Finding lost pieces of the past – recognising our forgotten veterans

As young men, they marched off to war in a foreign land, ready to die for King and Country. Today, sadly, at least 87 of those veterans who survived the horrors of the First World War, lie forgotten, buried in unmarked graves in Orange Cemetery.

Most of these 87 men were foreign-born, migrating to Australia in the years after the war ended, dying far from friends and family. Some were vagrants, others took their own lives — the invisible wounds of the War taking their toll.

Many had spent years of their lives interned in Bloomfield Hospital, suffering from what was then termed “Shell Shock” but we would now recognise as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Wherever they are from and however they died, it’s a situation that doesn’t sit well with Orange RSL sub-branch president, Chris Colvin, who is working to see each grave marked with recognition given for their service.

“It is a case where we are trying to right a few of the wrongs of the past — and you can't do that — but we are trying to do our best to do something,” says Chris.

“Some of these guys have laid here in an unmarked grave for 100 years and they need to be acknowledged — it is that simple. We need to acknowledge that these guys existed.

“Wherever they came from, I don't care. They were all part of the Allies so we should acknowledge those veterans.”

While a few of these men meet the criteria for official Australian War Graves, that is obviously not the case for most of them, being born outside of Australia and serving with other allied armed forces.

But the Orange RSL sub-branch has partnered with Canobolas Rural Technology High School, to ensure at least a white cross is placed on each grave.

“We have organised through some corporate sponsors to get crosses made… the Canobolas Rural Tech High are making the crosses and painting them. We'll then put names on all those crosses,” says Chris.

“Some will get (official) War Graves and that is ongoing, and some will never get a cross because we don't know where they are, unfortunately.”

That the names of these veterans are known to us at all is solely due to the dogged determination, hard work, and incredible research of Sharon Jameson.

A keen family historian, Sharon became involved in researching local servicemen around five years ago as part of the centenary of World War I.

“I started writing up some soldiers, and then I found a gentleman who nobody knew about and I thought I want a war grave for him,” says Sharon, who persevered and fought until she eventually did get him a War Grave.

“Somebody then said to me, ‘well if you are going to do it for him, there's more there’.”

Sharon has spent the past three years, searching through the entire cemetery database, and cross-checking names with service records at the National Library and overseas collections.

“It was a long-term project and when I got to the bottom of the list I felt lost,” says Sharon, who believes she now has identified most of the unmarked veteran's graves.

“There are some names, like John Smith, who you just can't pick if it’s the right guy, so hopefully we have captured them all,” she says.

Of the 87 names on Sharon’s list, 42 of them had been in Bloomfield Hospital.

“They came back from the war and they weren't the same as before they went, mentally. They were just destroyed, some of them,” says Sharon, sadly.

“Because they were overseas people who came to Australia with no family, that's where they popped them. There's one gentleman I was looking at last night, Cecil Thorne, now he came to Australia in 1926 and he died in 1964, that's where he spent his life — in a mental hospital.”

Sharon’s research has uncovered other tragic tales from these men’s lives: a vagrant found dead in the Orange winter and too many who took their own lives.

“It is just too sad, I've sat down there and some of the stories are just so sad, that I've cried,” she says.

“They had no family, nobody to look after them — so I've adopted them all.”

 “Sharons' adopted them and we've adopted her, so we've gained that whole family,” adds Chris.

The Orange RSL sub-branch has helped Sharon in her research, covering the cost of applying for death certificates. In November, they will hold a special memorial service to recognise these veterans and have asked to have their names published in order that any relatives that wish to attend can do so.

“On the second of November, we will be conducting a memorial service here in the cemetery, involving the school and others,” says Chris.

We would like to publish them, so families of the district might say I'm related to that person and we will attend that service. we just don't want to have a service and then have people say why wasn't I told. So we want to publish the names of those veterans.” 

For more information, contact the City Orange RSL sub-branch on 6362 1735 or email: OrangeSB@rslnsw.org.au

