The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1871) Private Stanley Charles Bishop, 56th 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (1871) Private Stanley Charles Bishop, 56th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1871 Private Stanley Charles Bishop, 56th Battalion, AIF
KIA 26 September 1917
Photograph: H16873

Story delivered 10 May 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Stanley Charles Bishop, who was killed fighting in Belgium in the First World War.

Stanley Bishop was born in September 1891, the second-youngest of five children of Frederick and Sarah Bishop of Launceston, Tasmania. Stanley’s mother died while he was young, and Stanley and his siblings were brought up by their father. In the years before the war Stanley worked as a labourer and was estranged from the rest of his family. He travelled to New South Wales sometime in 1915, presumably for work, and enlisted in the AIF at Cootamundra in February 1916. There is some indication that he had previously been prevented from enlisting in Tasmania on medical grounds, which may have been why he enlisted at Cootamundra under the pseudonym Stanley Baker. Whatever the reason, the Bishop family were unaware that Stanley had chosen to fight in the First World War.

After a period of training in Goulburn, Stanley left Australia with reinforcements for the 56th Battalion in June 1916. He trained on Salisbury Plains in Wiltshire, England, and in February 1917 joined the battalion in France. Stanley had missed the fighting on the Somme and the bitterly cold winter that had followed, but participated in following the German Army to the Hindenburg Line in the region near Arras. He first saw combat during the 56th Battalion’s attack on the outpost village of Louverval on 2 April, and later helped defend the gains won by Australian troops during the Second Battle of Bullecourt on 12 May. During this action Stanley was wounded in the right arm and spent the following months recovering in field hospitals in France.

Stanley recovered from his wounds and re-joined the 56th Battalion in August before it moved north into Belgium to take part in the major British offensive now known as the Third Battle of Ypres. On 26 September 1917 Australian troops from the 5th Division assaulted the German bastion at Polygon Wood. Among them were men from the 56th Battalion, who were successful in securing the left flank, including a large mound identified as the main objective of the attack. The assault on Polygon Wood was considered an allied success, and today there stands a monument to the men who captured the position on that day. However, with success came heavy casualties, and more than 5,478 Australians were reported killed, missing, and wounded in just those few hours of fighting.

One of them was Private Stanley Bishop, who was listed as missing. A court of inquiry later determined that he had been killed in action, although his remains were never recovered from the battlefield. Because his family had no clue that Stanley had enlisted in the AIF, they were not informed of his death until sometime after the war.

Stanley Bishop is one of more than 16,700 Australian soldiers from the First World War who has no known grave, but his name is listed on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres alongside 6,000 other Australians.

His name is also listed on the Roll of Honour to my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. His photography is displayed today by the Pool of Reflection. Bishop is standing…

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

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section