Private Wilfred George Allen

Service number 3027
Birth Date c.1893
Birth Place Australia: Victoria, Bendigo
Death Date 1973
Death Place Australia: Western Australia, Greenbushes
Final Rank Private
Unit 15th Infantry Battalion Band
Places
Conflict/Operation First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Wilfred George Allen was born in about 1893 at Bendigo, Victoria, to parents George and Clara (née Keast). His musical abilities were noted as a child, with a solo performance of “The Little Newsboy” at a church concert on 19 December 1898. Allen returned to England with his mother and siblings at an unknown date, but was residing at Trispen in Cornwall, England, in 1901 with his grandmother, Grace Keast.

During 1915, he married Beatrice Evelyn Ivy Berryman at North Coolgardie and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 8 September 1915. At the time of enlistment, he was working as a railway porter in Fremantle. Allen embarked at Fremantle with the 7th reinforcements of the 28th Battalion aboard HMAT Medic on 18 January 1916. He was transferred to the 15th Battalion on 7 March 1916, about a month after arrival in Egypt, and marched to Tel-el-Kebir to join the battalion.

Allen also played the trombone with the 15th Battalion Band. He became ill with gastritis at Ismailia on 27 March 1916 and was sent to hospital at Serapeum on 29 March 1916. He rejoined the battalion on 2 April 1916 and proceeded to France, arriving at Marseilles on 8 June 1916. Between 29 August and 29 September 1918, he was granted leave in France . Allen mobilised for returning to Australia on 6 April 1919 and left Le Havre, France on 15 April 1919. He left England to return to Australia aboard Somali on 1 June 1919.

A welcome home event was held at the Kalgoorlie Town Hall in his honour on 26 July 1919, where he was presented with an illuminated certificate in recognition of his service. Wilfred and Beatrice had three children: Doris Winifred, Lionel Wilfred and Rona Esme. In 1925, he was residing at Greenbushes, Western Australia, where, according to the electoral roll, he was working as a miner until 1972.

Wilfred Allen died at Greenbushes, Western Australia at the age of 80 in 1973.

Rolls

Timeline

Date of enlistment 06 September 1915
Date of embarkation 18 January 1916
Date returned to Australia 01 June 1919
Date of death 1973
Date of birth c.1893

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