BARRINGTON, Percy Albert
| Service Number: | 5300 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 29 March 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 23rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Shepparton, Victoria, 1892 |
| Home Town: | Caniambo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Caniambo |
| Occupation: | Farm Labourer |
| Died: | Liverpool, New South Wales, 1954, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Liverpool Cemetery and Crematorium, Sydney, NSW |
| Memorials: | Euroa Telegraph Park, Violet Town Honour Roll WW1 |
World War 1 Service
| 29 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5300 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 5300, 23rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Miltiades embarkation_ship_number: A28 public_note: '' | |
| 1 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 5300, 23rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Miltiades, Melbourne |
Help us honour Percy Albert Barrington's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Elsa Reuter
BARRINGTON Percy Albert 5300 PTE
23rd Battalion
1892-1954
Percy’s father, Edward Barrington migrated to Australia from his birth place at Bishop’s Hull in Somerset, England in 1869. He was 19. In 1875 he selected land at Caniambo near Shepparton and grew wheat. Later on he described his farm as ‘healthy grey box country suitable to carry one sheep to the acre’. His livestock amounted to 93 sheep, five horses and four head of cattle.
Edward married Sarah Tudgey in the Holy Trinity church in Kew on 30 October 1878. Born in 1892 Percy was the eighth of ten children. He was born on the family farm, educated at the Caniambo State School and then worked on the farm until enlisting on 29 March 1916. On 1 August he sailed on the Miltiades for England, landing at Plymouth. He was sent to 6th Training Battalion at Rollestone. From there he sailed for France to be taken on strength of the 23rd Battalion which was engaged in the 3rd Battle of Ypres in Belgium. The winter of 1916-17 was extremely severe which saw trench feet as a major problem to the troops with special parades for treatment becoming routine. Percy’s condition required treatment at the Reading War Hospital back in England. On discharge from hospital he was transferred to the 65th Battalion. In October he was back in France in the 23rd Battalion where he remained as part of the 2nd Divisional Train until he returned to Australia on board the Valencia.
He was discharged on 11 September 1919. Returning to the farm at Caniambo, he married Margaret Cronk in Shepparton in 1922. They had two daughters and a son but sadly Margaret died in 1928 leaving the growing family in Percy’s care.
Two of his sisters moved to NSW, and he may have been visiting them when he died on 16 October 1954 in Liverpool, aged 62. He was buried in Liverpool cemetery.
A letter he wrote to his mother while in hospital suffering from trench feet reflects his happy, positive nature; he refers to No 2 War Hospital at Reading, Berkshire. ‘All the nurses there were very kind . . . best treatment I have ever had. Of course as usual I had my favourite nurse and she always did my feet . . . I was a general favourite - I suppose because of being an Australian . . .’ He met two nurses from Mooroopna Hospital (formerly of Shepparton) . . . they asked very kindly of you also Eliza and Ethel’ - (sisters). After he was discharged from hospital he visited relatives where he was warmly received – ‘now didn’t I have a good time with them all . . . I must say I am in love with all of them’ He signs off with sending love to the whole family ‘and a double portion to my mother’.
Percy’s medals – the British War Medal and the Victory Medal were sent to his father in 1922.
His name appears on the Caniambo district and school honour boards and on one of the copper plaques used to identify trees planted in the memorial avenues. These plaques have been affixed to the exterior wall of the Memorial Hall in Violet Town.
© 2017 Sheila Burnell