209249 Pte. William Charles Davey Australian Imperial Force 50th Battalion from:Burra South, Australia William Davey was my Grandfather. He was an Iron Worker from the South Australian Mid North town of Burra where his Cornish parents settled in the 1850's. He enlisted on the 16th of Aug 1915 at the age of 24yrs. On the 26th of February 1916 his Unit were joined by 500 of all ranks of the 10th Battalion at Habieta. On the 27th they moved from the Railhead to Serapeum to Tel-el-Kebir. On the 9th 1916 they took up position in trenches & occuped 9 miles of trenches. At the end of the month the Battalion was relieved by 8th Hampshires. On the 2nd of June the
Battalion moved back to Serapeum and went on leave to Alexandria in marching ordertwo days later. On the 5th of June they boarded H.M.T Ardadian and sailed on the 6th arriving at Marseilles at 4pm on the 12th of June. By the 12th of August they were at Brickfields and were ordered to move to the Wire Trench at front line, suffering heavy shelling & many casualites. Over the next four days the Battalion gained their objectives, though with many casulaties, 110 killed, 400 wounded, and were relieved by 4th Battalion. Between the 17th and 29th of August they marched from Brickfields to Warloy to La Vicogne to Montrelet to Rubempre to Vandencourt to Brickfields, Albert.
His Casualty Form - Active Service is a little hard to read beyond this, but as far as I can make out it reads as follows:- 31st August 1916
to England via Boulogne, 21st December 1916 Transferred to 2nd Australian Hospital England, 22nd Transferred to Weymouth. December 7 - 13th 1916 (Dates are out of order here.) Report no4 Co - From Weymouth ex furlo. 4th
May 1917 Received #2 CO Depot Weymouth in from Wancham? 23rd May 1917
Invalided back to Australia per A33 (Irratable Heart) for home service. 27th May 1917 to Weymouth - For embarkation to Australia
His discharge papers cite him as being "medically unfit (not due to misconduct" with the the following medical Board proceedings & documents, B.179, B.178, B.122 & Record card A.29. I'm still doing research, so would appreciate any information on Weymouth N02 Command Depot, Australian Troops and what exactly is a "Irratable Heart"? is this a shell shock or gas attack reaction? Was it a common condition amongst the Allies?
Source for some of the above information:- Hurcombe's Half Hundred p302.
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