SUMMERFIELD, John Martin Frederick
| Service Number: | 70 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Unit: | Victorian Naval Contingent |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
Boxer Rebellion (China) Service
| 30 Jul 1900: | Embarked 70, Victorian Naval Contingent, SS Salamis |
|---|
A German/English immigrant
John Martin Frederick Summerfield was born in 1862 in Heligoland, an archipelago in the North Sea that was variously part of Denmark, Britain and Germany. He was christened Hans Martin Friederich Sommerfeldt. The family story is that he stowed away aboard a ship bound for Australia some time in the 1880s, landed in Melbourne, and went straight to the Labour office to seek employment. There his name was apparently anglicised, after which he was generally known as "Johny". With his wife, Jane Tilly Hodge, he had five sons, the first born in 1891. My grandfather, Frederick Martin Summerfield, was born in Malvern, Victoria. He enlisted as a private in WW1, rose to the rank of Lieuntenant before discharge at the end of that war.
Submitted 8 May 2022 by Elizabeth Summerfield