The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1546) Private Stephen Tom Grimsley, 13th 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 Tristan Rallings, the story for this day was on (1546) Private Stephen Tom Grimsley, 13th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1546 Private Stephen Tom Grimsley, 13th Battalion, AIF
KIA 21 August 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Stephen Grimsley.

Stephen Grimsley was born in London in March 1897, the fourth of six children of Stephen and Patty Grimsley. He and his siblings attended school in the Finsbury-Shoreditch area of London. The 1911 Census records that Stephen was an unemployed messenger boy. The following year, he and his elder brother, William, migrated to Australia while the rest of the family remained in London. Stephen was 15, his brother 18.

The boys initially lived at Tallangatta in Victoria, near Albury-Wodonga where they found farm work and labouring jobs. Not long after, they moved to Sydney and were living with an aunt in Drummoyne. When war broke out in August 1914, William joined up immediately and served as a gunner with the artillery. Underage, Stephen cooled his heels, but not for long. Putting his age up from 17 to 18 years and 3 months, Stephen signed up on the last day of 1914.

Allotted to the 3rd Reinforcements for the 13th Australian Infantry Battalion, he completed his basic military training and on 11 February 1915, he departed Sydney aboard the troopship Seang Choon, bound for Egypt. Having missed the initial landing on Gallipoli, Stephen joined his battalion at Anzac Cove just a week later on 30 April. He would later remark in a letter home that on Gallipoli,
you carry our life in your hands 24 hours a day … One is always within sound of the rifles [and] the unceasing din gets on ones nerves’. But after being in the trenches a few days all this doesn’t disturb a man’s sleep (unless he has cold feet).

After a few weeks Stephen was hospitalised with influenza, but soon returned to duty where he had several lucky escapes, although suffering minor wounds. On one occasion he was struck by multiple shrapnel balls, one of which tore through some photographs in his pocket. On another occasion a large Turkish shell landed not 20 yards away, but Stephen was unhurt, souveniring a large shell fragment that had lodged in his boot heel. On the night of 7/8 June, he caught a bullet in the right leg below the knee. Evacuated on a hospital ship, Stephen was surprised to find his brother Will, also aboard, also wounded in the leg. The pair landed in Egypt and Stephen spent four weeks recovering in hospital and convalescent homes. Recovered, he returned to duty on Gallipoli in mid-July.

Things were gearing up for a new offensive. On 6 August a new Allied offensive began on the peninsula. While some ground was gained, it soon became clear that no breakthrough would occur. In order to secure the high ground between the Anzac position and the new one at Suvla Bay, a series of attacks went ahead later in the month. The 13th Battalion was part of a combined force of British, Indian, New Zealand and Australian troops that assaulted Hill 60 on 21 August.

It was during this attack that Stephen Grimsley was killed. Corporal Newton, a comrade from D Company said that Grimsley had been seen laying dead on the first ridge they crossed. Later that night, shell-fire set fire to the scrub on the ridge and a number of wounded men perished there. This may also explain why Stephen’s remains were never identified and he is now commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial. He was 18 years old.

Just a month after his death, the portrait photo damaged by shrapnel from one of Stephen’s prior lucky escapes was published in the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. Readers did not yet know that his luck had since run out.

His name is also 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 Private Stephen Grimsley, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Craig Tibbitts
Historian, Military History Section