, Norwood Public School and the Pulteney Street School (these days, Pulteney Grammar). Stanley entered the Surveyor General's Department as a 13 year old junior, and began a steady progression though the 'ranks' of that organisation. At one point he was a 'chainman' for a survey team tasked with defining the extent of what is now the Torren Parade Ground, a site which figures very strongly in the State's military history, having been a point of departure for contingents deploying overseas from the Boer War to Vietnam.
He joined the Colony's Militia in 1885 at the time of the second "Russian Scare" (the previous one having coincided with the Crimean War) , when a significant expansion of the militia force took place. This coincided with the building of Forts Glanville and Largs as part of a network of national defence installations around Australisa's coastline under the direction of Colonel Scratchley. Stanley Price Weir however, joined the infantry.
As with his civilian occupation, Stanley Price Weir progressed steadily through the ranks of the militia. He was commissioned as an officer in 1890, the same year in which he married Rosa nee Price.
By 1912 he was a Lieutenant Colonel and Commander of the 19th Brigade. Shortly thereafter he was promoted Colonel.
On the outbreak of war he was contacted by Brigadier Sinclair McLaglan and invited to accept command of the about-to-be raised 10th Battalion in the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division. He accepted and set straight to work in the establishement of the Morphettville Racecourse camp which was to be the hub of recruit, enlistment and training for the early stages of mobilisation, and in particular for the 10th Battalion.
At the time of his appointment in the Expeditionary Force, he was 48 years old and married to Rosa Weir. They had two children. They were resident at 64 Second Avenue St Peters, in Adelaide's inner NE suburbs.
After the frenetic activity of raising and training the Battalion, their next target was the embarkation in order to make the rendezvous with the convoy which was to form in WA for departure to the Middle East... - READ MORE LINK (rslvwm.s3.amazonaws.com)
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