The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1741) Corporal Alfred James Davidge, 15th 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (1741) Corporal Alfred James Davidge, 15th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1741 Corporal Alfred James Davidge, 15th Battalion, AIF
KIA 8 August 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 23 October 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Alfred James Davidge.

Alfred Davidge was born in 1885 in Harrow, England, to James and Harriet Davidge. He attended school locally, and came to Australia in 1905 aboard the Afric. He settled in Queensland and took up work as a commercial traveller. In 1908 he married Eva Ness Wilson of Coomera, and the pair later had a daughter, Lilla Ness Davidge.

Davidge enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1915. He underwent a brief period of training before leaving in April 1915 on the troopship Star of England, and was promoted to corporal in May.

On the voyage to Egypt he made friends with James Coleman, Ernest Coffey, and Richard Palmer. The four were all in the 15th Battalion, and remained close while on Gallipoli.

On the evening of 6 August 1915, as a part of the 4th Brigade’s attack on Hill 971, the 15th Battalion left its bivouac lines in Reserve Gully and began the march into position. The move was long and fraught with danger. At times the battalion guides lost their way, and the battalion came under fire from Turkish positions that had to be captured before they could continue. The battalion’s war diary recorded that “our line of advance now took us over rough, broken, stony ridges, densely covered with low prickly undergrowth in which the Turks had taken cover and were obstinately disputing every yard of our own advance”. Exhausted by the rapid advance and constant skirmishing, the men of the 15th Battalion established a defensive position. That evening it was confirmed that they would attack Hill 971.

The 15th Battalion was at the head of the brigade, and charged over Turkish positions for a considerable distance that night. It captured its objective, but in the face of determined Turkish resistance was forced to retire. Coffey, Coleman, Davidge, and Palmer were close to each other in the advance, although Lance Corporal Palmer became separated from them at some point. He never saw his mates again, and his enquiries led him to conclude that they were killed during the retirement. A court of inquiry later confirmed that Corporal Alfred Davidge and Privates Ernest Coffey and James Coleman had been killed in action on 8 August 1915.

The names of Davidge, Coffey, and Coleman are 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 Corporal Alfred James Davidge, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section