BUCKMASTER, Allan Lester
| Service Number: | 688 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 6 January 1916, Perth, Western Australia |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 44th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Gounyan, New South Wales, Australia, 8 June 1872 |
| Home Town: | Yass, Yass Valley, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Gaol Warder |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 1 February 1917, aged 44 years |
| Cemetery: |
Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais - Hauts-de-France II C 12A |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kalgoorlie St John's Anglican Church Honour Roll, Yass & District WW1 Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 6 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 688, Perth, Western Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Jun 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 688, 44th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Suevic embarkation_ship_number: A29 public_note: '' | |
| 6 Jun 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 688, 44th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Suevic, Fremantle | |
| 24 Jan 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 688, 44th Infantry Battalion, GSW (back) |
ALLEN LESTER BUCKMASTER
ALLEN LESTER BUCKMASTER (1872-1917) born at Gounyan Yass, son of Joseph and Alice Buckmaster nee Davis. He enlisted at Fremantle WA as Private 688 of the 44th Battalion, D Company, AIF on February 4th, 1916. Allen had been working as a member of the Western Australian Penal Service and was a Warden on Rottnest Island. He sailed from Fremantle on the HMAT Suevic A29 on June 6th, 1916. and arrived in Plymouth on July 21st. Subsequently he arrived in France on November 26th. Allen died from the effects of the injuries he received in battle on January 27th, 1917 when he received a gun shot wound in the back, near his spine. Admitted to the Wimereaux 8th Stationary Hospital where he died February 1st, 1917 and was buried at the Wimereaux Communal War Cemetery, France – (Plot 2, Row C, grave 2a). He wrote home:-
Dear Marion and Will,
I have just recd., your first letter & was very pleased to hear from you. I am not allowed to write very much, But am pleased to tell you, I am quite well & and in good health. Its awfully cold and wet here & mud over over our boot tops. It seems ages since I left my own shores. Have had a very interesting experience since I left. Am always pleased to get letters from my old district, should I have the good luck to get back again I shall be very pleased to pay you all another visit. Will conclude now, trusting you are all well, When you write again, do not put the Brigade or the Div., on the address.
Yours Very Sincerely, A L Buckmaster
Allen wasn't very lucky, and never came home for that promised visit, just one of many thousands of young Australian men who paid the supreme sacrifice during the battles to secure the Western Front. Instead his parents received this news by Telegram:-
Death of Pte. A. L. Buckmaster. In our last Friday's issue it was our sad duty to record the death of Pte. Allan Lester Buckmaster, second youngest son of Mrs. Buckmaster, of 'Chilton,' Yass River, and brother of Mrs. Webb, of Uriarra. The telegram from the Defence Department, conveying the sad intelligence was received by the mother,. Mrs. Buckmaster, on Wednesday last. It read as follows:- "Urgent telegram - Officially reported that No. 668, Pte. Allan Lester Buckmaster, 44th Battalion, died on 1st February, gunshot wound in back. Inform Mrs. A. Buckmaster, Queanbeyan, and convey deep regret and sympathy of their Majesties the King and Queen and the Commonwealth Government in the sad loss she has sustained by the death of the soldier."
A Memorial table was presented to St Mary Magdalene Church, at Mundoonan to honour him, his name is on the Yass War Memorial and there is a Memorial Stone at Gounyan. The family received his personal effects in the mail – a Jug Purse, Pocket Knife, Part of electric Torch, Tin of Tobacco, wrist Watch & Strap, Notebook, Letters, Pipe, 1 Franc Note, 3 pencils.
The 44th Battalion was raised at Claremont, WA in February 1916. It formed part of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Division and soon became known as Old Bill's Thousand"after its first commanding officer, Lieut. Col. William Mansbridge. The battalion left Fremantle on 6 June and arrived Plymouth on 21 July 1916 for further training. It left Southampton on November 25th, arriving in France 2 days later and entered the front line trenches of the Western Front for the first time on December 29th. Other cousins served in the same battalion and it has an important role in the establishment of Anzac Day. [DAVIS OF GOUNYAN - ROLL OF HONOUR - BM Pittman]
Submitted 5 May 2015 by Beryl Pittman
Biography contributed by John Edwards
Information provided by Beryl Pittman via her Family Heritage book - "From A Little Acorn"
Allen Lester BUCKMASTER (1872-1917) born at Gounyan, Yass, son of Joseph and Alice (nee Davis) Buckmaster.
He enlisted at Fremantle WA as Private 688 of the 44th Battalion, D Company, AIF on February 4th, 1916.
Allen had been working as a member of the Western Australian Penal Service and was a Warder on Rottnest Island.
He sailed from Fremantle on the HMAT Suevic A29 on June 6th, 1916. and arrived in Plymouth on July 21st. Subsequently he arrived in France on November 26th.
Allen died from the effects of the injuries he received in battle on January 27th, 1917 when he received a gun shot wound in the back, near his spine. Admitted to the Wimereaux 8th Stationary Hospital where he died February 1st, 1917 and was buried at the Wimereaux Communal War Cemetery, France – (Plot 2, Row C, grave 2a).
He wrote home:-
Dear Marion and Will,
I have just recd., your first letter & was very pleased to hear from you. I am not allowed to write very much, But am pleased to tell you, I am quite well & and in good health. Its awfully cold and wet here & mud over over our boot tops. It seems ages since I left my own shores. Have had a very interesting experience since I left. Am always pleased to get letters from my old district, should I have the good luck to get back again I shall be very pleased to pay you all another visit. Will conclude now, trusting you are all well, When you write again, do not put the Brigade or the Div., on the address.
Yours Very Sincerely, A L Buckmaster
Allen wasn't very lucky, and never came home for that promised visit, just one of many thousands of young Australian men who paid the supreme sacrifice during the battles to secure the Western Front.
Instead his parents received this news by Telegram:-
Death of Pte. A. L. Buckmaster. In our last Friday's issue it was our sad duty to record the death of Pte. Allan Lester Buckmaster, second youngest son of Mrs. Buckmaster, of 'Chilton,' Yass River, and brother of Mrs. Webb, of Uriarra. The telegram from the Defence Department, conveying the sad intelligence was received by the mother,. Mrs. Buckmaster, on Wednesday last. It read as follows:- "Urgent telegram - Officially reported that No. 668, Pte. Allan Lester Buckmaster, 44th Battalion, died on 1st February, gunshot wound in back. Inform Mrs. A. Buckmaster, Queanbeyan, and convey deep regret and sympathy of their Majesties the King and Queen and the Commonwealth Government in the sad loss she has sustained by the death of the soldier."
A Memorial table was presented to St Mary Magdalene Church, at Mundoonan to honour him, his name is on the Yass War Memorial and there is a Memorial Stone at Gounyan.
The family received his personal effects in the mail – a Jug Purse, Pocket Knife, Part of electric Torch, Tin of Tobacco, wrist Watch & Strap, Notebook, Letters, Pipe, 1 Franc Note, 3 pencils.
The 44th Battalion was raised at Claremont, WA in February 1916. It formed part of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Division and soon became known as "Old Bill's Thousand" after its first commanding officer, Lieut. Col. William Mansbridge. The battalion left Fremantle on 6 June and arrived Plymouth on 21 July 1916 for further training. It left Southampton on November 25th, arriving in France 2 days later and entered the front line trenches of the Western Front for the first time on December 29th. Other cousins served in the same battalion and it has an important role in the establishment of Anzac Day.
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