The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (917) Trooper Stanley Patrick Birmingham, 12th Light Horse Regiment, 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 Michael kelly, the story for this day was on (917) Trooper Stanley Patrick Birmingham, 12th Light Horse Regiment, AIF, First World War.

917 Trooper Stanley Patrick Birmingham, 12th Light Horse Regiment, AIF
Died of illness 25 October 1918

Story delivered 27 July 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Stanley Patrick Birmingham.

Stanley Birmingham was born in 1888 in Sydney, New South Wales, to Patrick and Margaret Birmingham. He grew up in Parramatta and attended the local Marist Brothers School.

At the time the First World War began, Birmingham was working as a clerk. He enlisted on 4 March 1915 and after initial training was allotted to the 3rd reinforcements to the 12th Light Horse Regiment.

Birmingham left Sydney with other reinforcements on 9 August aboard the transport ship Runic, bound for Egypt. After further training in Egypt, he was sent to Gallipoli at the beginning of November where he joined A Squadron of the 12th Light Horse Regiment, which had been detached for duty with the 1st Light Horse Regiment.

With the onset of winter, Birmingham developed influenza and he was evacuated to Lemnos in mid-December. The Australians withdrew from Gallipoli a week later and Birmingham soon returned to Egypt.

In late February, the squadrons of the 12th Light Horse were brought back together. Birmingham was sent to the 2nd Light Horse Training Regiment before being hospitalised with mumps a few weeks later, returning to training in May.

In July Birmingham was seconded for duty with the 2nd Light Horse Brigade at Romani, the last ground attack on the Suez Canal. He returned to the 12th Light Horse in September and was involved in a number of patrols into the Sinai Desert.

On 14 February 1917 Birmingham was recorded as being absent without leave for the first time. After being sent back to camp by the military police he was charged and fined one day’s pay, confined to barracks for two days, and had all leave stopped for 30 days. This sentence would not prevent him from further excursions, however.

In April the 12th Light Horse moved into Palestine and took part in the Second Battle of Gaza. The battle ended in failure, and one of Birmingham’s close friends was killed.

On 31 October, Birmingham took part in the now legendary attack on the town of Beersheba. Late in the day, with the situation deteriorating, the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments attacked Beersheba at the gallop, capturing the town shortly after.

In late November, when the 12th Light Horse was in the vicinity of Deiran, Birmingham was again absent without leave. Leaving his column, he rode into town where he assaulted a number of local inhabitants. Then in early December, he was found drunk while on duty near the town. He was court martialled and in early January 1918 was sentenced to six months incarceration with hard labour. During his incarceration, he wrote to the parents of his friend who had been killed at Gaza to tell them how their son, who had been listed amongst the missing, had died. He continued to correspond with them, sending further information and a photograph in which their son appeared.

At the end of June, his sentence complete, Birmingham returned to his unit, which was in defensive positions in the Jordan Valley. The regiment moved to new positions at Ludd in August and the following month advanced to Damascus. The 12th Light Horse Regiment was one of the first Australian units to enter the ancient city on 1 October, but Birmingham was not present, having been hospitalised a few days earlier.

He returned to the regiment a week later and a period of guard duty followed. In mid-October Birmingham again went absent without leave and was again punished.

Towards the end of the month, malaria had begun to take its toll on the men of the 12th Light Horse Regiment. Birmingham was admitted to the English Hospital in Damascus on 22 October, dangerously ill with malignant malaria. His condition deteriorated and he died three days later. He was laid to rest in the Damascus Cemetery the same afternoon. He was 31 years old.

After hearing of Birmingham’s death, the sister of his fallen comrade wrote to Margaret Birmingham:

All my family had kindly thoughts of your son. After my brother was killed at Gaza… your son was good enough to write us … He must have been a good hearted and generously disposed boy.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving in 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 Trooper Stanley Patrick Birmingham, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section