Dan on the left, his younger brother Frank (middle) and George with hand on his hip, what a fantastic photo! It was Dan who was initially with the Robinson Brothers and here is George with the Bowman Brothers in the UK. Frank joining the AIF in 1914 and by the time he had met up with Dan and George had served in Gallipoli 7th Btn, then onto the Western Front around Feb 1916 in the 2nd MGC.

Great photo to mark 101 years since his death.

  Ninety nine years

Lest we forget!

November 2015: The date for this family historian to investigate the old trunks containing letters and photo’s from my great great and great grandparents Stephens and Briant’s respectively. The well aged trunks sitting patiently waiting to be explored by a sixth generation descendent.

A photo of this young man below in AIF uniform sent to his Aunt Maria Jane Stephens (known to all as ‘Grannie’), my great-great grandmother caught my eye. Thankfully Eric William Wiltshire Paynter of Gawler South Australia had ensured his name was beside his photograph helping this ancestor explore his AIF story. ‘To Dear Auntie with love from Pte EWW Paynter AAMC’ Paynter easy to sort out as the son of Maria Jane’s sister Etty.

Eric Paynter left Australia aboard the HMAT Ulysses in Melbourne on 25 October 1916 as part of the Army Medical Corp.

Oh my goodness!!

My great-uncle George Collis Robinson was also aboard the HMAT Ulysses with the 4th Machine Gun Company.

In our family there are 11 of us related to both Eric and George. I expect this number will grow in the years to come.

Even more incredibly……. George would be connected to Eric by another association! Georges next-door neighbour on Flinders Island would be Eric’s beloved Aunt, Grannie Stephens, how fascinating!!

Of all the places in Bass Strait Eric’s Auntie could have lived – it had to be between Badger Corner and Samphire River!!

Both boys were recipients of their mother’s maiden names, Collis and Wiltshire.

It would be a many years later when George’s brother married Grannies granddaughter and the birth of Dad these two lads aboard the Ulysses quite possibly not known to one another would end up with their DNA in our family tree.

I wonder if their paths crossed on the voyage……………this we shall never know.

Then again Dan may have mentioned in his letters home, letters this historian must look over on the next trip home.

Lest we forget

This clipping shouldn’t surprise, George was, after all the son of a Master Mariner…

Dan Bowman wrote in his diary on the same day ‘attended boat race at Lady Barron’ ‘was passenger in Wally Holt’s boat Emily in two races, lost one, won one, nearly had an accident at the wharf.’

This 98th anniversary is about researching the other young men buried along side George.

Private Harold Drew 50th Battalion Alberta [Calgary] regiment is buried to the right of George. Harold 25 died of shrapnel wounds to chest and head in the 2nd Canadian Clearing Station 27 October 1917. Harold place of birth – Western Maine, USA & son of William Drew.

Buried to the left of George is Robert Campbell – place of birth – Old Monkland, Lanarkshire, Places of enlistment, Glasgow, Lanarkshire. Rank, Corporal service number 74307 or the 27th Brigade Royal Field Artillery 119th Bty, Army Corps 5th Division. Date of death 26 October 1917.

The closest Aussie digger to George is 18-year-old Private Leslie Matthew Carter 5052 – 7th infantry battalion. Leslie originated from Brighton Victoria. His AIF record indicates he was injured on 3/11/17 (?typo) the 23/10/17 perhaps, admitted on the 24th to the 17th Casualty Clearing Station with shell wounds to leg and buttock. Leslie died from these wounds on either the 26th or 27th depending on documents referenced.