BARKER, Harold Francis
| Service Number: | 3014 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 55th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Rose Bay, Woollahra, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 30 September 1918, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Ste. Emilie Valley Cemetery, Villers-Faucon Ste Emilie Valley Cemetery, Villers-Faucon, Roisel, Picardie, France, Roisel Communal Cemetery Extension, Roisel, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 8 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 3014, 3rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Warilda embarkation_ship_number: A69 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 3014, 3rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Warilda, Sydney | |
| 30 Sep 1918: | Involvement Sergeant, 3014, 55th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3014 awm_unit: 55th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1918-09-30 |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Harold Francis, BARKER, (Service Number 3014) was born on 22 November 1888 at Rockdale. He worked as a cleaner in the electric trams branch at Rushcutters Bay Depot from 1905 to 1909, but then resigned. Three years later he sought to be re-employed and this was approved by the Chief Commissioner ‘under the usual conditions.’ Barker then worked as an electrical mechanic at Ultimo Depot, Ultimo Power House, Darling Island, and Sydney for both the Electrical Branch of the railways and the electric trams.
On 10 July 1915 he enlisted in the AIF, and left Australia on 8 October. He had been promoted to Corporal before he embarked and became a Sergeant on 2 May 1916, though he may not have informed his railway employers of this fact. Wounded in action in November 1916, he recovered behind the lines only to be wounded again with a bullet wound to his upper arm and was embarked for England on HS ‘Princess Elizabeth’ from Boulonge. He was killed in action on 30 September 1918, only six weeks before the war ended. In a letter to his widow a mate describes the circumstances.
‘Your husband was frequently with me and was always most reliable and painstaking. One could always feel sure that what was given him to do, would be done well. He was killed near Le Catalet on 30 September 1918 while repelling an attack made on us by the Germans. We had captured a trench from them and they endeavoured to take it from us. They failed badly in this endeavour and the failure was in no small measure due to the splendid work performed by Sgt. H Barker till he was killed by an enemy bomb.’
He is buried in the St Emilie Valley British Cemetery, France.
Among the several wounds, and hospitalisations there was great confusion, including the Railways stopping pay to his ‘widow’ in 1916, apparently thinking that he had died. When he was indeed dead in 1918, Edith was most anxious when the advice she received was for a Private rather than a Sergeant and she asked the question that if the rank were wrong then perhaps so was the identification.
Ultimately it would seem that she was overpaid a considerable amount of money for 1918 – £48-0-10 – by the railways, possibly because they were not aware of his promotion to Sergeant. In the end there is a note on his record card:
‘Overpaid £48-0-10 difference in pay to widow. “Waive claim” J F 18.9.19.’ It would seem that Commissioner James Fraser was not willing to hound a war widow for a few pounds.
(NAA B2455-3048293)
Submitted 11 May 2023 by John Oakes