Next of kin plaque: Private Alexander Jackson (Charles William Lacey), 9th Battalion, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the engraved name 'ALEXANDER JACKSON'.

This plaque would have originally been named in raised lettering 'CHARLES WILLIAM LACEY'. As Lacey proved to have served under an alias, his true name was ground down and the plaque engraved with his alias, 'ALEXANDER JACKSON', in accordance with army regulations.

Born in Brisbane in 1887 Charles William Lacey was employed as a labourer in Toowoomba when he enlisted in the AIF as Alexander Jackson on 13 October 1916, naming his wife, Frances May Jackson, as his next of kin. After initial training he was posted a private, service number 6997 to the 23rd Reinforcements for the 9th Battalion. He embarked from Brisbane for overseas service on 17 November aboard HMAT A55 Kyarra.

Jackson arrived in England at the end of January 1917. Due to training and a series of illnesses he suffered he did not join C Company of his battalion in France until 26 October. He was evacuated sick on 20 December and did not rejoin his battalion until 8 March 1918. Trench fever saw him in hospital in May and early June, and again in August. Jackson was killed in action between Villeret and Bellicourt in France on 19 September while his battalion was in support. A group of men were sitting in a trench when a shell burst on the parapet. Jackson and another man were killed, and five others wounded. He is buried in the Bellicourt British Cemetery.

In 1917, after Jackson had left Australia, his sisters contacted his legal wife, Laura Mary Lacey, nee Godfrey, then living in Longreach with their two children, Mary Eva and Magdalene Amelia Lacey, to advise her that her husband had enlisted. In correspondence with army authorities Laura advised that her husband had twice deserted her and that Frances May Jackson, (nee Morton) his common law wife with whom he had a son, Herbert James Jackson, was in fact also legally married to another man, Richard Hurst, with whom she had had three children.

After Jackson/ Lacey's death a ministerial ruling was eventually made to decide how his assets should be divided between the two women. Laura Lacey was granted two thirds of his assets, war gratuity and widow's pension, as well as his Memorial scroll and one of his campaign medals. Frances Jackson received a third of his assets, war gratuity and widow's pension, his Memorial plaque and one of his campaign medals. The three children were granted the usual pensions. As Lacey had enlisted as Jackson, his plaque, scroll and medals were issued in the name of Jackson, in accordance with army regulations.

This commemorative plaque was discovered buried in the grounds of the Caledonian Hotel in Armidale, New South Wales in 1987, when the site was cleared to make way for the construction of a K-Mart store.