Corporal Edwin Charles Norris

Edwin Norris was a professional singer. So when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 4 January 1915, he used his stage name “Jack Vincent”.

Edwin Charles Norris was born 16 November 1885 in Brisbane, Queensland, to parents Edwin Henry Norris and Emily Jane Norris (nee Kennedy). Growing up in Townsville, he both sang in and conducted the choir at St Peters’ Church of England, West Townsville.

Vincent was working as an accountant with Burns Phillips Merchants in Townsville, Queensland, before he joined J. C. Williamson’s opera, being described as “[possessing] a capital baritone voice”, before he enlisted at Liverpool, NSW, on 4 January 1915. He was appointed to Lance Corporal as he had previously served for two years with the CMF infantry in Townsville.

Vincent embarked from Sydney on 17 March 1915 aboard HMAT Shropshire with the 4th Reinforcements for the 3rd Australian Infantry Battalion, and joined the battalion on Gallipoli on 31 May 1915. He was promoted to corporal on 23 June 1915.

Vincent was reported missing after the attack on Lone Pine in August 1915, and was later declared by a Court of Inquiry to have been killed in action sometime between 7 and 12 August 1915.