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Geoffrey Gladstones

Name on Board G Gladstones
Name on Service
Records
Geoffrey  Gladstones
Enlistment Age 22
Occupation Naval Staff Clerk
Place of Birth Williamstown, Vic
Next of Kin John Charles and Mary Gladstones
Address 41 Cole St, Williamstown, Vic
Marital Status S
Enlistment Date 7/07/1915
Service No. 1074
Enlistment Place Melbourne, Vic
Embarkation Place Melbourne
Embarkation Date 11/12/1915
Embarkation Ship HMAT Beltana A72
Unit on Embarkation 30th Australian Infantry Battalion
Date of Death 29/09/1917
Unit on Death 30th Australian Infantry Battalion
Rank on Death Private
Cause of Death KIA
Place of Wounding/
Death
Polygon Wood, Belgium
Cemetery or Memorial Oxford Road Cemetery, Ypres, West-Vlaanderen, Flanders, Belgium
Additional Information Geoffrey attended Central State School, Williamstown and University High School.  He was a member of the Cecil St Presbyterian Church and the Williamstown Cricket Club. Geoffrey and his younger brother, Vernon Talbot Gladstones (1075) enlisted on the same day and embarked on the HMAT Beltana together.  Vernon returned to Australia on 1 February 1918.  Vernon had written to his parents about his experiences: 'I have been in one great charge.  It was hell.  Any man who has been in a charge and says he would like to be in another is either a lunatic or a liar'.  Following Geoffrey’s death Mrs and Mrs Gladstones presented the Williamstown Cricket Club with a large oak-framed photo of their son, to hang alongside those of Stewart Murray Hansen and Alfred Duncan Thomas.  Twenty-seven members of the Williamstown Cricket Club enlisted in WW1.
Additional References Williamstown Chronicle, Saturday 13 October 1917, p3 and 30 September 1916, p3; Williamstown Advertiser, Saturday 9 February 1918, p3
Additional Documents and Photographs Click on the image to see a larger view
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