Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

# 3409 PRICE Owen Bennion                          52nd /42nd  Battalion
 
Owen Price was born at the Wooloowin Private Hospital to parents Ada and James Price around 1897. The family home was in the suburb of Clayfield and Owen attended the local school. Owen’s father, James Thomas Bennion Price was a prominent solicitor in Brisbane with chambers in Queen Street. J.T.B. Price was also a councillor on the Windsor Town Council. Owen served four years with the senior cadets while at the same time beginning a career with the English, Scottish and Australian Bank (E S and A Bank; now part of ANZ). Owen was posted to Woodford, Qld as a clerk.
 
Owen Price presented himself for enlistment at the Brisbane recruiting office on 8th November 1916. He stated his age as 19 and occupation as bank clerk. He stated his address as c/- E S and A Bank, Woodford. In the previous month, a national plebiscite regarding military conscription had been defeated and there was still a residue of ill feeling in the community. As the son of a prominent member of the establishment, perhaps Owen felt he should enlist.
 
Owen reported to Enoggera Camp where he was placed in a depot battalion before being assigned to the 9th reinforcements of the 52nd Battalion. Owen was granted two days home leave on 19th January 1917, immediately after which the reinforcements travelled by train to Sydney where they embarked on the “Ayrshire” on 24th January. The reinforcements landed at Devonport in Devon, on 12th April and then proceeded on to the 13th Training Battalion at Codford in Wiltshire. Owen spent the next four months in England suffering from mumps and influenza. In August, Owen proceeded across the English Channel to join up with his battalion, marching in to the 52nd Battalion lines near Steenvordt in Belgium on 8thSeptember 1917.
 
The 52nd Battalion, as part of the 13th brigade of the 4th Division AIF, was in the process of moving up to the front to occupy recently captured positions on Westhoek Ridge. In early October, the 4th Division attacked from that position towards the village of Zonnebeke on Broodseinde Ridge. The successes of September and early October were blunted by the arrival of unseasonal and persistent rain which quickly turned the low-lying ground into a sea of stinking, sucking mud in which infantry moving up to the front became hopelessly bogged and arrived at the front exhausted. What became known as the Battle for Passchendaele brought the British campaign in the Flanders mud to a sudden halt. While struggling in the mud, Owen had a recurrence of influenza. He was evacuated to a convalescent camp at Havre on 18th November to recover. Owen reported back to his battalion on 2nd January of the new year. The 52nd was at that time in winter billets around Poperinghe.
 
Lung complaints continued to plague Owen and in the beginning of March he reported to the 11th Casualty Clearing Station where he was diagnosed as suffering from pleurisy. He spent a few days in hospital in Boulogne before being evacuated to the Kitchener War Hospital in Brighton on the English Coast. On 23rdApril 1918, Owen was granted a two-week furlough from hospital, after which he reported to a convalescent depot at Sutton Veney.
While at the convalescent depot, Owen was transferred to the 42nd Battalion. He left Folkstone on 7th July, bound for the continent but it took another three weeks before he was taken on strength by the 42nd on 27thJuly.
 
The war situation had changed dramatically while Owen was away. A surprise offensive by the German forces along the line of the Somme valley in March 1918 had caused the Australians to be called into the desperate defence of Amiens. A small but significant victory by Australians at Hamel in July laid the ground work for a massive British counter offensive. Owen’s late arrival to the front, and his lack of recent battle experience and his fragile health probably prompted the commander of the 42nd to keep Owen out of harm’s way by appointing him to be an officer’s batman; with responsibility for the officer’s uniform, baggage and clerical duties.
 
The Battle of Amiens was planned to begin in the early hours of the 8th August 1918 and for several days before hand, troops had been moving up to the assembly areas and tank parks in the rear areas around Villers Bretonneux. It was reported that on the day before the battle, Owen was sitting well behind the lines near Corbie eating his breakfast when a large calibre German high explosive shell landed beside Owen, killing him outright. His body was removed by a burial party to a nearby cemetery. Curiously, the date of his official death was changed from 7th August to 8th August by order of army records. This is despite several witnesses stating that in occurred around 8am on 7th August 1918.
 
Owen’s personal effects were sent to his father’s business office in the city. James Price was the executor and sole beneficiary of Owen’s will. Owen’s name is listed on the Clayfield Bowls Club Honour Roll and the E S and A Bank Honour Roll but does not appear on the Woodford Roll Honour. He does however appear on the St Matthias Church Honour Roll at Woodford and there is a tree and plaque in the Avenue of Honour at Woodford.
 
In the suburb of Wooloowin, in Brisbane, there are two streets that intersect, Owen Street and Price Street. The name changes were probably instigated by Owen’s father as a Windsor Town Councillor. Naming streets after First World War soldiers who did not return was a common practice in some communities.