Studio portrait of 1391 Private (Pte) Frank Edward Gosson, Light Trench Mortar Battery, of ...

Accession Number P06975.001
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Print silver gelatin
Maker Unknown
Place made Australia
Date made 1916
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Studio portrait of 1391 Private (Pte) Frank Edward Gosson, Light Trench Mortar Battery, of Macksville, NSW. A labourer before enlisting in May 1916, Pte Gosson left Australia for England with the 3rd Reinforcements of the Light Trench Mortar Battery in October 1916. After transferring to the 18th Battalion in February 1917, he was again transferred to the 33rd Battalion in August 1917. He was asleep in a shell hole during a heavy bombardment on Passchendaele Ridge on the 14 October 1917 when a shell landed directly on his position, killing him instantly, aged 22. Pte Gosson's younger brother, QX3391 Lance Corporal George Percy Gosson served with the 2/1st Headquarters Guard Battalion in the Second World War. He was captured by Japanese forces at Singapore and died of illness in Siam in June 1943, aged 41.