The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1343) Private Harry Edward Davey, 12th 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 (1343) Private Harry Edward Davey, 12th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1343 Private Harry Edward Davey, 12th Battalion, AIF
KIA 25 July 1916
Story delivered 23 July 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Harry Edward Davey.

Harry Davey was born on 8 April 1894, the only son of Edward and Emily Davey of Burra, South Australia. His grandfather, William Davey, had arrived in the colony of South Australia in 1851 and had walked more than 150km to Burra, where he took up work as a miner, and laid the foundation for his family’s extensive connection to the area. Harry’s father worked as the town clerk, as did his father before him, and his mother took an interest in town activities and the church, and was an enthusiastic croquet player.

Harry grew up in Kooringa, a company township near the Burra mines, and attended the local school. He went on to work for the British Imperial Oil Company as a clerk. In August 1914 he married Gwendoline Weber in a ceremony in Adelaide.

Harry Davey enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in December 1914, just over three months after marrying Gwendoline. He was posted to the 12th Battalion and underwent a brief period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas in February 1915. On 21 March his daughter was born in Adelaide.

Davey was allocated to the 3rd Reinforcements to the 12th Battalion and arrived on Gallipoli in early May 1915, missing most of the fighting around the landing. In August of that year he was a member of two companies of the 12th Battalion that fought at Lone Pine, a costly but successful feint against heavily defended Turkish trenches. He later wrote home to say that he was one of only six survivors from his platoon. Shortly after the battle he fell ill with bronchitis and was evacuated to hospital in England, where it took him several months to recover.

Private Davey rejoined the 12th Battalion on the battlefields of France in July 1916. Less than ten days after his return, the battalion was involved in its first major operation on the Western Front, launching the third and fourth waves of an attack on the French village of Pozieres. Over the following days the operation was successful, and the village was captured, but in the 12th Battalion’s sector the situation was under serious threat for a significant part of the battle. The battalion suffered heavy casualties and for several days was mixed with other battalions and holding patchy remnants of a front line.

At some point on 25 July, two days after the battle had begun, Private Harry Edward Davey was killed in action. No record remains of the manner of his death. His body was recovered from the battlefield, but in the confusion its location was misrecorded, and after the war it could not be found. Today he is commemorated on a special memorial that reads “believed to be buried in this cemetery” in the Pozieres British Cemetery not far from where he was killed.

His epitaph reads “beloved husband of Gwen & father of Marie Davey. Thy will be done.” Gwen Davey was so distraught over the loss of her husband her family sent her on an extended trip to Western Australia in hope that the climate would improve her health. She eventually returned to Adelaide and died in 1973, having never remarried. Her husband, Harry Davey died at 22 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 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 Private Harry Edward Davey, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section