Studio portrait of 2106 Private (Pte) Laurence Eglinton, 5th Pioneer Battalion. A labourer from ...

Studio portrait of 2106 Private (Pte) Laurence Eglinton, 5th Pioneer Battalion. A labourer from Forest Range, South Australia, prior to enlistment, he embarked with the 3rd Reinforcements from Adelaide on 13 July 1916 aboard HMAT Seang Bee for Devonport, England. Following training in England he proceeded to France and was transferred to the 50th Battalion in mid-November 1916. Pte Eglinton was killed in action near Noreuil on 2 April 1917 and was buried in the Noreuil Australian Cemetery. He was aged 23 years. His grave and 81 others were destroyed by shellfire and his name is recorded on a special memorial. Pte Laurence Eglinton was the youngest of five brothers who enlisted during the First World War. His oldest brother, 2105 Pte John Charles Eglinton, enlisted on the same day in the 5th Pioneer Battalion and returned to Australia for discharge for family reasons on 8 November 1918. The next oldest, 1672 Pte Thomas William Eglinton, 50th Battalion, was killed in action near Villers-Bretonneux, France, on 9 May 1918 He was aged 32 years. (See P09291.283). The middle brother, 2023 Pte Wilfred Rowe Eglinton, 32nd Battalion, was wounded in action in July 1916 and was then accidently wounded during training on 7 January 1917 which resulted in his discharge as medically unfit in December 1917. His next older brother, 3104 Lance Corporal Clarence Roy Eglinton, 27th Battalion, was killed in action near Ypres, Belgium, on 29 September 1917. He was aged 26 years.