In Memoriam

In Memory of

Henry Price Busby

Summary Service Record

Born: January 1890, Parish of Hilton, nr Glasgow, County of Lenerk, Scotland, UK

Next of Kin: Mrs Sarah Busby, mother, 125 Cleveland Rd, Redfern, NSW

Enlisted: 23 August 1915, Holdsworthy, NSW – Number 7545

Height: 5 ft 9 ins; Weight: 150 lbs; Eyes: brown; Hair: dark brown

Occupation: Wharf labourer

Prior Service: Glasgow Royal Field Artillery Territorials

Appointed to: 15th Battery, 5th Australian Field Artillery Brigade at National Park, NSW on 1 September 1915. This Battery served with the 2nd Australian Division France from April 1916 and manned 4 x 18 pounder guns.

Promoted: to Driver on 1 October 1915

Embarked on HMAT Persic, Sydney, on 18 November 1915: paid six shillings per day – five in hand and one deferred until completion of service with Expeditionary Force; disembarked at Suez on 21 December 1915; embarked at Alexandria on 19 March 1916; disembarked at Marseilles, France, on 25 March 1916

Admitted to hospital in France with abscess on jaw on 11 October 1916 – rejoined unit on 16 October 1916

Admitted to hospital in France with influenza on 22 November 1916 – transferred through several medical institutions in Rouen area and finally rejoined unit on 30 December 1916

Periods of leave in England from 10–29 July 1917 and 13–31 March 1918

Embarked for England from Le Havre on 26 February 1919

Medically examined and found ‘Disability:- NIL’ and ‘Fit General Service’ on 28 February 1919

Admonished and docked four days pay on 22 March for being Absent Without Leave (AWL) from 17–21 March 1919

Returned from England to Australia on the Runic on 27 April 1919, disembarking in Sydney on 11 June 1919

Medically examined on 12 June 1919 – no abnormality recorded – confirmed for discharge

Discharged: 4 August 1919 – apparently received subsequent government training support – when son Keith was born, 8 September 1922, his occupation was ‘telephone mechanic’

Decorations Issued: 1914/1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

References to actions that specifically or likely involved the 5th Australian Field Artillery Brigade:

Pozières, 28–29 July 1916: attack on O.G.1 and O.G.2

"My grandfather served on the Western Front throughout the campaign, as a driver with the 15th Battery of the 5th Field Artillery Brigade, apparently attached to the 2nd Division throughout. He survived the war without being hit by anything significant, although he was hospitalised a couple of times for medical conditions, once for several weeks with influenza. I recall hearing in my childhood that he was gassed. Whatever, he returned to Australia in 1919 and was subsequently discharged with 'Disability:- NIL' and 'Fit General Service'. He died in the mid 1920s, aged around 35, so I guess all was not well with him".

John Busby

ACT