NAME:  Albert DAVIES

SERVICE NO:  7478

YEAR OF BIRTH: 1899

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Hamilton

DATE OF ENLISTMENT:  10 May 1917

PLACE OF ENLISTMENT:  Melbourne

AGE AT ENLISTMENT:  19

UNIT: Field Artillery Brigade

EMBARKED:  4 August 1917

TROOPSHIP:  HMAT A32 Themistocles

FATE:  Returned to Australia – 1 August 1919

Albert Davies was born in Hamilton in 1899 to Frederick Davies and Mary Ann Blackney.  Following the lead of his two older brothers, Albert enlisted in Melbourne on 10 May 1917 aged nineteen years.  He left Australia on 4 August 1917 with the 6th Battalion, 21st reinforcements to England.

Although Albert appears not to have left England’s shores for France, he did have a difficult time overseas.  Soon after arriving in England he would have heard the news his brother Stanley had been killed in France.  Albert was in training at the time, but by early 1918, he was hospitalised for almost a month with tonsillitis.  In late 1918, Albert was again hospitalised in England for over two months and in early 1919, influenza saw him back in hospital, again in England.  

On 1 August 1919, Albert returned to Australia and in December and discharged as ‘Medically Unfit’.  Albert’s diagnosis was Effort Syndrome, also called “soldier’s heart” or ‘disordered action of the heart’, a psychological disorder where emotions such as fear lead to among other symptoms, an irregular heartbeat. 

During 1935, was living at Crown Street, Richmond.  At 4:00pm on 16 March 1935, Albert was hit by a car while he rode his bike near the corner of High and Church Streets, Richmond.   He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with terrible injuries but did not survive.  He was thirty-seven. On 18 March 1935, The Age reported on the accident. The article described Albert as a sustenance worker, better known in those times as a “susso”.  Today we would say he was on the dole. The report went on to say Albert had a wife and a child with only a few shillings to their names.  However, Albert’s death certificate states he was not married and did not have children.  Albert was buried at Fawkner Cemetery on 18 March 1935.   

ONLINE SOURCES

Australian War Memorial – 6th Australian Infantry Battalion

Discovering Anzacs – WW1 – Service Record – Albert Davies

Newspaper articles from Trove – Albert Davies

The AIF Project – Albert Davies