Rank: Corporal
Regiment/Service: Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
Unit Text: 5th Bn.
Age: 31
Date of Death: 25/07/1916
Service No: 2607
Son of James and Catherine Hankinson;
Husband of Ruby Hankinson, of 64 Grange Rd., Gienhuntly, Victoria.
Born at Kyneton, Victoria.
He was my 2nd cousin 3 times removed.
According to his war records, he was a watch maker by trade, learning his trade in Kyneton. He joined the 5th Battalion on 28 May 1915 at Kyneton.
He served at Gallipoli until Dec 1915, when he was transfered to the British Expeditonary Forces and promoted to Corporal on 30 June 1916. He was reported MIA on 28 July 1916 and confirmed KIA on 28 Oct 1916. He is buried in the vicinity of Poziers.
At his wife Ruby's request, his medals were sent to her at 290 Koroit St Warnambool and his war pension was paid to her.
His death was witnessed by Pte Corcoran, who attested that their company had taken 2 German lines near Poziers on 25 July. As they attempted to take a 3rd German line, the barbed wire was still intact and he saw Hankison fall dead in no mans land.
Details of the engagement -
Pozieres
In the weeks before the Australians arrived the British had mounted four major attacks on a village called Pozieres, all at a terrible cost. Pozieres was an ongoing battle, which occurred as part of the great British Somme offensive of 1916. During the period of 1915-1916 the Germans turned the high ground around Pozieres into an extremely strong defensive area. From their vantage points they could see any possible allied advancement and in the village was the fortified strong point known as 'Gibraltar'.
This little village of Pozieres that commanded the high ground, was one of the major objectives of General Haig's disastrous July 1 attack along 30 Kilometers of the Somme Front resulting in 60,000 allied casualties in a single day. 20,000 of these killed.
It was in July 1916 that Australians faced their first major engagement - to attack the heavily defended positions along the Aubers Ridge. It was along this ridge that a young German corporal, Adolf Hitler earned an Iron Cross.
ANZAC 1st Australian Division
Tuesday 25 JULY
Local conditions - Temp 66 deg F and Overcast
At 2 a.m. 5th Battalion on the right seized Old German Line 1 (OG1). When the barrage lifted, OG2 was entered but the Battalion was forced to retire to OG1due to the strength of the enemy's bombing from both flanks and had to fall back to OG1. After the bombing exchange, the Germans kept possession as far as the railway.
Memorial: Named on the memorial at VILLERS-BRETONNEUX. Also named at the AWM.
George William Stratton
Eldest son of Eliza COOK & Walter Thomas STRATTON
Rank - Private
Number: 1307
Rank: Private
Unit: 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles Contingent to the Boer War
Fate: Died
State: VIC
Killed in action at Wilmansrust 12 June 1901
Age 19 years.
Description of that action at Wilmansrust -
Trooper White of Caulfield and a member of H Company wrote in his letter home -
“We had just had our tea and got our issue of rum, which we get every second night out here, and I had just got into bed, when they opened fire, and thank God our horses were between us and them, because the first volley mowed our mounts down like a gust of wind. They all dropped like one, or else there would not be one of us in H Co. alive today.” White continued to describe the panic in the camp following the first volley. “You could not shoot on account of not knowing which were your own men in the dark. … I was in bed when it started and had taken off my coat and overcoat and put them over my bed, and when I got them back again there were five holes in the coat and the left arm of the overcoat was blown to pieces with explosive bullets. … Two of my mates on the right of me were both shot dead, whilst three others were very badly wounded, and one of them has since died; poor fellow, he was shot through the stomach and suffered terrible agony.”
On June 13, 1901 the 'poor fellow' Trooper James Collins of Cheltenham died of stomach wounds.
Trooper Chas Redstone of Cheltenham, a member of the picket on the perimeter of the camp, in his letter printed in the Brighton Southern Cross, described 'At quarter to eight the Boers put the first volley in and then they rushed the camp, shooting as fast as they could pull their triggers, never attempting to put the rifles to their shoulders. .. They ran along the line of saddles and shot men in their beds.'
Trooper Stratton
Killed in the Boer War aged 19. Reproduced with permission from AWM.
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Evidence of death
Summary of evidence of the death of Cpl Hankinson in France.
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