Copper finger ring from Gallipoli : Private C W Lenton, 18 Battalion, AIF

Ring made from a copper driving band from a shell. The ring has a join at the back and horizontal and vertical markings along its length.

Associated with the service of Charles William Lenton who enlisted in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) (Tropical Unit) 'C' Company on 12 August 1914 and was assigned the service number 382. He was 23 years old and had previously served 12 months with the Naval cadets. He embarked with the ANMEF to capture German New Guinea on 19 August 1914 on board HMAT Berrima. Lenton returned to Australia and was discharged from the ANMEF on 4 March 1915.

He re-enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force, with the service number 1354, on 19 April 1915. Lenton embarked from Sydney aboard HMAT Ceramic on 30 June 1915 with D Company 18 Battalion. He arrived at Gallipoli via Egypt in August 1915 and may have taken part in the battle for Hill 60. At some time during his service on the peninsula he found this simple trench art ring on the body of a Turkish soldier at Gallipoli and was sent home to his Mother.

Lenton was admitted to hospital with deafness in September, rejoining his unit at Gallipoli on 11 November 1915. After the evacuation in December he returned to Egypt. Lenton transferred to 5 Machine Gun Company in March 1916 before leaving Egypt for service on the Western Front. On 16 June 1917, while he was on leave, he married Barbara Emily Austen, a Sydney born girl living in England. Three months, on 9 October, Private Lenton was killed in action at Zonnebeke, Belgium.