LOVE, John Alexander Stitt
| Service Number: | 6750 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 January 1916, Enlisted at Sydney. |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 8th Field Company Engineers |
| Born: | Perth, Western Australia, Australia, 4 December 1890 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Porter |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 28 May 1918, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
Querrieu British Cemetery, Picardie |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Leichhardt War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 4 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 6750, 8th Field Company Engineers, Enlisted at Sydney. | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Mar 1916: | Involvement 6750, 8th Field Company Engineers, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Orsova embarkation_ship_number: A67 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Mar 1916: | Embarked 6750, 8th Field Company Engineers, HMAT Orsova, Sydney | |
| 27 May 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 6750, 8th Field Company Engineers, Hit by shell at Franvillers. Died the next day |
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Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922
Name John Alexander Stitt Love
Birth Date Abt 1891
Birth Place Perth
Registration Year1891
Registration Place Western Australia, Australia
Father Robert Love
Mother Mary Ann Stitt
Registration Number 1
Biography contributed by John Oakes
John Alexander Stitt LOVE (Service Number 6750) was born on 4th December 1890 in Perth, Western Australia. He first worked for the NSW Government Railways in the Traffic Branch as a temporary porter at Darling Harbour from 13th November 1912. A couple of months later his employment became permanent and it was from this role that he was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces on 4th January 1916.
Love enlisted at Sydney on the same day, giving his mother Mary Ann, who was living in Balmain, as his next of kin. He was a tradesman (mining carpenter) and had served a four year apprenticeship with the B M Coy of Boulder WA. He had also served two years with the Goldfields Infantry Regiment.
He was allotted to the 4th Reinforcement to the 8th Field Company of Engineers he embarked HMAT ‘Orsova’ in Sydney on 11th March 1916 and reached Egypt on 14th April. After only three weeks he embarked again at Alexandria for Marseilles and reported to the 2nd Australian Division Base Depot at Etaples on 5th June. Love was taken on the strength of the 5th Field Company of Engineers on 1st August as a sapper. In late October he was hospitalised, sic. He soon recovered and served until May 1917 when he was wounded with ‘NYD Shell Concussion’. He was clearly unwell, but the details were ‘Not Yet Determined’. A fractured clavicle required his evacuation to England via the 1st Australian General Hospital and the Hospital Ship ‘St David’. He was treated at the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford. It was three months of medical treatment and convalescence before he was fit again and it was September before he returned to France.
In October 1917 he was promoted to Lance Corporal. In December he was detached to the 2nd Division Bomb School. In February 1918 he had leave in Paris. On 21st March he was hospitalised, gassed. This time he passed through the 5th Australian Field Ambulance, the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station, the 14th General Hospital and then to the No. 1 Convalescent Depot. It was the middle of April before he was fit enough to re-join his unit. On 27th May 1918 he was wounded on a third occasion, with a shrapnel injury to his head. Although he reached the 5th Field Ambulance, he died there the next day, 28th May 1918. There are several reports of his death. Sapper R W Thorne (2749) reported:
‘I knew him well. He was about 25, dark, a big made man. About the 28th May we were outside Franvillers About 5 p.m. Love was sitting outside the D/Out with several others when he was hit by a shell in the head. He was taken to the D/Station and died on the road down to Clancy and is buried in Querrieu Cemetery.’
Love was buried at Querrieu British Cemetery 3½ miles NW of Corbie, France.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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