The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (665) Private Lancelot Ramsay Hannaford, 10th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each 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 Jana Johnson, the story for this day was on (665) Private Lancelot Ramsay Hannaford, 10th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

665 Private Lancelot Ramsay Hannaford, 10th Battalion, AIF
DOW 22 May 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 29 August 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Lancelot Ramsay Hannaford.

Lancelot Hannaford was born on 17 January 1890 in Murray Bridge, South Australia. He was the son of William and Alice Hannaford, and was educated at the Murray Bridge Public School. While he was a boy his older brother Frank saw service in the Boer War.

Lancelot worked for the Commercial Bank of Adelaide, and served at a number of different branches in rural South Australia. In 1912 he finally gained a posting at home in Murray Bridge, and was promoted to accountant. He later moved to nearby Tailem Bend, where he became the local branch manager.

Hannaford was an active member of the Murray Bridge community. He was clerk to the model parliament society and secretary of the local tennis club. He was particularly keen on rowing, and was the secretary of the Murray Bridge Rowing Club and the local regatta committee. He was also a member of the Tailem Bend rifle club.

Within weeks of the outbreak of the First World War Hannaford left his position at Tailem Bend to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force. He was posted to the 10th Battalion as a private in A Company. After a period of training in Australia he was sent for overseas service.

Originally bound for Europe, a sudden change of plan saw Hannaford and the first contingent sent to Egypt in preparation for an assault on the Ottoman Empire.

In the early hours of 25 April 1915 men of the 10th Battalion rowed silently towards the Turkish shore of what would become known as Anzac Cove. The battalion’s war diary recorded the landing:

no sound was heard, except the splash of the oars; we thought that our landing was to be effected quite unopposed, but when our boats were within about 30 yards of the beach a rifle was fired from the hill in front of us above the beach, right in front of where we were heading for. Almost immediately heavy rifle and machine gun fire was opened upon us.

The men finished rowing to the shore and dashed for the heights above the beach. Some reached the farthest inland that day but had to pull back through a lack of support.

Hannaford survived the frantic activity of the landing and the ensuing days on the peninsula. However, towards the end of May he was severely wounded. Evacuated from Anzac Cove, he died on board the hospital ship Soudan and was buried at sea. He was 25 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died during the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Lancelot Ramsay Hannaford, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section.