LANE, Arthur Ernest
| Service Number: | 7820 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 7 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 5th Field Artillery Brigade |
| Born: | Kew, Victoria, Australia, 1 September 1890 |
| Home Town: | Tullamarine, Hume, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Engine driver |
| Died: | Died of wounds, Belgium, 24 September 1917, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
Hooge Crater Cemetery, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bulla War Memorial, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 7 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Corporal, 7820, 5th Australian Field Artillery Battery | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Nov 1915: | Involvement Driver, 7820, 5th Field Artillery Brigade , Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '4' embarkation_place: '' embarkation_ship: HMAT Bulla embarkation_ship_number: A45 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Nov 1915: | Embarked Driver, 7820, 5th Field Artillery Brigade , HMAT Bulla | |
| 31 Jul 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Corporal, 7820, 5th Field Artillery Brigade , "Wounded in action remaining on duty" | |
| 24 Sep 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 7820, 5th Field Artillery Brigade , Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 7820 awm_unit: 5th Australian Field Artillery Brigade awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-09-24 |
Help us honour Arthur Ernest Lane's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Ross Martin
Atrhur Ernest LANE was born in Melbourne in 1890 and was working in NSW as an engine driver when he enlisted at Liverpool, NSW on 7/7/1915.
He left Sydney abourd HMAT Bulla on 25/11/1915. His next of kin was his father, James Lane of "Gowrie Park" Tullamarine. This area is now part of the Melbourne Airport.
He was assigned to the 5th Australian Field Artillery Brigade and was promoted to Corporal.
He was wounded in action on 24/9/1917 and died that day in the 13th Australian Field Ambulance camp.
He is buried at the Hooge Crater Cemetery, Passchendaele, Belgium.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Arthur Ernest LANE (Service Number 7820) was born in Melbourne on 1st November 1890. He joined the NSW Government Railways as a cleaner (first step on the career path of an Engineman) at the Goulburn locomotive depot in November 1911. He was promoted (and transferred) to fireman at Picton in 1912.
In July 1915 he enlisted in the AIF at Liverpool, stating his ‘trade or calling’ as ‘Loco Engine Driver’.
He embarked from Sydney in November 1915 with reinforcements for the 5th Field Artillery Brigade. He landed in Suez in January 1916 . In March proceeded to France, where he landed on 25th March 1916. He was transferred to the 22nd Field Artillery Brigade in May. He was promoted to bombardier in June. In January 1917, he was transferred back to the 5th Field Artillery Brigade, and ‘taken on strength’ by its 13th Battery. He was promoted to Corporal in June.
On 31st July 1917 he was ‘wounded in action remaining on duty’.
On 24th September 1917 he was wounded in action again, dying of his wounds the same day at the 13th Australian Field Ambulance. He was buried in ‘Simons Post Cemetery, Zonnebeke, near Ypres’ After the war his remains were exhumed and re-buried in Hooge Crater Cemetery, Zillebeke, two miles E of Ypres.
His service medals were issued to his father, James Lane, in Melbourne. He (like some others) was in 1921 erroneously awarded the 1914-15 Star but was ineligible because he did not disembark from his transport ship within the relevant period (some of the disembarkation records were incorrectly compiled overseas). The military authorities, in an unusually insensitive move, sent the Broadmeadows police to request James Lane to return the Star, and he refused them, writing later that:
‘I regret that I cannot see my way clear to return this medal. My boy died in the service of his country, two of his brothers also served. If some mistake has been made, the error is yours. I desire to keep the medal as a token of the boy I have lost and I trust you will have consideration for my feelings in the matter and allow me to retain it.’
After a tactfully worded and apologetic letter sent to him directly by the officer in charge of Base Records, Mr Lane reconsidered his position, and returned the Star. He retained, as was his right, the other campaign medals: the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, as well as the Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll sent to him in respect of his son’s death.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.