BRINDAL, Clifton Sydney
| Service Number: | 3487 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 October 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 54th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Petersburg, South Australia, Australia, 2 June 1892 |
| Home Town: | Perth, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | James Street School, Perth, Western Australia, Australia |
| Occupation: | Barman |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Fromelles, France, 19 July 1916, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery Plot I, Row A, Grave No 6 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 28 Oct 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3487 | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Dec 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3487, 20th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Dec 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 3487, 20th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Sydney | |
| 16 Feb 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 54th Infantry Battalion | |
| 19 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3487, 54th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3487 awm_unit: 54th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-07-19 |
Help us honour Clifton Sydney Brindal's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Edwards
There appears to be no record of Clifton being born in New South Wales as he stated at time of enlistment. His father William Brindal stated Clifton was born in Petersburg, South Australia when completing the AWM Roll of Honour Circular.
Clifton's remains were identified in time for the Centenary Commemoration of the Battle of Fromelle's, held at Phesant Wood Cemetery, on 19 Jul 2016, where the headstone over his final resting place was unveiled.
Biography contributed by Abigail Brindal-Fielding
Private Clifton Sydney Brindal was born on the second of June, 1892, in Petersburg (Peterborough), South Australia. He was the son of William Edmund Brindal and Ann Chapman. His hometown was in East Perth, Western Australia, where he went to school at James Street. Clifton and his family's religion was the Church of England.
His occupation before he enlisted was listed as a barman.
Clifton enlisted in Holsworthy, New South Wales, on the 28th October, 1915. On the 20th December, of the same year, he sailed aboard HMAT A60 Aeneas. His age at enlistment was twenty two.
Clifton Sydney Brindal served in the 20th and the 54th Battalions.
Half of the 54th Battalion were Gallipoli veterans from the 2nd Battalion, and the other half were fresh reinforcements from Australia. The 54th Battalion was raised in Egypt on February 16th, 1916. This Battalion moved to France in June 1916 and disembarked at Marseilles.
Private Clifton fought his first major battle on the Western Front at Fromelles on July 19th.
Clifton Sydney was killed in action during the Battle of Fromelles at Fleurbaix, France.
He was wounded and died during an attack on a German trench on July 19th, aged twenty four. Initially, Clifton was reported missing and then his death was reported by RG Green, a patient at the Wharncliffe War Hospital in Sheffield, England. Green's comments were later ruled as hearsay and his death remained unconfirmed until a Court of Enquiry held in the field found in 1917 that he had indeed been killed in action. The report states that it is likely that he had already been wounded and was on his way back to the Australian lines when he received his fatal blow.
Clifton was honoured with two medals during his time in World War One. These were the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
According to the Australian War Memorial, Clifton Sydney Brindal was buried in the Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery, Fromelles, Lille, Nord Pas de Calais, France. After the war, he originally did not have identification or a headstone until 2016, when he, fortunately, received these along with six other World War One soldiers.
Clifton today has his name on two memorials, the Australian War Memorial and the Roll of Honour. Clifton Sydney's panel number for the AWM is 158.
REFERENCES
Army.gov.au. (2018). Australian Army |. [online] Available at: https://www.army.gov.au [Accessed 31 Aug. 2018].
A guide to the Western Front WW1 battlefields of 1914-1918.
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/
Australian Imperial Force
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U50958
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
https://www.cwgc.org/
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, France - the AIF Project
https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/Fromelles.html
Anon, (2018). [online] Available at: https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2018].
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