The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (394) Private Frank Henry Burton Adcock, 11th Battalion, AIF, First World War and (1044) Private Frederick Brenchley Adcock, 11th 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (394) Private Frank Henry Burton Adcock, 11th Battalion, AIF, First World War and (1044) Private Frederick Brenchley Adcock, 11th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

394 Private Frank Henry Burton Adcock, 11th Battalion, AIF
1044 Private Frederick Brenchley Adcock, 11th Battalion, AIF
KIA 25th April 1915
Photograph: P05717.001

Story delivered 1 October 2015

Today we remember the service and sacrifice of Private Frank Henry Burton Adcock and Private Frederick Brenchley Adcock, who both served with the 11th Battalion in the First World War.

Frank and Frederick Adcock were born in 1890 and 1893 in Melton Mowbray in Lancashire, England, to John and Charlotte Adcock. The brothers grew up in the town and attended the local grammar school. Their father, an ironmonger’s assistant, was often away for work, and in 1907 he died suddenly at the age of 45. Frank was already working as a labourer and it was around this time that Fred took up an apprenticeship as a sailor with Wolf & Son in Liverpool.

The boys and their mother immigrated to Australia in 1911 to be near her brother in Perth. The family settled in Fremantle, Western Australia, and Frank found work as a labourer while Fred worked as a sailor.

Frank enlisted into the 11th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force soon after the First World War began, and Fred joined in early September. Frank was posted to D Company, and Fred, initially posted to C Company, transferred as soon as he could to join his brother.

That November the brothers sailed from Fremantle aboard the transport ship Ascanius, and the next day joined the AIF’s first convoy, which had sailed from Albany two days earlier. Following an eventful trip, which included the destruction of the German raider Emden and a serious collision with another ship, the men arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, in December.

On 10 January 1915 the boys became part of the now-famous photograph of the 11th Battalion on the Pyramid of Cheops. They can be seen sitting together on the image’s right. During their time in Egypt the battalion was reorganised, and the Adcocks were transferred to 8 Platoon B Company under Captain Eric Tulloch. At the beginning of March they sailed with the 3rd Brigade to Lemnos, the staging area for the Gallipoli campaign. After some weeks of training they sailed for the peninsula.

At around 5 am on 25 April 1915 B Company landed on North Beach at Anzac Cove as part of the second wave. They began moving inland, and by mid-morning Tulloch and his men had occupied Battleship Hill.
However, strong Turkish counter-attacks forced the 11th Battalion back, and it was during one of the withdrawals that Frank and Fred disappeared.

When their mother received the telegram informing her that both of her sons had been wounded she began a correspondence with Base Records in Melbourne, the secretary of the Department of Defence, and the Red Cross in an attempt to locate Fred and Frank. She also wrote frequent letters in the hope that her boys would respond.

Investigations into the brothers’ deaths revealed only that they were together at the landing. One soldier reported seeing one of the brothers wounded on a stretcher being taken back to the beach, but heard that
he’d later died. To compound her distress, Charlotte received a letter from Frank dated 1 May 1915, which gave her hope that her boys were still alive.

In April 1916 a board of inquiry was held at Flêtre in France to determine the fate of those men still missing from the nominal rolls. The inquiry determined that both Adcock brothers had been killed in action
on 25 April 1915.

When graves detachments were able to access the former Gallipoli battlefield in 1919 Frank’s body was identified in the vicinity of Baby 700, and he was laid to rest in the newly constructed Baby 700 Cemetery.
Fred’s body, however, was never recovered, and his name was added to the Memorial to the Missing at Lone Pine. At the time they were killed, Frank was 25 and Fred was 22.

The Adcock brothers’ names are listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. Tonight their photograph is displayed by the Pool of Reflection.

These are but two of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Frank Henry Burton Adcock and Private Frederick Brenchley Adcock, and all Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section