SOMMERVILLE, John
| Service Number: | 5318 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 2 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Divisional Signal Company |
| Born: | Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland, 22 November 1893 |
| Home Town: | Rupanyup, Yarriambiack, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia , 22 December 1973, aged 80 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Rookwood Cemeteries & Crematorium, New South Wales Plaque in New South Wales Garden of Remembrance |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sapper, 5318 | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sapper | |
| 9 Feb 1916: | Involvement Sapper, 5318, 2nd Divisional Signal Company, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Feb 1916: | Embarked Sapper, 5318, 2nd Divisional Signal Company, HMAT Afric, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Joanne Foley
John was born on November 22, 1893 to James and Christian Sommerville in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland with the family living in Coltness Mains at the time. The youngest of 5 he had only one sister.
The family appears to have moved around a bit probably due to his fathers’ occupation as a blacksmith and later an assurance agent. The change in occupation appears to have elevated the family financially, though it didn’t prevent tragedy with John losing a brother in 1907 and his mother the following year in 1908.
In the 1911 census he is living with his family and is listed as an apprentice engineer, however, when he left Scotland in about 1913 bound for Australia which may well have been due to the economic environment at the time, he has himself listed as a plasterer.
When war broke out, he joined up and at the time he appears to have been working as a farmer, when he returned, he returned to Melbourne and by 1924 he was in Sydney and getting married. By this time, his brother James and his family had migrated to Sydney. John and his wife had three children and life was overall good though sadly John lost his brother James to an accident in early 1946.
Unfortunately, there is no one living that recalls if John and his family were in regular contact with his brother’s family even though they were all in Sydney, it seems reasonable to believe that they would have.
John died in Sydney about 8 years prior to his wife.
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