The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1868) Private Henry George Ashford, 57th Battalion, First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (1868) Private Henry George Ashford, 57th Battalion, First World War.

1868 Private Henry George Ashford, 57th Battalion
KIA 23 November 1916
Photograph supplied by family

Story delivered 29 November 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Henry George Ashford of the 57th Battalion.

Henry Ashford was born in 1898 in Scone, New South Wales, one of nine children born to John and Elizabeth Ashford. Little is known of his early life, but he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1916 at only 17 years of age, though his attestation paper lists him as 18. As he was underage, his parents’ written consent was required, and was provided. Before he left he visited his younger brother Alex, who was in hospital with scarlet fever. George left Alex a little mother-of-pearl pocket knife to hold onto for him: “it was to be mine,” Alex recalled, “and he would see it when he came back”.

On 14 February 1916 Ashford was stationed at Casula Camp in Sydney when the soldiers were ordered to work extra hours without leave. The camp’s soldiers called a strike in response to the conditions in the camp and marched to Liverpool, where more soldiers joined the protest. Now around 15,000-strong, the mob of protestors began to riot, commandeering trains and travelling into the city centre, where drunken soldiers began smashing windows and targeting foreigners. In a letter to his aunt, Ashford wrote that the newspapers were “dead against” the soldiers, and that the march was perfectly civil save for a “few hundred drunken roughs”. He especially criticised the police force’s handling of the event, claiming that they attacked innocent soldiers, women, and children, calling them “the most cold-blooded men I ever saw”.

In May that year Ashford departed Australia from Melbourne on board HMAT Port Lincoln with the 3rd reinforcements to the 59th Battalion. After some months spent training in England he was transferred to the 57th Battalion and embarked for France in September to join his unit.

In November 1916 Ashford’s battalion was moving from the support to the front lines at Le Transloy, Flers, and had reached the sunken road at Rose Trench when an enemy barrage began. A shell burst on top of the group, wounding many and killing Henry Ashford instantly. He was
originally reported missing, but following a court of inquiry it was determined that he was killed on 23 November 1916. His remains were later recovered and buried in the nearby AIF Burial Ground, Grass Lane, near Flers.

He was 18 years old.

Henry’s brother Oscar served in and survived the war. A memorial to Henry’s memory was erected at St Luke’s Church in his hometown of Scone by “his loving uncle H.W.E. Ashford”.

Henry Ashford’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War and his photograph is displayed beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Henry George Ashford, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.