The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3043) Private Claude Colin Bruce Sowton, 16th Battalion, AIF, 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (3043) Private Claude Colin Bruce Sowton, 16th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3043 Private Claude Colin Bruce Sowton, 16th Battalion, AIF
KIA 11 April 1917

No photograph in collection

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Claude Colin Bruce Sowton.

Claude Sowton was the youngest son of Nicholas Sowton and his wife Catherine. He was born in Unley, a suburb of Adelaide, on 3 July 1895. Claude was educated at the Glen Osmond Public School, and went on to become a mechanic. He had also had experience in the senior cadets, and when old enough had transferred to the 78th Regiment of the Citizens Forces. He proved an able soldier, and in October 1913 was recorded among the best ten shots in the standard test fired at Port Adelaide for E Company.

Sowton enlisted for active service in the Australian Imperial Force in June 1915, two months short of his 20th birthday. After a period of training in Australia, Sowton was sent to Egypt with the 10th reinforcements to the 16th Battalion. In November he joined them at Anzac Cove.

Sowton had arrived on the Gallipoli peninsula at a time when the major offensives were over, and the force was soon withdrawn to go and fight on the Western Front. In early August 1916 the 16th Battalion went into its first major operation in France near the village of Pozières. Under some of the heaviest shell-fire of the war, they supported the 15th Battalion in their attack on German positions to the north of the village. Sowton, like many men, was struck with a severe case of shell shock which eventually resulted in him being evacuated from the front line and sent to hospital in France.

By October 1916 Private Sowton had recovered enough to re-join his battalion in the field. During the long, cold winter of 1916–17 the 16th Battalion rotated in and out of the line, playing a largely defensive role.

On 11 April 1917 the 16th Battalion conducted an operation against the Hindenburg Line near Bullecourt. This strong, well-defended German line was a formidable objective, and for the attack the Australians were given a new weapon – tanks. But these were very new, and not at all reliable. Of the tanks the men of the 16th Battalion were allocated, two failed to get in position on time and one failed to arrive at all, leaving them with only three of the six designated. Those three were not effective, and the infantry pushed on alone, suffering enormous casualties, eventually being forced back into their original trenches.

At the end of the day, Private Sowton was missing. For some time he was rumoured to have been taken prisoner by the Germans, but after many months a court of inquiry determined that he had been killed in action at Bullecourt on 11 April 1917. He was 22 years old.

Claude Sowton’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

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

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section

Sources:
www.ancestry.com

Family notices, Advertiser, 22 November 1917, p. 4.

“Rifle shooting: E Company 78th Infantry”, Register, 28 October 1913, p. 5.