Souvenir embroidery : Miss Ada Milne

Souvenir silk embroidery with lace fringe. In the centre is a woven image of the Cloth Hall in Ypres, Belgium in flames with the words 'Martyr Ypres' surrounded by an embroidered floral design of four red flowers.

Miss Ada Milne (later Wallis), a young girl from Wail, Victoria, received this souvenir embroidery as a gift from her neighbour 2032 Private George Alfred Arthur. George and his older brother, 2031 Private Herbert John (Jack) Arthur, enlisted together in April 1916 and joined 38 Battalion. They sailed from Melbourne aboard HMAT Shropshire on 25 September, arriving in England in November. After a period of training they joined their battalion on the Western Front on 25 March 1917. George was killed in action during the Battle of Broodseinde on 4 October 1917. Just several days later Jack was killed in action at Passchendaele on 13 October 1917. The woven image of the burning Cloth Hall in the centre of the embroidery also appears on a number of silk postcards held in the Memorial's collection. It is part of the 'Flames' series produced by E Deffrene which illustrate the destruction of French towns and villages.