Pockley, Brian Colden Antill (Captain, b.1890 - d.1914)

Place	Oceania: Pacific Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, New Britain
Accession Number	1DRL/0548
Collection type	Private Record
Record type	Collection
Measurement	1 wallet: 1 cm.
Object type	Papers
Maker	Pockley, Helen Dorothy Antill
Place made	Australia: New South Wales
Date made	1927
Access	Open
Related File This file can be copied or viewed via the Memorial’s Reading Room.	AWM315 749/082/050
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Copying Provisions	Copyright expired. Copying permitted subject to physical condition. Permission for reproduction not required.

Description

Collection relating to the service of Captain Brian Colden Antill Pockley, AAMC and Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF), New Britain, 1914. Collection consists of handwritten copies made by Pockley's sister of: (1) a diary compiled by Captain Pockley during his period of active service; (2) letters written by Captain Pockley to members of his family, in August and September of 1914; (3) several letters of condolence written by men who served with Pockley in the AN&MEF. Copies made by his sister, Helen D. Antill Pockley. Location of originals unknown.

History / Summary

Captain Brian Colden Antill Pockley, AAMC, 1 Battalion, AN&MEF, who died on 11 September 1914, on board HMAS Berrima, from wounds received on the Bitapaka road near Kabakaul. Captain Pockley was probably the first member of the Australian forces to be killed during the First World War, and certainly the first Australian medical officer to be killed in WWI. Other biographical details concerning him are: physician and surgeon, of Wahroonga, NSW; born North Sydney; educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School and the University of Sydney; won scholarships both at school and the University. He was the winner of the school championship athletic shield two years in succession.