Next of kin plaque: Lieutenant Albert John Hyde, 6th Battalion, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name 'ALBERT JOHN HYDE'. A checker's mark, '8', is impressed behind the lion's rear left paw. . The plaque is contained in its original waxed brown cardboard case.

Born in Birmingham, England, Albert John Hyde had served for 4 years in the Warwickshire Territorials before he emigrated to Australia in 1909. He was employed as a jeweller in Melbourne, Victoria, when he enlisted in the AIF on 1 September 1914. Hyde was posted a private, service number 2076, to E Company, 6th Battalion. The unit sailed for overseas service from Melbourne on 19 October, aboard HMAT A20 Hororata.

After training in Egypt the battalion landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Hyde was promoted sergeant on 9 May. He received a gunshot wound to the thigh on 29 May and was evacuated first to Malta, and then to hospital in England. He returned to Egypt at the beginning of September before rejoining his battalion on Gallipoli, where he was appointed Company Sergeant Major on 25 November.

Hyde was gazetted a second lieutenant in March 1916, shortly before 6th Battalion transferred to France for service on the Western Front, and was promoted lieutenant on 14 July. He was mentioned in despatches in June 1917. He had been seconded for duty with 2nd Training Battalion in England at the beginnig of May. He rejoined his battalion at Steenvorde, Belgium on 25 September and was taken on strength as second in command of B Company.

Hyde was leading a platoon during the battle of Broodseinde on 4 October 1917 when he was killed by a shell fragment which penetrated his head. He was 28. Hyde was initially buried at Garter Point but his grave was later lost and his name is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.

Although Hyde had a sister living in Australia he nominated another sister, Mrs Lilian Lavinia Hackett, living in Birmingham, as his next of kin. This memorial plaque was sent to her in December 1922. Mrs Hackett subsequently emigrated to Australia in the late 1920s, bringing the plaque with her.