Locating and naming the
unmarked WWI graves

 Francis Charles Somerset Adams, born 1875 (Cooks River, NSW) died 1921

Francis (Frank) Akers, born 1886 (Cobar, NSW) died 1963

Frederick John Baxter, born 1892 (VIC) died 1934

Langslow Fred Bishop, born 1891 (Birmingham, England) died 32

Frederick Alexander Brierty, born 1892 (Lilydale, VIC) died 1920

Arthur Cecil Bromley, born 1885 (Sydney, NSW) died 1952

Malcolm George Brown, born 1873 (Tumut, NSW) died 1944

George Brownlow, born 1891 (London, England) dies 1963

John Henderson Buchan, born 1885 (Edinburgh, Scotland) died 1961

Thomas Oswald Burgess, born 1896 (Greeveston, TAS) died 1934

James Robert Byrne, born 1876 (Grong Grong, NSW) died 1949

Donald Campbell, born 1886 (Condobolin, NSW) died 1940

James Cash, born 1890 (Orange, NSW) died 1919

Sidney Herbert Chesterton, born 1866 (Reading, England) died 1959

Cyril Henry Joseph Clayton, born 1881 (Orange, NSW) died 1958

Arthur Thomas Coffey, aka Everard, born 1872 (Adelaide, SA) died 1938

Reginald Hercules Collison, born 1886 (Woolwich, NSW) died 1946

Michael Joseph Commins, born 1885 (Queanbeyan, NSW) died 1952

Samuel Hastings Corbett, born c1878 (Staffordshire, England) died 1943

Garfield Graham Cotton, born c1890 (Maryborough, QLD) died 1927

William Crumpler, born 1888 (London, England) died 1967

Arthur Joseph Cummings, born 1894 (Redfern, NSW) died 1961

Daniel Denahy, born 1891 (Michelago, NSW) died 1937

Affez Dilbar (Rahn), born c1898 (Unknown) died 1960

Joseph William Donnelly, born 1886 (Armidale, NSW) died 1945

William Henry Dudley, born 1883 (Dubbo, NSW) died 1943

George Dunster, born 1864 (Gundagai, NSW) died 1925

James Robert Ellen, born c1880 (Nairn, Scotland) dies 1926

Rowland Evans, born 1893 (Everton, Liverpool, England) died 1962

John Walter Fargie, born 1883 (Wellington NZ) died 1944

Kenneth Finlayson, born 1875 (Plockton, Ross, Scotland) died 1946

Robert Fraser, born 1898 (Wyalong, NSW) died 1967

James Geary, born 1869 (Camden, NSW) died 1933

John William Gillett, born 1881 (Peterborough, England) died 1955

Thomas Gollan, born 1891 (Gunnedah, NSW) died 1947

Jack Grant, born c1894 (Clarence River, NSW) died 1965

Arthur Allen Gray, born c1894 (Bathurst, NSW) died 1952

William Cyril Haigh, born 1896 (Leeds, England) died 1947

William Edward John Ham, born 1897 (Eton, England) died 1962

George Dunkley Hardy, born 1897 (Lincolnshire, England) died 1942

Thomas Joseph Hearn, born 1881 (Crookwell, NSW) died 1955

Leslie George Henderson, born 1895 (Cowra, NSW) died 1962

William Horner, born c1874 (Carcoar, NSW) died 1945

Owen David Hughes, born 1888 (Edinburgh, Scotland) 1926

George William Kilgour Johns, born 1883 (Sydney, NSW) died 1951

Ernest William Johnson, born 1896 (Enmore, NSW) died 1940

William Frederick Johnsone, born 1897 (Ashwood, England) died 1943

John Keating, born 1878 (Ross, Hotitiki, NZ) died 1940

Mary Keenan, born 1885 (Orange, NSW) died 1955

Christopher Joseph Kelly, born 1892 (Deloraine, TAS) died 1941

Harold Oswald Kerr, born 1888 (Lewis Ponds, NSW) died 1951

Herbert Edward Kidd, born 1882 (Lucknow, NSW) died 1929

Joseph Kurtz, born 1876 (Mudgee, NSW) died 1961

Frederick Thomas Langham, born 1894 (Orange, NSW) died 1938

Sidney Last, born 1885 (Rougham, Suffolk, England) died 1933

John Edward Lawson, born 1886 (Balmain, NSW) died 1943

Fabian Leonard, burn 1890 (Condobolin, NSW) died 1924

John Stephen Lewington, born 1879 (Yarrawonga, VIC) died 1950

Augustus Solomon Lipman, born 1879 (Newcastle, NSW) died 1949

Charles Lockwood, born 1876 (Ossett, Yorkshire) died 1936

Arthur MacCormick, born circa 1877 (Ballarat, VIC) died 1945

Daniel Madden, born 1888 (Wellington, NSW) died 1934

Henry Cornelius Manning, born 1894 (Cootamundra, NSW) died 1966

Frederick Charles Marstella, born 1891 ( Tenterfield, NSW) died 1964

Robert Maxwell, born 1871 (Glasgow, Scotland) died 1943

Walter Mclean, born 1890 (Glasgow, Scotland) died 1948

Albert Horace Meehan, born 1890 (Temora, NSW) died 1941

Neville Frank Mitchell, born c1884, (Botany , NSW) died 1938

John Morris, born 1880 (Kilkenny, Ireland) died 1957

Joseph Henry Murphy, born 1891 (Glen Innes, NSW) died 1926

George Arthur O'Brien, born 1880 (Wallsend, NSW) died 1957

Patrick John O'Hehir, born c1896 (Melbourne, VIC) died 1946

Ole Olsen, born c1889 (Kristianna, Norway) died 1932

Leslie George Iceton O'Regan, born 1888 (Yass, NSW) died 1945

Albert Percy Owen, born 1882 (Banbury, Oxfordshire, England) died 1964

John Oliver Parker, born 1888 (Drake, NSW) died 1944

Frederick William Peasley, born 1897 (Orange, NSW) died 1973

Axel Rudolph Quist, born 1877 (Stockholm, Sweden) died 1944

Austin Ernest Roe, born 1887 (Unknown - Served NZ WW1,  AUS WW2) died 1956

Cyril Roy (DCM) Rankin, born c1893 (Rotorua, NZ) died 1933

Frederick Reed, born 1878 (Croydon, England) died 1924

George Alexander Reid, born 1882 (Edinburgh, Scotland) died 1930

William Thomas Malcolm Robertson, born 1886 (Eaglehawk, VIC) died 1961

Frederick John Smith, born c1891 (Leytonstone, Essex, England) died 1962

Patrick George Smith (aka Nathaniel), born 1875 (Darlington, VIC) died 1936

Edwin Harold Stafford, born 1899 (Mount Kembla, NSW) died 1960

Cecil Thorne, born (Unknown) (Unknown - Served in British Army) died 1964

James Thorpe, born 1868 (Carcoar, NSW) died 1953

William Robert Tomlinson, born 1859 (Dublin, Ireland) died 1934

Stanley Walsh, born 1900 (Penrith, NSW) died 1962

Bernard Vernon Weeks, born 1886 (London, England) died 1969

William White, born 1867 (Bungowannah, Albury, NSW) died 1945

Ivar Isidore Willgren, born 1882 (Viborg, Finland) died 1947

Walter Woodburn, born 1888 (Preston, Lancashire, England) died 1942

*The above list includes five soldiers whose ashes are interred in a wall in Holy Trinity Church, but whose war service had not previously been recorded.

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