The funeral procession for 1961 Private (Pte) William Henry Hurrell, 11th Battalion, from ...

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Accession Number P01981.029
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Print silver gelatin
Maker Unknown
Place made Germany: Baden-Wurttemberg, Stuttgart
Date made December 1917
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

The funeral procession for 1961 Private (Pte) William Henry Hurrell, 11th Battalion, from Kalgoorlie, WA and an unknown serviceman at Stuttgart, Germany. The four men at the front of the group are undertakers followed by German soldiers, then prisoners. The x marked on the photograph indicates that the first coffin is that of Pte Hurrell. The flag draped coffins are being carried by cart from the church grounds to the cemetery. Pte Hurrell enlisted at the age of 28 on 28 January 1915 and embarked for overseas on 22 April 1915 aboard HMAT Hororata. He was captured at Boursies, France, on 15 April 1917 and held as a POW until he died in the Stuttgart hospital on 18 December 1917. The photograph was sent to the Australian Red Cross in London by 6588 Pte Oliver Wilfred Strang, 11th Battalion, from Fremantle, WA. Pte Strang enlisted at the age of 24 on 27 April 1916 and embarked for overseas on 10 October 1916 aboard HMAT Suffolk. He was also captured at Boursies, on 16 April 1917 and held as a POW in Germany. Pte Strang was repatriated to England on 31 January 1919 and arrived back in Australia on 8 May 1919. One of a series of over 400 photographs sent by Australian POWs in German camps to Miss M. E. Chomley, Secretary, Prisoners Department, Australian-British Red Cross Society, London. Original album housed in AWM Research Centre at RC00864, Album image number 229.