Please Note: Those service personnel without a Service Number means we have not been able to establish we have found the right person. If you can help us with more information, please contact us via our enquiry form and we will happily add the relevant information.

 

Fairbank, Alfred Edmund, 2710

Service No:	2710
Occupation:	Brick- maker
Address:	Montrose
Date of Enlistment:	July 10, 1915
Age at Enlistment:	27 years 3 months
Marital Status:	Single
Physical Description:	5ft 7½ in, 10 stn, blue eyes ,brown hair, pale complexion
Next of Kin:	Mother Elizabeth Fairbank
Rank on Enlistment:	Private
Unit Name:	7th Btn and 59th Btn
Embarkation Details:	August 26, 1915 Melbourne on HMAT Anchises A68

Places and dates of service:

1915 November: to Alexandria, Egypt (mumps)
1916 March 18: to France – 59Btn
1916 July 21: wounded in action in the field in France, gunshot wound to thigh.
1917 July 13: in the field, France
1919 January 31: sick- RTA to England

 

Returned to Australia:	1919 May 3: Melbourne on the HT Trasos Montes
Discharge Date:
Rank at Discharge:	Private
Honours/Medals:	1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Memorials:	Montrose War Memorial, Montrose State School Honour Board, Shire of Lillydale Honour Board.

Family Story:

Alfred was born 1888 in Collingwood to parents Henry John Fairbank and Elizabeth Bradshaw. It is not known if he married and had family.
He was an inaugural member of the Montrose Tennis Club (1907) and also played football.
In 1910 he was the Manager of the Montrose Fire brick Company. He had two brothers – William Edward Fairbank 1884-1945, Robert Henry Fairbank 1887-1947.

Alfred died at Heidelberg May 30, 1949 and is buried at Box Hill Cemetery in plot M-021-0043.

 

Fairnie, Robert Ernest, 10806

 

Service No:	10806
Occupation:	Mechanic
Address:	“Linlithgow” Prince’s Hill North Carlton
Date of Enlistment:	May 1, 1916
Age at Enlistment:	23 years 10 Months
Marital Status:	Single
Physical Description:	5ft 5in tall, 126lbs, blue eyes, black hair, fresh
Next of Kin:	Robert Hugh Fairnie
Rank on Enlistment:	Sapper
Unit Name:	Aust. Army Pay Corp.
Embarkation Details:	May 25, 1916 at Melbourne on HMAT Ascanius A11

Places and dates of service:

1916 September 30: to England (sick-scarlet fever) Brimstone Bottom Hospital.
1917 November 21: to France.
1917 December 31: Promoted to E.R Sergeant in France.
1918 February 16: Leave in U.K.
1918 May 6: France.
1918 November 26: to London England.
1918 December 27: sick (scarlet fever)

Service injuries: Nil.

Returned to Australia:	February 4, 1919: Melbourne on HT Mamari
Discharge Date:	March 14, 1919
Rank at Discharge:	E.R Sergeant
Honours/Medals:	British War Medal, Victory Medal
Memorials:	Shire of Lillydale Honour Board

Family Story:

Robert was born 1893 in Prince’s Hill Melbourne to parents Robert Hugh Fairnie, mother unknown. It is not known if Robert married or had children or where he died, but he was cremated February 2, 1964 at Springvale Cemetery.

 

Ferguson, Henry, 4783

Service No:	4783
Occupation:	Farmer
Address:	Woori Yallock
Date of Enlistment:	October 9th 1915
Age at Enlistment:	25 years and 4 months
Marital Status:	Single
Physical Description:	5 ft 6 inches weighing 11st 12 lbs, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair
Next of Kin:	Mrs Mary Ellen Ferguson, mother, Woori Yallock
Rank on Enlistment:	Private
Unit Name:	59th Battalion
Embarkation Details:	March 7th 1916

Places and dates of service:

1915 November 1: – 1915 December 3: Broadmeadows & Geelong
1916 April 20 – 1916 June 18: 59th Battalion, Egypt
1916 July 19: Fleurbaix France, shot in right eye
1917 October 18: Eye replaced with glass eye.
1917 October 23: Admin. ADH Tidworth School of Musketry

 

Returned to Australia:	January 30, 1919 on the Saxon
Discharge Date:	March 23, 1919
Rank at Discharge:	Private
Honours/Medals:	1914-15 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal
Memorials:	Coldstream & Yering War memorial

Family Story:

Henry was born in Woori Yallock in 1890 to Henry Ferguson sen. (deceased by 1915) and Mary Ellen Ferguson. He was a farmer. He was initially rejected for military service as muscle-bound. On enlistment, Henry had been a member of the Upper Yarra Rifle Club for 6 years and also trained with 13th (Gippsland) Light Horse. He was declared permanently incapacitated on February 16, 1919.

Fisher, Victor Vale Valentine, 6315

Service No:	6315
Occupation:	jockey & labourer
Address:	Clarke St Lilydale
Date of Enlistment:	October 25, 1916
Age at Enlistment:	25
Marital Status:	Single
Physical Description:	Previously rejected for service 6 times due to foot problems. Victor was 5 ft 5 inches with a fresh complexion, brown hair and brown eyes.
Next of Kin:	Robert Fisher, father, Clarke St, Lilydale
Rank on Enlistment:	Private
Unit Name:	18th Reinforcements, 21st Battalion; 6th Battalion
Embarkation Details:	Embarked at Melbourne on November 23, 1916 on the Horatio

Places and dates of service:

1917 February 4: Arrived in England.
1918 October 6: transferred to 6th Battalion, France
Repeated hospitalisation and return of problems with his feet saw Victor proclaimed permanently unfit in January 1919

 

Returned to Australia:	February 1, 1919 on Argyllshire
Discharge Date:	March 3, 1919
Rank at Discharge:	British War Medal; Victory Medal
Honours/Medals:	Private
Memorials:	Shire of Lillydale Honour Board

Family Story:

Victor V. V. Fisher was born in 1891 at Lilydale to Robert and Mary Ann Fisher. Victor’s feet were a problem for years and the cause of his first rejection for military service. His condition was called Hallux Valgus, causing his feet to fail during long marches. His father Robert Fisher died in 1927 aged 77 and his mother Mary Ann Fisher in 1936 aged 85. They are buried in the Lilydale Cemetery.

Their children were Marjory, Robert, Emma, Isabel, Victor and Myrtle. The family is referred to in the publication Gun Alley. Victor, it seems, loved speed and was involved in a Malvern motor cycle accident in 1923, and a Box Hill motor car accident in 1925.

At the time of the Malvern accident, Victor gave his address as c/o stationmaster, Warburton.By 1925 he was back at Lilydale. Victor was an early member of the Lilydale RSL. The minute books show that in 1929 he had a son Cyril aged 12, in 1931 a son Fred aged 12, and in 1932 a son Victor aged 9.

Footett, N., (Silvan)

Footit, Ormond Stanley, 717

Service No:	717
Occupation:	Carrier completed 2 years as an apprentice butcher at Mansfield.
Address:	–
Date of Enlistment:	October 27, 1914
Age at Enlistment:	23 years and 11 months
Marital Status:	Single
Physical Description:	5 ft 7 ½ inches, weighing 11 st, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a florid complexion
Next of Kin:	Henry Footit, father, of Alexandra; later of Marysville House, Main St, Lilydale
Rank on Enlistment:	Private
Unit Name:	2nd ANZAC Light Horse