BAILEY, Stanley Hector
| Service Number: | 1790 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 37th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Corryong, Victoria, Australia, 1890 |
| Home Town: | Corryong, Towong, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 29 January 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres III D 31 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Corryong Colac Colac School Roll of Honor, Corryong War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Aug 1916: | Involvement Private, 1790, 37th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Orontes embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Aug 1916: | Embarked Private, 1790, 37th Infantry Battalion, RMS Orontes, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Learmonth
Stanley Bailey was born in 1890, one of eleven children of William and Catherine (née Fraser) of Corryong. After attending school at nearby Colac Colac, he worked as a farmer in the Upper Murray District.
He enlisted in the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) at Tallangatta on the 26th of April 1916 and underwent training at Seymour Camp. He embarked on the SS Orontes at Port Melbourne on the 16th of August of that year, bound for the training camps in England with the reinforcements to the newly raised 37th Battalion. The Orontes arrived at Plymouth of the 2nd of October. Stanley spent two weeks with the 8th Training Battalion before being taken on strength with the 37th Battalion.
The battalion arrived in France in November 1916, where it spent the following winter in the relatively quiet Houplines sector near Armentieres. Stanley would spend Christmas and New Year in the 7th General Hospital at St Omer, suffering a case of the mumps. He would not rejoin the battalion until the 12th of January. Whilst in this sector, the battalion patrolled no man’s land and was involved in conducting trench raids on the German positions. These were done to harass the enemy and identify German units for purposes of intelligence, as well as to maintain morale among the troops.
On the night of the 28th of January, troops from the 10th Brigade raided the German trenches opposite the hamlet of Port Ballot. Among the party of 8 officers and 216 men were 50 men of the 37th Battalion. The raid was launched at 6 pm with the right flank party being drawn entirely from the 37th and led by Lieutenant Parker. They found that the artillery had failed to cut the thick belts of barbed wire in front of the enemy positions. German troops opened fire with machine-guns, infliciting a devastating toll on the raiding party with all but five of its 32 members immediately knocked out. The party was forced to retire. Among the casualties was Private Stanley Bailey, who was severely wounded in the left shoulder. He was evacuated to the 10th Australian Field Ambulance where he died at 4 am the following morning. Stanley was buried at the nearby Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery at Armentieres.
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