ANZAC DAY 2013 & 1926

This ANZAC Day we remember all those who have fallen in war and pay tribute to their service

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

 

Our Project Coordinator, Kim Phillips is currently at Gallipoli to attend the services and collect further information on all the Australian Service men and women who lost their lives, as well as those with a connection to the Ryde Municipality.

 

The Anzac Commemorative site ready for the Dawn Service

Photo : Kim Phillips, April 2013

ANZAC DAY - GLADESVILLE - 1926

 

Source: Collis, E.H. The Story of Gladesville and its first church. 1938.

 





A large gathering in Gladesville remembered those who fell in the War of 1914-1918

 on Anzac Day 1926.

The Christ Church  memorial gates were unveiled by Governor General of Australia,

 Lord Stonehaven.

Originally located near the corner of Victoria Road and Jordan Street, they were moved, to their current location, a bit eastward along Victoria Road, during road widening.

Our Anzac family – the Nelson Brothers of Ryde, NSW and Wellington, NZ

Their story as researched by the RGTW team

In the previous blog post we have heard the wonderful story of the return of Henry Oscar Nelson’s Dead Man’s penny to members of his family.  In preparation for that event we did some research on who the Nelson family were, and where they came from and discovered them to be an ANZAC family!

Two of the six Nelsons listed on our Ryde goes to war database are brothers, Frederick Andrew Nelson (Service No. 727) & Henry Oscar Nelson (Service No. 728 ), both were born in Wellington, New Zealand.

Martin Nelson of Sweden, married Elizabeth McCracken of Ireland, in New Zealand in 1887.  They had seven children, all born in New Zealand: Charles Leonard, born in 1888 ; Alfred William, born 1889 and died in 1890 in New Zealand; Frederick Andrew, born 1891 ; Emily Jane, born in 1894; Henry Oscar, born in 1896 ; Agnes Maria, born in 1899 ; Maurits, stillborn in 1904.

Frederick Andrew Nelson
Service No. 727
 30th Battalion
 

The 1911 New Zealand Electoral Rolls record a Martin Nelson as living in Mount Pleasant, Mitchelltown and he was a Labourer.  The eldest son, Charles Leonard is also listed as living in Mount Pleasant.



 Henry Oscar Nelson
Service No. 728
30th Battalion
KIA Fromelles
20 July 1916

By 1915, the Sydney Sands Directory lists, Martin Nelson as residing in Parkes St, Ryde, on the south side between the Masonic Hall and Joseph Parry. This is the address given by Frederick and Henry, when they enlist in the Australian Imperial Force, in July 1915. With consecutive service numbers, the brothers both join C Company of the 30th Battalion, and depart Australia in November 1915. Tragically (as we have already heard in previous blogs), Henry is to be killed in action at Fromelles on 20 July 1916.

Only nine months after that the family is to receive another cruel blow when Martin fell from a tram near Pyrmont Bridge and died in Sydney Hospital.  He is buried in the Presbyterian section of Field of Mars Cemetery, Ryde.  His death certificate shows that he died on 10 April 1917, he was 60 years old, and died from accidental injuries.  His father was Svan Nelson, Pilot, and his mother was Anne Ivanson.  His place of birth is shown as Warberg in Sweden and he had been 3 years in NSW.  The informant was his eldest son, Charles, of Parkes St, Ryde.

 

Fortunately Frederick returned home safely from the war having married Beatrice Owen in England in 1918.  They settled in Bowden Street, Ryde, in a house they named “Amiens” where they lived, according to the Sands Directories, until at least 1933.  They moved to Victoria Rd, Drummoyne in the1930s and by 1943 they moved to Balmain, until Frederick’s death in 1969.

Elizabeth Nelson died on 8th July 1934 at her residence in 22 Belmore St, Ryde. Her death certificate shows she was 70 years old and her parents were John Charles McCracken, school teacher, and Margaret Henderson.  Her place of birth is shown as Dublin, that she lived in Wellington, NZ for 31 years and 20 years in NSW. The informant was her son, Frederick, of 61 Bowden St, Ryde.  She is buried beside her husband, Martin, at Field of Mars Cemetery.

Frederick Andrew Nelson is listed on the Ryde Town Hall Honour Rolls and St Anne's Anglican Church, while Henry Oscar Nelson is listed among the names of the dead in the Ryde Civic Centre Memorial Book and also on the St Anne's Anglican Church.

 

World War I Honour Roll of St. Anne's Anglican Church, Ryde

A Gallipoli story - David Chestnut a “local hero” before and after WWI :

In August 1915, Ryde local paper, The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers’ Advocate printed : 'Private David Chestnut of Ryde is now officially reported to be “missing”. '

David was already a local hero prior to his enlistment. Described as an all-round athlete, he had captained the Ryde Football Club in the previous year and he had also rescued a boy from drowning in the Parramatta River, for which he had been honoured with a life-saving certificate. David Chestnut’s story is but one of the many we are searching to uncover in the Ryde goes to War Project.

Private David Chestnut
born 1890, Ryde

When David enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces on 7 September 1914, he was 24 years old. The son of William & Lizzie Chestnut, fruitgrowers from Regent Street, Ryde, he was working as a carpenter. He left Australia in board the Transport A38 Ulysses on 22 December 1914, as part of the 13th Battalion. From Alexandra he departed for the Gallipoli peninsula.

After surviving the Gallipoli landing, it was during one of the following nights that David went missing. He was reported as leaving his dugout on Pope’s Hill to fill water bottles and never returned. He was formally listed as missing in action on 2 May 1915, but it was not until after a Court of Inquiry held at Serapeum, Egypt in April 1916 that David was officially listed as Killed in Action on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

David’s personal effects which included a Housewife (mending kit), 3 brushes, prayer book and postage stamps were subsequently returned to his mother, Lizzie in Ryde.

David’s contribution was remembered on 4 different war memorials within the Municipality of Ryde:

·         The Ryde Public School Honour Board

·         Ryde Wesley Uniting Church Honour Roll (at the time of WWI- it  was the local Wesleyan Methodist Church),

·         Ryde Town Hall Honour Rolls,

·         Ryde Civic Centre Memorial Book.