Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William ADSHEAD, (Service Number 3451) was born in Lancashire in 1887 and began his NSWGR career in the Electrical Branch as a cleaner in 1905. Transferring to the Traffic Branch as a junior porter in 1908, he moved from the wages staff to the salaried staff as night officer at Oolong in 1909, then at Gunning and Wentworthville in 1912, Rydal in 1913, and Koorawatha in 1915. In October that year he was granted leave to enlist in the AIF.
Embarked at Sydney in December 1915, he was sent via Egypt and England to France, where he was landed with his unit in March 1916. He was killed in action at Pozières on 2 August 1916 and buried there, but the heavy shelling and fighting in later actions appears to have obliterated the grave. He is commemorated with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
The Cumberland Argus, in 1916 reporting his death as that of ‘Another Wentworthville Hero’, recalled his railway service at Wentworthville, ‘where his kindly manner and attention to duty made him a general favourite. He sacrificed splendid prospects in the Railway Department to do his bit at the real thing. A young man with high ideals, he made many friends in the district…’
(NAA B2455-3022688)