John Barnes Nicholson, Junior

Submitted by Mt Kembla Minin... on Thu, 16/06/2016 - 12:28

First Name:

John

Middle Name:

Barnes

Last Name:

Nicholson

Mother's Name:

Ellen Nicholson nee Brodie

Father's Name:

John Barnes Nicholson

Date Enlisted:

Saturday, July 24, 1915

Rank at Enlistment:

Private

Rank at Discharge:

Private

Unit:

30th Battalion

Company:

Service:

Infantry

Awards:

1914/1915 Star

British War Medal

Victory Medal

Place of Death:

Bulli, N.S.W.

Details:

John Nicholson (Service No 502) was born in Wollongong, N.S.W. in 1893. John was the son of the local Member of Parliament and well known union leader John Barnes Nicholson (senior).

In 1909 John had had an accident and injured his ankle which was caught in the stirrup when he fell from a horse, and this injury would affect his World War I service.

At enlistment he was single, 22 years old, and employed as an engineer at the Clifton Colliery, N.S.W. John had spent 5 years in the Militia.

He embarked from Sydney on HMAT A72 Beltana with B Company, 30th Battalion, on 9th November 1915. The troops arrived in Egypt on 11th December 1915 and John was admitted to hospital on 15th January 1916 with a sprained ankle.

He was sent to England in June and finally joined his unit in France on 6th September 1916. John saw service on the Western Front until admitted to hospital with trench feet. He was evacuated to England for treatment but the old injury from the horse accident exacerbated his wounds, and he was returned to Australia in July 1917 and discharged medically unfit on 29th October 1917.

John died at Bulli, N.S.W. in 1965.

Sources:

NAA: B2455, NICHOLSON JOHN BARNES