BROWN, Francis Cecil
| Service Number: | 3212 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 55th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 4 July 1918, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Franvillers Communal Cemetery Extension Franvillers Communal Cemetery Extension, Franvillers, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Dec 1915: | Involvement Private, 3212, 17th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suevic embarkation_ship_number: A29 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Dec 1915: | Embarked Private, 3212, 17th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Suevic, Sydney | |
| 4 Jul 1918: | Involvement Private, 3212, 55th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3212 awm_unit: 55th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-07-04 |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Francis Cecil BROWN, (Service Number 3212) was born on 28 June 1890 at Leeds, Yorkshire. He first worked as a casual conductor on the Sydney Tramways from 18 December 1912. He became permanent later in 1912, but it was 1917 before he progressed to electric driver, though the meaning of this promotion is not clear as he had been released from duty on 23 October 1915 to join the Expeditionary Forces. Also peculiar is the record on his card that he remained loyal during the strike of 1917. At that time, he was in Europe under Military Discipline with little prospect of being other than loyal.
Brown enlisted at the RAS Showgrounds on the same day that he was released by the Tramways. As he was single, he gave his mother, Emma, still living in Leeds, England, as his next of kin. Allotted to the 17th Australian Infantry Battalion he embarked HMAT ‘Suevic’ at Sydney on 20 December 1915. Reaching Egypt in February 1916 he was allotted to the 5th Training Battalion at Zeitoun and then the 55th Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir. In June he embarked HT ‘Caledonian’ at Alexandria for passage to France and the Western Front through Marseilles where he passed on 29 June.
Later in the year he was Absent Without Leave from 12 noon 15/11/16 till Apprehended by police at 4 pm the same day. For this he was awarded seven days Field Punishment No. 2.
He was wounded in action, with shrapnel injuries to his right thigh on 2 April 1917. He passed though the 9th Casualty Clearing Station, the Ambulance Train and the third Canadian General Hospital and transferred to England and the Military Hospital at Eastbourne. By May he had recovered sufficiently to be granted furlough. Over the next two months he was re-classified as to his fitness and on 27 July 1917 had another period Absent Without Leave. This cost him 13 days’ pay and an admonishment from Lt Col J. Darvall. This absence may also have been the cause of his next hospital admission, to Bulford, with venereal disease, though this took only an usually short time of 10 days to be treated. He was still convalescing, and it was late November 1917 before he proceeded overseas and was taken on the strength of the 55th Battalion again on 2 December.
The next seven months caused no record to be made on his file as he went about his business as a soldier, until he was killed in action in France on 4 July 1918.
He was buried at Franvillers Communal Cemetery Extension, 3¾ miles North of Corbie.
(NAA B2455-1796160)
Submitted 12 May 2023 by John Oakes