Studio portrait of 1672 (later 1672A) Private (Pte) Thomas William Eglinton, 50th Battalion. A ...

Studio portrait of 1672 (later 1672A) Private (Pte) Thomas William Eglinton, 50th Battalion. A gardener from Forest Range, South Australia, prior to enlistment, he embarked with the 2nd Reinforcements from Adelaide on 11 April 1916 aboard HMAT Aeneas for Suez and then to England. He was sent to France in November 1916 but returned to England due to illness and eventually joined his battalion on the Western Front in late March 1917. Pte Eglinton was wounded in action near Noreuil, France, on 2 April 1917 and was evacuated to England for treatment and recuperation before rejoining his battalion on 6 October 1917. Pte Eglinton was killed in action near Villers-Bretonneux on 9 May 1918. He was aged 32 years. Pte Thomas Eglinton was the second oldest of five brothers who enlisted during the First World War. His older brother, 2105 Pte John Charles Eglinton, 5th Pioneer Battalion, served on the Western Front and returned to Australia for discharge for family reasons on 8 November 1918. 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 second youngest 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. His youngest brother, 2106 Pte Laurence Eglinton, 50th Battalion, was killed in action near Noreuil on 2 April 1917. He was aged 23 years (See P09291.282).