Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The youngest of the four sons of John Johnson Kinghsmill and his wife Amy Elizabeth to serve in the First AIF, Kenneth Seymour Kingsmill enlisted at Sydney in September, 1914 at 19 years of age.

Born at Gunnedah in 1895 where his father was the Clerk of Petty Sessions at the Gunnedah Court House, he enlisted at the same time as his older brother Horace Frederick Kingsmill. Both brothers were assigned to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Kenneth with the rank of Bombadier and Horace as Captain.

Bombadier Kenneth Kingsmill supported the Gallipoli landing on 25 April,1915 on board HMT 'Indian' with the 1st Field Artillery Brigade Ammunition Column in the supply of ammunition and in establishing the field artillery at Cape Helles. His commanding officer at the time was his brother Captain Horace Kingsmill.

Kenneth Kingsmill was promted to Corporal and then to Sergeant in Egypt before being sent to the Western Front in June, 1916.

In Februray 1917 he gained his commission as Second Leiutenant and was promoted to Lieutenant the following August. Apart from a disclocated right shoulder, received accidentally, he emerged from the war unscathed from more than two years of service on the Western Front.

Sadly at the time of his promotion to Lieutenant, his eldest brother Major Horace Kingsmill DSO was killed in action at Zillebeke, Belgium - a devestating blow.

Apart from a dislocated right shoulder, received accidentally in June 1918, Lieutenant Kingsmill emerged from the war unscathed from more than two years of service on the Western Front. On December 30, 1918 he left France for England and in June, 1919 arrived back in Australia. He was discharged from the AIF on August 8, 1919.

Ken Kingsmill was prominent in the Sydney society pages upon his return and had a small farmlet at Prospect, New South Wales before joining the importing firm Cameron & Co.

In December 1929 he married Doreen "Bobbie" Newell at Mosman. Doreen was the daughter of NSW Commissioner of Main Roads, Hugh Hamilton Newell after whom the Newell Highway, the primary road transport corridor through New South Wales from Melbourne to Brisbane, was named following his death in 1941.

In 1939 Ken Kingsmill joined the NSW Department of Main Roads. He died on August 20, 1970 at St Leonards.

His other two brothers, Lieutenant Nigel Travers Kingsmill MC and Lieutenant Colin Kingsmill both survived the war and pursued successful business careers upon their return to Australia.