Decorative knife : Sergeant J E Buttsworth, 30 Battalion, AIF

A decorative knife with a handle made from a French Lebel cartridge case and two projectiles. Also on the handle is a Canadian uniform button. The blade of the knife has been made from a piece of brass sheet, possibly taken from a shell case. Solder on the base of the handle suggests that a further projectile may originally have been fitted here.

Associated with the service of 3765 Sergeant John Edmund (Jack) Buttsworth. Originally from Cessnock, NSW, Buttsworth was the son of Ebenezer Ernest and Fanny Buttsworth and was engaged to Millicent Anne Walker of 'Beechlands', Gerringong, NSW. He was living in Burke and working as a telegraphist when he enlisted as a private on 10 November 1915 at the age of 23 years and 7 months. Pte Buttsworth sailed from Sydney onboard HMAT 'Anchises' on 24 August 1916 and disembarked at Plymouth on 11 October 1916. He proceeded from England with 8 Training Battalion to France, where he was posted to 2 Platoon, A Company, 30 Battalion, and promoted to the rank of Sergeant in September 1917. In April 1918 whilst distributing rum rations to members of his platoon in reserve trenches behind Villers Bretonneux, Sgt Buttsworth was badly wounded on his left side by shrapnel. He was taken to 9 Australian Field Ambulance, where he died of his wounds on 8 April, aged 27 years. He is buried in France at St. Pierre Cemetery, Amiens. Sgt Buttsworth¿s fiancé, Millicent, never married after learning of his death. This knife is one of several mementoes sent by Buttsworth to his fiancé, and were kept by Millicent until her death in 1967. They are the only remaining items relating to Sgt Buttsworth's service, as all his personal effects were being shipped home on HMAT 'Barunga', but were lost at sea when the transport ship was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine off the Siclly Isles in the North Atlantic on 15 July 1918.