corporal

Williams Australian Army papers can be seen here naa12.naa.gov.au/NameSearch/Interface/ItemDetail.aspx?Bar... He was born Fremantle and had been employed as a Clerk prior to enlisting. He gave his next of kin as his father, living at 29 Hampton Road, Fremantle.(Subsequent mails went to 9 Hampden Road, so may be an error) He is described as 5 feet 8 and a quarter inches tall, weighed 175 pounds with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. His religion is given as Congregalionalist. It looks like he had to resign from some kind of militia unit in order to be able to enlist for service overseas. His military career seems to have followed a not untypical pattern for Australian soldiers, with several offences for being absent from parade and AWOL while stationed in England but rapidly promoted once in the field. Even whilst recovering he went AWOL from hospital for 3 days. As well as the Croix de Guerre, the note on his records read "Commendation of the Div.Commandant at Armentieres. 8.3.17 During a bombardment of the town by the enemy, Cpl Bawden by allaying(?) the alarm of the residents(?) + helping the wounded. A factory was being shelled causing casualties among the women workers. On hearing cries for assistance Cpl Bawden entered the building and ??? assisted in the removal of the wounded workers while the factory was still being shelled - before all were removed he himself was severely wounded. (??? = handwriting is indecipherable. The citation isn't typed out anywhere in his records)

It is tempting to assume that this picture was taken after his injuries had been managed, perhaps even after the war. His uniform is in particularly good condition for the time and the right side of his face, sympathetically in shadow, does appear to be disfigured.

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

A group of Redmondite volunteer Non Commissioned Officers in full regalia! I don't think I've seen anything like this before. All patriotic and well meaning and caught out by the Rising in 1916 and the decision of their leaders to support Britain in WW1 in the hope of gaining Home Rule by peaceful means. Many of them joined the war effort in Europe and lost their lives and many more changed over and took an active part in the war of independence. They are surprisingly well equipped with rifles, those are Lee-Enfield Mark II riflles the standard issue to the British Army at that time though they are sporting Boer War bandoliers.

Swordscookie Thanks, Sean, for condensing 10 turbulent years of Irish history into a few lines, and for the techie information. I've tagged from what you've said. You say "surprisingly well equipped". The rifles may have been up to date, but I wonder how many of those rifles the Volunteers had - not just those that would be displayed for PR reasons in a photo like this?

Swordscookie Pigsticker = Bayonet??

National Library of Ireland on The Commons Of course. The chap near the pointy end better not move in a hurry or he'll be bleeding like a stuck pig!

Swordscookie Thank you for that eloquent and evocative descripion! :)

My Great-uncle