S2921
MATHESON, Keith Leonard
| Service Number: | 2723 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 9 August 1915, Enlisted at Adelaide, SA |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 9th Light Horse Regiment |
| Born: | Millicent, South Australia, 18 February 1892 |
| Home Town: | Stirling (SA), Adelaide Hills, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Traveller |
| Died: | Adelaide, South Australia, 1 September 1971, aged 79 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia Cremated on the 3 September 1971. Ashes interred on the 28 October 1971. Columbarium, Wall 13, Niche F017. Internment number 235069 which expires on 28 October 2021 |
| Memorials: | Aldgate War Memorial, Mount Barker High School Great War Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2723, 27th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Adelaide, SA | |
|---|---|---|
| 27 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 2723, 27th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Benalla embarkation_ship_number: A24 public_note: '' | |
| 27 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 2723, 27th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Benalla, Adelaide | |
| 23 Jul 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, Machine Gun Companies and Battalions, From 27th Battalion | |
| 27 Sep 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 9th Light Horse Regiment, From 3rd Machine Gun Squadron | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Private, 2723 | |
| 12 Dec 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 2723, 9th Light Horse Regiment, Discharged at 4th Military District |
World War 2 Service
| 1 Jun 1942: | Enlisted Pt Lincoln, SA |
|---|
World War 1 Service
| Date unknown: | Wounded 2723, 9th Light Horse Regiment |
|---|
Help us honour Keith Leonard Matheson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Carol Foster
Son of Kenneth Matheson and Annie Eglington Matheson nee Williams of Stirling, SA later of Mount Lofty. Brother of Mavis Eglington Matheson and James Roy Matheson
On 31 March 1920 Keith married Madge Bower in Congregational Church, Mount Lofty, SA. At the time of his death he was residing in the Unley area. Father of Kenneth Bower Matheson and Nancy Bower Matheson
Commenced return to Australia on 19 August 1919 aboard HT Ajana disembarking on the 9 October 1919 at Sydney for onward travel to Adelaide
Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Biography contributed by Heathfield High School
Keith Leonard Matheson was born on the 18th of February 1892 in Millicent, South Australia. He later moved with his mother (Annie Matheson), father (Kenneth Matheson), and two siblings (Mavis Eglington Matheson and James Roy Matheson) to Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills (Virtual War Memorial Australia). His mother was listed as his next of kin on his enlistment record. (National Archives of Australia)
He worked as a traveller before he enlisted in the First World War (National Archives of Australia). Travelers, like Keith, were sellers who would go from place to place and sell different items and goods to various different shops and stores around his town and various other towns in his area.
9th of August 1915, Keith Matheson enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces at the age of 23 in Adelaide, South Australia. He was in the 27th Infantry Battalion in Adelaide. He left South Australia on the 27th of October 1915. The ship he embarked on was called HMAS Benalla (National Archives of Australia).
Keith Matheson went to the Serapeum Training Camp in Egypt for his mandatory military training where he learnt things like drills, military command, and how to operate weapons like machine guns or rifles for example. (ANZAC portal Australia). He was then transferred to the 9th Light Horse Regiment on 28th January 1916 (NAA)
On the 23rd of July 1916, Keith Matheson transferred as a Private to the 3rd Machine Gun Squadron. (National Archives of Australia). He was then transferred back to the 9th Light Horse Regiment on 27th September 1916. He served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces in the Middle East until June and July 1918, when he marched in and out of the Moascar Isolation Camp (National Archives of Australia).
Mo’ascar Isolation Camp was located Ismailia in Egypt and was a training area for Australian troops from 1916 to 1919 (Anzac Portal Australia). It also served as an isolation camp where soldiers were put for two weeks to check for infectious diseases before they were put into crowded conditions (Springfield College).
During 1918 Keith Matheson suffered from severe malaria for a long time. He was admitted to hospital on 26th August 1918 from the 9th Light Horse Regiments, with a ‘heavy infection’. He was transferred between three hospitals before he was finally admitted to the No. 14 Australian General Hospital in Port Said where he remained until discharged on 23rd October 1918. (National Archives of Australia)
Malaria can be a fatal disease spread mainly by mosquitoes, in the worst cases people can get seizures, confusion, and have difficulty breathing (World Health Organisation). After being discharged, Keith Matheson went on approved sick leave for two weeks in Cairo, because he was deemed too unwell for any active service. (National Archives of Australia)
Following his sick leave, he was in Mo’ascar Isolation Camp again. On the 23rd of October 1918 he was admitted to the hospital for influenza. At the time there was a global epidemic of the Spanish Flu which, by the end of it, killed an estimated 50 million people around the world (National Museum Australia). Thankfully Keith Matheson survived the influenza infection and was able to leave the hospital a few days later on the 27th of October 1918. (National Archives of Australia)
Matheson returned to Australia on the 19th of August 1919 on the ship HT Ajana and he formally arrived back in Australia on the 9th of October 1919 at Sydney to begin his journey back home to South Australia (Virtual War Memorial Australia)
Keith Matheson made it back to South Australia and a year later on the 31st of March 1920 he married Madge Bower in Mount Lofty and later became the father of two children (Kenneth Bower Matheson and Nancy Bower Matheson). (Virtual War Memorial Australia)
Keith Matheson died at his home in Unley, South Australia, on the 1st of September 1971 he was cremated two days later on the 3rd of September and a month later his ashes were put into the Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia in the Columbarium, Wall 13, Niche F017. (Virtual War Memorial Australia)
Reference List
- Acton, C 2009, ‘Influenza pandemic | National Museum of Australia’, Nma.gov.au.
- Australian Soldiers, Memorials and Military History n.d., vwma.org.au, viewed 15 May 2024, <https://vwma.org.au/explore/projects/132374/edit?t=1715742255852>.
- AWM244 BENALLA - Troopship movement cards, 1914-18 War: HMAT BENALLA (A24) n.d., www.awm.gov.au, viewed 15 May 2024, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2627765>.
- Battle of Romani n.d., www.awm.gov.au.
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs 2021, Training Australian army recruits during World War I | Anzac Portal, anzacportal.dva.gov.au.
- Directorate of Honours and Awards World War I Recognising Australian Service n.d.
- MATHESON Keith Leonard : Service Number - 2723 : Place of Birth - Millicent SA : Place of Enlistment - Adelaide SA : Next of Kin - (Mother) MATHESON Annie 1914, National Archives of Australia, viewed 15 May 2024, <https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=11601955&S=17&R=0>.
- Moascar Isolation Camp - Ismailia, Egypt (August - September 1917) n.d., cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org, viewed 15 May 2024, <https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15370coll2/id/2847/>. (Springfield Collage)
- The 1914 -1915 Star. (n.d.). https://www.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-08/WWI-criteria-1914-15-Star-Australian-transcribed.pdf
- WHO 2023, Malaria, World Health Organization, WHO.
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