Informal portrait of 3735 Private (Pte) Albert Francis Dunnicliff, 12th Reinforcements, 10th ...

Informal portrait of 3735 Private (Pte) Albert Francis Dunnicliff, 12th Reinforcements, 10th Battalion, of Adelaide, SA. Albert was born on 4 September 1901 to Mabel and Ernest Dunnicliff. His father had previously enlisted and was killed in action on 6 August 1915 at Lone Pine. Albert enlisted three weeks later on 28 August 1915 aged just 13 years; he is probably the youngest person to enlist and serve in the AIF. Albert embarked from Adelaide aboard RMS Malwa on 2 December 1915 and arrived in Egypt on 11 January 1916. Not long after arrival he had a badly in grown toe nail and was moved from his unit to the 12th Battalion (his late father's Battalion) to a hospital in Cairo. After leaving the hospital he was transferred to the 5th Pioneer Battalion and shipped out to France. In December 1916 Albert wrote an application for discharge stating that his father and brother had been killed at Lone Pine and that he could not stand the strain of the front in France for much longer. He also admitted to lying about his age. Albert returned to Australia on 12 April 1917 after serving with the AIF for 16 months.