Francis North Hawken

Submitted by Mt Kembla Minin... on Wed, 17/05/2017 - 09:34

First Name:

Francis

Middle Name:

North

Last Name:

Hawken

Mother's Name:

Caroline Hawken nee North

Father's Name:

Joseph Hawken

Date Enlisted:

Thursday, December 21, 1916

Rank at Enlistment:

Corporal

Rank at Discharge:

Corporal

Unit:

Broad Gauge Railway

Company:

6th

Awards:

British War Medal

Victory Medal

Place of Death:

Newcastle, N.S.W.

Details:

Francis Hawken (Service No 100) was born in Lithgow, N.S.W. around 1881. In 1906 he married Alice Maud Blackburn.

At enlistment Francis was 35 years old, worked as a locomotive driver, and lived at Wollongong, N.S.W. He embarked from Sydney on HMAT A18 Wiltshire on 7th February 1917 and arrived in England on 11th April. Francis joined 6th Broad Gauge Railway in France on 14th July 1917 and was later detached to 28th Light Railway.

He was posted as missing on 25th March 1918 after being taken prisoner at Beaulancourt in France. Francis was taken to a prisoner of war camp in Germany where he remained until the end of the war.

He was repatriated to England on 5th December 1918 and after some leave was returned to Australia in April 1919. He was discharged from the AIF on 22nd June 1919.

Francis moved to the Hunter region in N.S.W. and died there in July 1949.

Sources:

NAA: B2455, HAWKEN F N