The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3016) Lance Corporal Henry Nankivell, 43rd Battalion (Infantry), First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial every day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Meredith Duncan the story for this day was on (3016) Lance Corporal Henry Nankivell, 43rd Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

763016 Lance Corporal Henry Nankivell, 43rd Battalion
DOW 4 September 1918
P04025.010

Story delivered 3 June 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Henry Nankivell.

Harry Nankivell was born in Lancashire, England, and by the time he arrived in Australia he had 12 years military experience with the Kings Own Royal Lancashire Regiment in Malta, India, and during the Boer War in South Africa. He met his wife Eva Nankivell, in Broken Hill; remarkably, they shared the same unusual surname before they married. Harry was a keen singer, and was a prominent member of the Broken Hill Quartette Club and the church choir. He and his wife were also members of the Rechabite Order, actively promoting temperance in the community.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Nankivell spent over a year training new recruits. When he was no longer needed as a trainer, at the age of 35 he enlisted as a private soldier and went with the 43rd Battalion to England, where he was promoted to lance corporal. He transferred to the 11th Training Battalion for much of 1917 before rejoining the 43rd Battalion in France for active duty on the Western Front.

On the 1st of September 1918 the 43rd Battalion were operating on the Somme near a village called Clery. In the early hours of the morning the battalion marched into the line - a difficult process, given it was a very dark night and the trenches were in poor condition. They then attacked a German trench known as Scutari Trench. During this operation Nankivell was shot in the abdomen. Although he was taken out of the line and sent to hospital, he died four days later of his wounds.

This jolly and kind-hearted man was sadly missed in Broken Hill, no more so than by his widow and two children, Daisy and Garnet. He was 36 years old when he died, and is buried in the Daours Communal Cemetery in France.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lance Corporal Henry Nankivell, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.