Next of kin plaque : Sergeant Hugh Corneil Speering, 47th Battalion, AIF

Place Europe: France, Picardie, Somme, Corbie Albert Area, Dernancourt
Accession Number REL/17037
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Heraldry
Physical description Bronze
Location Main Bld: First World War Gallery: Western Front 1918: Dernacourt
Maker Unknown
Place made United Kingdom
Date made 1920s
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Description

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 name 'HUGH CORNEIL SPEERING'.

History / Summary

Born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1883, Hugh Corneil Speering was employed as a school teacher in Townsville when he enlisted in the AIF in Rockhampton on 9 August 1915, stating that he was a clerk. He had previously served in the Commonwealth Cadets. After brief initial training Speering was posted a private, service number 2795, to the 9th Reinforcements for the 15th Battalion. The unit left Sydney on 1 September aboard HMAT A33 Argyllshire. Speering joined his battalion at Gallipoli on 13 November and was promoted lance corporal two days later. The battalion returned to Egypt at the end of December.

Speering was promoted corporal on 1 January 1916, and sergeant on 2 February. In March he transferred to 47th Battalion. In May he was detached to serve with the 12th Training Battalion and instead of travelling to France with his unit, arrived in England on 16 June to take up his duties. At the beginning of August he was appointed temporary sergeant major of the training battalion, with a temporary rank of Warrant Officer Class II.

In May 1917, Speering rejoined B Company, 47th Battalion in France and reverted to the rank of sergeant shortly afterwards. He was killed near Dernancourt on 28 March 1918. While going up the line to reinforce D Company Speering died instantly when hit by a shell. Two others in the party were also killed and another two wounded. The three casualties were buried in a single grave, where they had fallen late on the following day. There was no time to erect a cross but its location was marked by Speering's bayonet. The ground was eventually lost to the Germans and the location of the grave lost.

Speering's name, and those of the men who died with him, is listed on the Villers Bretonneux Memorial in France. This commemorative plaque was sent to his widow Annie Timmins, who had remarried in 1919, in October 1922. Sperring was survived by his young daughter, Helena, born in 1912. His eldest child, Edwin, born 1910, has died a few months before he enlisted.