Studio portrait of 1528 Private (Pte) Allan William James Irving, 32nd Battalion. A bookbinder ...

Studio portrait of 1528 Private (Pte) Allan William James Irving, 32nd Battalion. A bookbinder from Edwardstown, South Australia, prior to enlistment, he embarked with the 1st Reinforcements from Adelaide on 18 November 1915 aboard HMAT Geelong (A2) for Suez. The battalion relocated to the Western Front, France, during June 1916. Pte Irving was reported as a prisoner of war after the Battle of Fromelles on 20 July 1916 but was subsequently reported as being killed in action on that date. He was aged 21 years. Initially he had no known grave but, in 2008 a burial ground containing the bodies of 250 British and Australian soldiers was located at Pheasant Wood, France. The soldiers died during the Battle of Fromelles on the night of 19-20 July 1916 and were buried by German troops. In 2010 all of the remains were reburied in the newly created Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. At the time of the official dedication of the cemetery on 19 July 2010, ninety-six Australians, including Pte Irving, had been identified through a combination of anthropological, archaeological, historical and DNA information. Since then other Australians have been identified.