The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (508) Lance Sergeant Frederic George Ellis, 6th Light Horse Regiment, 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 Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on (508) Lance Sergeant Frederic George Ellis, 6th Light Horse Regiment, First World War.

508 Lance Sergeant Frederic George Ellis, 6th Light Horse Regiment
KIA 12 July 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Sergeant Frederic George Ellis.

Fred Ellis was born on 17 October 1890 to George and Sarah Ellis of Fareham, Hampshire, in England. His father worked as an engine driver in Alton when Fred was a small boy, and later took on work as the foreman of a steam plough near Fareham. Fred had at least five sisters, but was the only son. He was educated at the municipal college in Portsmouth, and may have also had some training with the navy. Ellis had also seen some service with the 7th Queen’s Own Hussars in the British army. He left England to come to Australia in late 1912, arriving on the steamer Orsova on 2 January 1913. Fred took up work as a jackaroo, settling at Moree in New South Wales.

Fred Ellis had been in Australia for a little over 18 months when war broke out in Europe in August 1914. He enlisted for service with the Australian Imperial Force within weeks, travelling to Liverpool Camp to do so. He was accepted for service with the 6th Light Horse Regiment, and began his training immediately. Ellis’s previous military service saw him do well, and he was quickly promoted to corporal. Part of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, the 6th Light Horse Regiment sailed from Sydney on 21 December 1914, arriving in Egypt several weeks later to continue training in the desert. Ellis would later be promoted to lance sergeant.

The Light Horse were not considered suitable for use on the Gallipoli peninsula at first. However, after the casualties of the landing and the confusion of the days afterwards, it was decided to send the men to Gallipoli to serve without their horses. Lance Sergeant Ellis probably landed with his squadron in late May, and would go on to serve in a largely defensive capacity over the coming weeks.

On 12 July a British force attacked the enemy in the Achi Baba Nullah sector of the line at the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula. In support of that operation, various Australian units were ordered to go out and “harass” the Turks opposite their line in the hopes of drawing reserves away from Cape Helles and up to Anzac Cove. An officer of the 6th Light Horse later wrote to say that Ellis’s “troop played a very gallant part. They went out in front of our trenches, and stormed on every hill; every man was cool, steady and game, and the officer in charge did splendidly, and was mentioned in despatches … the work was successful, and achieved its object.”

Although the overall success of the operation is debatable, it is certain that it was costly in lives. At least four men who advanced with the small band of 6th Light Horse were killed in action. Trooper James Bennett, another member of the 6th Light Horse on the operation, wrote in his diary, “It was a bad day for our squadron. Of 30 men that went out 14 came back safely, and they all had miraculous escapes. I was not sorry when we all got back.” Sergeant Fred Ellis was not one of those that returned. Bennett was not far from him as they went over. He recorded how they were “under very heavy shrapnel, machine gun and rifle fire with no cover at all … Poor Sergeant Fred Ellis died in my arms.”

Ellis’s body was recovered from the battlefield and buried not far from where he fell. After the war he was reinterred in the Shell Green Cemetery, where he lies today. He was 24 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in 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 Lance Sergeant Frederic George Ellis, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section