CAFFREY, Thomas James
| Service Number: | 1083 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 33rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Armidale, New South Wales, Australia, 1884 |
| Home Town: | Armidale, Armidale Dumaresq, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Post operative illness, France, 15 November 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Buried at Sea Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Armidale Memorial Fountain, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 4 May 1916: | Involvement Private, 1083, 33rd Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Marathon embarkation_ship_number: A74 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 May 1916: | Embarked Private, 1083, 33rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Marathon, Sydney |
Help us honour Thomas James Caffrey's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Kerry Shooks
Thomas James Caffrey was born in Armidale NSW Father Thomas Caffrey.
CAFFREY, Thomas James - Details - Australian Defence ...www.aif.adfa.edu.au › showPerson
Address, Grafton Road, Armidale, New South Wales. Marital status, Single. Age at embarkation, 31. Height, 5' 9". Weight, 149 lbs. Next of kin, Father, T. Caffrey, ...https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/
Thomas James CAFFREY
Regimental number
1083
Place of birth
Armidale, New South Wales
Religion
Roman Catholic
Occupation
Farmer
Address
Grafton Road, Armidale, New South Wales
Marital status
Single
Age at embarkation
31
Height
5' 9"
Weight
149 lbs
Next of kin
Father, T. Caffrey, Armidale, New South Wales
Previous military service
Served for 2 years in the Citizen Military Forces.
Enlistment date
10 January 1916
Place of enlistment
Armidale, New South Wales
Rank on enlistment
Private
Unit name
33rd Battalion, D Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number
23/50/1
Embarkation details
Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A74 Marathon on 4 May 1916
Rank from Nominal Roll
Private
Unit from Nominal Roll
33rd Battalion
Fate
Died of disease 15 November 1917
Place of death or wounding
Died at sea en route to Australia
Age at death
33
Place of burial
At sea
Commemoration details
Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, FranceVillers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.
The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.
On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.
After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
Australian War Memorial
121
Other details
War service: Western Front
Embarked Sydney, 4 May 1916; disembarked Devonport, England, 9 July 1916.
Proceeded overseas to France, 21 November 1916.
Admitted to No 10 Field Ambulance, 22 February 1917 (myalgia and lumbago); transferred to No 2 Australian Casualty Clearing Station, 22 February 1917; to No 26 Ambulance Train, 10 March 1917; to No 14 General Hospital, 11 March 1917 (sciatica); to England, 15 March 1917; to Norfolk War Hospital, 15 March 1917 (rheumatic fever); discharged to furlough, 7 August 1917; marched into No 2 Command Depot, Weymouth, 22 August 1917.
Commenced return to Australia, 18 October 1917; died at sea, 15 November 1917, of exhaustion following an operation for hydatid of the liver.
Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Sources
NAA: B2455, CAFFREY Thomas James
Added by Kerry Shooks