Francis Paget HEWKLEY MM

HEWKLEY, Francis Paget

Service Number: 146
Enlisted: 25 August 1914, Blackboy Hill, WA
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: 4th Divisional Signal Company
Born: Stoke, Newington, London, England, March 1894
Home Town: Perth, Western Australia
Schooling: Merchant Taylors School, England
Occupation: Bank Clerk
Died: Died of wounds, Belgium, 26 September 1917
Cemetery: Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery
Plot XXIII, Row A, Grave 11A, Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Lijssenthoek, Flanders, Belgium
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

25 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Sapper, 146, 1st Divisional Signal Company, Blackboy Hill, WA
20 Oct 1914: Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 146, 1st Divisional Signal Company, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Karroo embarkation_ship_number: A10 public_note: ''
20 Oct 1914: Embarked AIF WW1, Sapper, 146, 1st Divisional Signal Company, HMAT Karroo, Melbourne
9 Mar 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Sapper, 4th Divisional Signal Company
10 Mar 1916: Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 4th Divisional Signal Company
9 Oct 1916: Honoured Military Medal, For gallantry in mending lines under fire at Pozieres on 3rd to 5th September, 1916
2 Nov 1916: Promoted AIF WW1, Corporal, 4th Divisional Signal Company
10 May 1917: Promoted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 4th Divisional Signal Company
26 Sep 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 146, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 146 awm_unit: 4th Australian Division Signals Company awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1917-09-26

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Biography contributed by Elizabeth Allen

Francis Paget HEWKLEY was born in March, 1894 in Stoke, Newington, London, England

His parents were Dr. Frank HEWKLEY & Dorothy BREWIS who married in England in 1889

He left England and arrived in Australia in June 1912 & later enlisted on the 25th August, 1914 as a Sapper with the 1st Divisional Signals Company which embarked from Melbourne on 20th October 1914 on the ship HMAT Karroo

He was transferred to the 4th Divisional Signal Company on 9th March, 1916 and promoted through the ranks to Sergeant - he served at Gallipoli, Egypt, Belgium & France

Francis died of wounds on 26th September, 1917 due to shell wounds to his shoulder & a fractured skull - he is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery & and his name is memorialised on his parents headstone in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemetery in England & the Australian War Memorial

Awards: He was awarded the Military Medal on 9th October, 1916 for gallantry in mending lines under fire at Pozieres on 3rd to 5th September, 1916

(London Gazette, 9th December, 1916)

Medals:  Military Medal, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal & Victory Medal

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Daily News (Perth, WA) 3rd November, 1917 page 5

CALLED TO HIGHER SERVICE


Sergeant Francis Paget Hewkley, 4th Signalling Company, A.I.F., Scoutmaster, Troop No 26, Cottesloe

Died of wounds received in France

The Boy Scout movement in general and the Western Australian section in particular, has in Francis Paget Hewkley, lost one of the very best.

He was held in the highest esteem by the boys of No. 26 Troop, among whom the example he set was that of a true Scout, which means a true gentleman, and comrades who were with him in Egypt, Gallipoli & France, write of him as having been the cheeriest of soldiers, always fit and willing for duty and on the lookout to do a kindly act: in fact, living up to the Scout law

Scoutmaster F Paget Hewkley loved Scout work and his enthusiastic support will be missed in Western Australia, but he will always be remembered as one who carried out in his own life the Scout law, which he found so much pleasure in inducing others to obey.

 

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