Wire bracelet : Private C A Hollingsworth, 37 Battalion AIF

Bracelet made of fine twisted wire. The clasp is made from a piece of steel wire, bent to form a hook, which hooks around an arch shaped piece of brass wire.

Associated with the service of 3079 Private Charles Ashby (sometimes recorded as Ashley) Hollingsworth. Private Hollingsworth was born in Birmingham, England and emigrated to Australia when he was 31 years old. He had previously served in the Royal Artillery for nine years. He was 41 years old when he enlisted into 37 Battalion on 18 November 1916. Hollingsworth embarked from Melbourne on board HMAT Ballarat on 19 February 1917. He proceeded to France from England on 10 September 1917. On 4 October 1917 he was advancing ahead of his unit, in the battle to take Broodseinde Ridge, when he was killed near Zonnebeke by a shell or a machine gun. He was dragged into a shell hole, but was already dead. He was later buried in another shell hole by the battalion's chaplain. Although he was buried north of Zonnebeke, his grave had been lost, or his body unidentifiable, by the end of the war and he has no known grave. His name is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres. He left behind his wife, Clara, two sons, Frederick and Herbert, and a daughter Beatrice. He sent this bracelet home for Beatrice prior to his death as it was not listed amongst Hollingsworth's effects after he died.