Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Francis Cooney, also formally known as Frank Cooney, was born in Bowden, Adelaide. on 1th of April 1876. He was the 4th of his 8 other siblings. His parents were Stephen Cooney, who was 37, and Catherine Maguire, who was 34, at the time of Frank’s birth. Later on in his life, Frank married Alice Maud Read on the 10th of January 1903, whom was also his next of kin. During their marriage they had five children, Edith, Kathleen, Stanley, John, and Stephen who unfortunately passed aged one month. To provide for his family Frank worked as a labourer.

On the 6th of September 1915, Francis enlisted to the Australian Imperial Force, in South Australia at the age of 39. On his attestation, it stated that he was 5 feet and 6 inches, medium complexion and had dark hair. He was then deemed medically fit to be a part of the force and was appointed the position of Private in the 27th Battalion.

The unit then embarked from Adelaide, South Australia to Heliopolis, Egypt on board the HMAT A28 Miltiades, which was one of the many troopships that transported soldiers to the front line, on the 7th of February 1916. He was then transferred from the 27th Battalion to the 50th Infantry Battalion which was raised in Heliopolis, Egypt, where many troops gained training before moving towards France. He was then appointed the position of temporary private in the British expeditionary force in Alexandria in Egypt where they disembarked on board the Arcadian from Marseilles to France on the 12th of July in 1916.

Whilst in France, Pte. Francis Cooney fought in the Battle of the Somme which was fought along the Western Front near the Somme River of France. This attack lasted from July to November in 1916, in which was one of the most bitter, deadly, and costly battles. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies. More than three million men fought in the battle, in which one more million were either wounded or killed, 23,000 of them being Australian soldiers. Nearing August during the battle, with the German morale running low due to losing ground both on Somme and at Verdun, but in a turn of events the German general was replaced by a different soldier. The commander changed the German’s strategy where they would build new defensive line behind the Somme front, conceding territory but allowing them to inflict more casualties including Francis himself. Francis ended up with a gunshot wound in his arm on the 16th of August, where he had to be taken to a medical tent to be cared for.

Whilst wounded, he embarked from Rouen to England on the SS St. Patrick, which was one of many ships that sailed sick and injured soldiers to be cared for.  Whilst recovering he was transferred to the 13th Battalion where he then proceeded overseas to France via Folkestone, England. He arrived in Estaples, France where he temporarily joined the Australian Divisional Base Depot where he was able to recover from his injury and receive training before returning to the field.

Francis Cooney committed an offence on 25th May 1917 where he was at an estaminet (pub) during prohibited hours. He was punished with 48 hours of Field Punishment No 2 and forfeited 2 days pay. 

On September 14th 1917, Cooney was in trouble again. At 9am, the soldiers had a parade where Francis Cooney was late, they also held another one later in the evening at 12:45pm in which he was absent completely. He forfeited 72-hours of pay with the same punishment as the previous one.

From then on, the 50th Battalion spent their time training as they were aware of the Germans staging a spring offensive which will be launched in early 1918. So, they made sure they were all prepared for the heavy fighting. During that time, Francis Cooney was once again absent without leave from 11:30pm on the 14th of September to 11pm of the 15th of September. He once again received the same punishment for 48 hours.

Later into 1917, when autumn had rolled around, many soldier were becoming ill, especially with the flu and trench fever. Due to the cold weather, during the 50th Battalion’s training, Francis fell ill with the flu and was administered to hospital in hopes to recover smoothly. He embarked from France on a ship where he soon landed in England where he was taken to the war hospital in which he was further diagnosed with Trench fever. After being diagnosed with Trench fever he had to be once again moved but this time into the Australian Auxiliary Hospital where he received additional help. 

He was then in out of various command depots and hospitals from January of 1918 until 5th of May.

He was returned to Australia for dischard on 12th May 1918. At some point after the war he moved to Paddington in NSW as evidenced by correspondence in his service record.