Trench art domino set : Private J G McNaughton, 1 Battalion, AIF

Small rectangular brass box containing a miniature set of 28 dominoes. The box has a removable lid and is soldered at the back and around the bottom edges. The dominoes are made from rectangular pieces of black celluloid which have been impressed with dots to represent the numbers. Each of these impressions has been painted over with a dab of white paint. In addiiton, the relevant number of dots is recorded in one corner of each domino in very small roman numerals.

This domino set was made by 120 Private John Grant McNaughton during his service with 1 Battalion, AIF. McNaughton was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and in 1914 was a 25 year old labourer working at Portland, near Lithgow NSW. He enlisted in the AIF on 18 August 1914, the outbreak of the war enabling him to extricate himself from an emotional entanglement. This led him to enlist under the abbreviated name of John Grant and he sailed from Sydney aboard HMAT Afric on 18 October. He served on Gallipoli and was admitted to an English hospital on 4 August 1915 following a serious wound. He did not rejoin his battalion, by now serving in France, until June the following year. During this period of extended convalescence McNaughton visited his birthplace of Aberdeen and on 21 April 1916 married Annie Gibb Stephen. His service record also records two misdemeanours during this time - being absent without leave and possessing an altered pay-book. On his return to service on the Western Front he was again disciplined, this time for failing to report to guard duty and for drunkenness. On 25 November 1916 he was admitted to a field hospital with gastro enteritis and was again evacuated to England. He rejoined 1 Battalion in France on 28 June 1917 but was wounded in action on 30 September, suffering a gunshot wound to his right leg. Sent once more to England, McNaughton did not recover sufficiently to return to active service. He embarked for Australia on 31 January 1918 and was discharged due to debility. By this time McNaughton had assumed his true name. His wife Annie joined him the following year, arriving in Australia with their 10 month old son, Ronald, in January 1919. John Grant McNaughton died on 3 December 1957.