Can anyone add anything to these four, all killed in France?

[phil1963]

All four played cricket and were K.I.A. in the Somme area. I have traced their career records, but what other details I have found are a bit scant. Anything quirky/relevant will be warmly received. Book due out in November.

Osborne DOUGLAS d 24/04/1918 Lance Corporal, Australian infantry. Born in Tasmania, Australia. Dernancourt Cemetery.

Frank DREDGE d 22/08/1916 Private, Wiltshire Regiment - links with New Zealand, as that's where he played his only match in 1906. On Thiepval Memorial.

William Keith ELTHAM d 31/12/1916 Lieut, Australian Field Artillery. Born in Tasmania, Australia. Guard's Cemetery.

George POEPPEL d 02/02/1917 Private, Australian Infantry. Born in Queensland, Australia. Achiet-le-Grand Comm Cemetery. Records state that he died in a German P.O.W. camp though.???

[kenmorrison]

I checked George Poeppel's service record at the National Archives of Australia and he is shown as having died as a PoW at Hermer (or Hermies) France and was originally interred there.

http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/defence/service-records/army-wwi.aspx

Ken

[kenmorrison]

The CWGC notes on Achiet-le-Grand Cemetery includes re-interrments from

HERMIES COMMUNAL CEMETERY, in which six soldiers and airmen from the United Kingdom and two Australian soldiers were buried by the Germans.

[kenmorrison]

From his service records and other sources Osborne Henry Douglas was a Barrister and Solicitor, a son of Sir Adye Douglas and his 4th wife Ida Richards (Lady Douglas of Hobart Tasmania)

[phil1963]

Ken - many thanks for the above. At times it has been very hard to glean much on overseas casualties.

[kenmorrison]

The only things I could find on Frank William P Dredge is his birth in March Quarter 1880 in Alderbury, Wiltshire (from 1895 this became part of Salisbury Registration District)

Soldiers who Died in the Great War shows born and resident in Salisbury.

There is a possible marriage in the December Quarter 1910 in Warminster, Wiltshire for Francis W Dredge.

[Guest Shell]

Phil - George Augustus Poeppel was one of two Australian soldiers buried at Hermies Communal Cemetery by the Germans as mentioned by Ken above; the other soldier was fellow 15th Battalion member, Arthur Thomas Farr, great-Uncle of my husband. These two were reinterred at Achiet-le-Grand cemetery in 1923 in graves beside each other.

[frev]

Phil - I started to have a look into Keith Eltham - and what a fascinating man, and such a sad loss of talent.....

Anyway, I got a little carried away - and not knowing what you already have (other than his cricket career) - I'll just add the file I've built up on him, in case any of it is new to you.

Best of luck with your book

Cheers, Frev

ELTHAM, William Keith – Lieut, 1^st FAB

Born 10/10/1886 Hobart, Tas – Son of William Cooper ELTHAM (Civil Servant / Musician) & Jenny Colville LYNCH (Music Teacher)

Educated: Queens College, Hobart

Occupation: Clerk / Draughtsman – City Engineers Department, Hobart Corporation (Civil Servant)

Interests: Prominent Tasmanian Cricketer (Wellington Club / West Hobart Club), Rower (Derwent Rowing Club), Performer (Member & Secretary of the Hobart Orpheus Club – of which his father was the founder / Mountebanks’ Amateur Costume Company), Poet, Cartoonist, Artist

KIA 31/12/1916 France, age 30 – buried Guards’ Cemetery, Lesboeufs, France

Service Record:

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=3541844

Red Cross file:

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/records/1drl0428/2/101/8/1drl-0428-2-101-8-1.pdf

AWM group photo (7^th from left):

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P00046.019

Roll of Honour circular:

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/records/awm131/awm131-16-0760.pdf

“He was a Cartoonist and Black and White sketches – some of his work was published in Australian newspapers and C.E.W. Beans Book.”

Gallipoli sketches (AWM):

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART00043/

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART00056/

Soldiers Memorial Ave, Hobart:

http://www.soldierswalk.org.au/gallery_memorabilia.html

1912 broken hand:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/45181402?searchTerm

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/10201668?searchTerm

1912 Comedy Company Concert:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/10230313?searchTerm

1915 Artillery Competition, Egypt:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/10409096?searchTerm

1915 Poem: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/11377426?searchTerm

“TO THE PONGO” [Tommy’s name for the infantry]

(With apologies to Mr Rudyard Kipling), from the Anzac Book MSS

“I hadn’t been a soldier till this International stunt,

I couldn’t fix which numerals should take me to the front,

But everyone impressed on me the regiment to shunt

Was the Pongo – the blessed Pongo!

So I joined the Field Artillerie – a damned good unit too;

And learned to dig a gun-pit, and peel the spuds for stew;

And also ride a gee-gee, and then vent a scornful ‘Pooh!’

For the Pongo – the blessed Pongo!

The things began in earnest some seven months ago

(From the burning sands of Egypt no man was loath to go),

And on a certain Sunday the first to face the foe

Was the Pongo – the blessed Pongo!

The weary weeks drag slowly by he’s at it just the same,

With much the hardest labour and the danger of the game;

He gets the roughest tucker, and lice infest the frame

Of the Pongo – the blessed Pongo!

So sapper, gunner, bearer (who don’t get too much ‘fat,’

Though you’ve kept your end up gamely since you ‘stepped’ upon the mat),

Just bear with me in patience while I lift my blooming hat

To the Pongo – yes, the blessed Pongo!”

Lieut Eltham, 9^th A.F.A., Nov 1915

1916 Keith’s reports on Football matches, Egypt:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1040291?searchTerm

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/64790747?searchTerm

Obit:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/120289225?searchTerm

His father’s Obit:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/25611852?searchTerm