BARRATT, Arthur Waters
| Service Number: | 1668 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 23rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Brecknock, Breconshire, Wales, 1893 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Book-Keeper |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Pozieres, France, 29 July 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Jul 1915: | Involvement Private, 1668, 23rd Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Demosthenes embarkation_ship_number: A64 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Jul 1915: | Embarked Private, 1668, 23rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Demosthenes, Melbourne |
Help us honour Arthur Waters Barratt's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Births Jun 1893 Barratt Arthur Waters Brecknock 11b 83
The district Brecknock is in the county of Breconshire
He is one of three Australian casualties of the Great War who are commemorated on the Brecon War Memorial which stands in the grounds of St Mary’s Church.
The memorial was unveiled in November 1920 by Mrs Best, who lost three sons in February and April 1917, all killed in Mesopotamia. The Celtic cross remembers the fallen of the First World War while the flower beds and gates nearby are dedicated to the memory of those who died in the Second World War.
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
Arthur was born in 1893 and baptised on Palm Sunday, June 4th, son of Thomas James Barratt and his wife Mary Anne. His father was a butcher and the family lived at 21, The Struet, Brecon. Mary Anne died a few months after Arthur's birth, her fourth child. In 1901 Arthur is living with his maternal Grandparents at Coed Farm, Llandefaelog Fach, whilst his father and the rest of the family were living at St David Street, Brecon with their maternal Aunt, Sarah Waters, with Thomas now a milk vendor. By the time he is 19, Arthur is living and working in Abercynon, as an assistant draper in Thomas George's Emporium, but by 1914 he has decided to emigrate to Australia and travelled from London (Tilbury), to Melbourne in October of that year. He is listed as a farm student on the passenger list on the ship Indrapura. In 1915 he was living in Melbourne with his Uncle Edwin and working as a book-keeper. He enlisted in the army in May 1915 and later that summer he left Australia, probably for Gallipoli, before arriving in France in March 1916. The battalion moved to the Western Front, occupying the forward positions around Armentieres in northern France on 10 April 1916. In mid-July, the battalion was transferred to the Somme where they subsequently took part in the battles of Pozieres and Mouquet Farm, during which they suffered almost 90 per cent casualties. Arthur is initially listed as missing before finally being confirmed as killed in action. The memorial plaque in the Brecon Cathedral lists an address for Arthur and one of his brothers as The Griffin, in The Struet. It is here that his father was living at the time, having moved from St David Street, via 12, The Postern. It is from this address that Arthur's father Thomas wote for news of his son in March 1918, having not heard anything since he went missing in July 1916. He received a reply a few days later, confirming, via witness accounts, the death of his son. Arthur had apparently joined the machine gun section and soon after going over the top at Pozieres at 00.30 am, he was hit by a shell and his body was never recovered.