263271 Pte. Donald George Campbell Australian Imperial Force 1st Light Horse Regiment from:Walgett, NSW, Australia Donald George Campbell is his name registered at birth but he enlisted under the name of George Donald Campbell and was known as George.
He sailed from Sydney with the 15th Reinforcement on 21st of March 1916 on board H.M.A.T. A26 Armadale arriving in Plymouth on 12th of June 1916. He transferred to the 1st Light Horse as a Driver.
For reasons unknown, George estranged himself from his family circa 1920, never to be heard of again. Two possible reasons for this are he married and fathered a child but abandoned them, there was a warrant issued for his arrest on 23rd of Feb 1927 by the Children's Court in Sydney for failing to pay child support. The other reason was maybe he just couldn't cope with what he'd seen during the war.
I spent a long time searching for his death to no avail then in December 2019 I was contacted by a Leah Campbell who had been contacted by a John Edwin Beardmore from the St George area in Queensland seeking to see if Leah was related to George. She wasn't, but she tracked me down in the hope that I was. John has written a book The Life & Times of John Edwin Beardmore.As it happens George took on the alias of George Williams in the 1920's and moved to the St George area in outback Queensland and for a time worked on John's father's property. For decades he camped under a wilga tree on an neighbouring property. This was his home.
He died in 1969 in the St George Hospital, Queensland and is buried n St George Cemetery, under the name of George Williams.
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