Herbert Palfreyman

Submitted by Mt Kembla Minin... on Mon, 21/03/2016 - 11:40

First Name:

Herbert

Last Name:

Palfreyman

Mother's Name:

Sarah Palfreyman

Father's Name:

John Palfreyman

Date Enlisted:

Friday, March 10, 1916

Rank at Enlistment:

Private

Rank at Discharge:

Private

Unit:

9th Field Ambulance

Awards:

British War Medal

Victory Medal

Date of Death:

Saturday, June 30, 1945

Place of Death:

Wollongong, N.S.W.

Details:

Herbert Palfreyman (Service No 16665) was born in Barnsley, York, England in 1880. When Herbert was 9 his family emigrated to Australia, arriving on 12th September 1889. The family first settled in Mount Kembla, N.S.W. but soon after moved to Corrimal, N.S.W.

In 1909 Herbert passed the first year of a coal mining course at Technical College. He was also a violin player of some talent.

Herbert enlisted when he was 37 years old; he was single and worked as a shot firer. Herbert was given duties as a medic and served in various field hospitals in N.S.W., at Liverpool, Armidale and Kiama during 1916.

He finally embarked for overseas service from Sydney on HMAT A18 Wiltshire with the January 1917 reinforcements Australian Army Medical Corps. The troops arrived in England on 11th April 1917.

Herbert joined 9th Field Ambulance in France on 23rd June 1917. On 23rd July 1917 he was admitted to hospital sick with knee trouble but returned to his unit on 10th September 1917. Herbert saw service on the Western Front until the end of the war.

He returned to Australia in July 1919 and was discharged medically unfit due to deafness on22nd November 1919.

Herbert returned to live and work in Corrimal and never married.

Herbert died in Wollongong Hospital in 1945 and is buried in Wollongong Cemetery; he is commemorated on the Corrimal Methodist Honour Roll.

Sources:

NAA: B2455, PALFREYMAN HERBERT