Next of kin Plaque : Sergeant Harry Melville Jackson, 13th Battalion, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name of the dead soldier 'HARRY MELVILLE JACKSON'.

Born in Petersham, New South Wales, Harry Melville Jackson was employed as a builder's clerk when he enlisted in the AIF on 28 January 1915. He had previously served as a regular in the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery at Fort Scratchley in Newcastle in 1913-1914, under the name Ernest Mayhew, but had purchased his discharge. Jackson was posted a private, service number 1766 to the 4th Reinforcements to 13th Battalion. He sailed from Sydney on 17 March, aboard HMAT A9 Shropshire and was promoted corporal the same day.

The 13th Battalion had landed at Gallipoli on 25 April. After transit through Egypt Jackson joined them at Anzac on 27 May. He was wounded in the knee by an exploding bomb (grenade) at Australia Valley on 12 August and evacuated to hospital in Egypt. Jackson did not return to Gallipoli and rejoined his battalion when they arrived in Egypt at the beginning of January 1916.

Jackson was promoted sergeant in March and left Egypt with his battalion at the beginning of June for service on the Western Front. Listed as missing in action on 14 August, during the battle of Pozieres, Jackson had been severely wounded and taken by the Germans to one of their dressing stations near Thilloy. He died there, aged 23, on 15 June and was buried in a nearby German military cemetery. Although Australian authorities were advised of Jackson's death in October, Jackson's parents were not formally notified of his death until February 1917.

This commemorative plaque was sent to Jackson's father, Joseph, in March 1923. In 1925 the Jacksons were advised that their son's remains had been exhumed from the Thilloy German Cemetery, together with the bodies of another three Australian and three British servicemen, and had been reinterred in the Valley Cemetery at Vis-en-Artois.