SHERLOCK Albert (3571)
14 B  KIA 20/8/18

Albert Sherlock was born at Piggoreet. His father was deceased by the time of his enlistment (July 1915). His mother – Sarah Jane Sherlock (Jobling) – was listed as next-of-kin and her address, throughout and after the War, was also Piggoreet. When she completed the information for the (National) Roll of Honour, she gave Piggoreet as the location with which her son was chiefly connected. However, Private Sherlock enlisted in Yarram and there is evidence of strong links to the local community. His name appears on both the Shire of Alberton Roll of Honor – but he is not marked as ‘killed’ – and the Alberton Shire Soldiers’ Memorial.

Albert Sherlock must have been working in the Shire of Alberton for several years before he enlisted. His name appears on the electoral roll for 1915, as a labourer of Madalya. The Gippsland Standard and Alberton Shire Representative regularly featured a short column of news from Hiawatha and Albert Sherlock’s name featured there in relation to the local sports for Madalya (27/3/14), the football club for Hiawatha (5/5/15) and, surprisingly, the local (Hiawatha) debating society (29/7/14). Similarly, when he enlisted his name was written up (21/7/15) – it was incorrectly recorded as ‘Allan’ – as one of the locals who had enlisted and, one year after his enlistment, the paper reported (15/11/16) that, as he was already overseas, his Shire Medallion had been passed to either a relative or friend.

Later, in 1918, there was no mention in the paper of his death and no death notice appeared. However, there was a report (1/11/18) – again, in the section on Hiawatha – to the effect that the local district Soldiers’ Fund had directed the secretary to purchase enlarged photos of several locals who had been killed, including A. Sherlock. Presumably, such photos were to feature in some sort of memorial. However, the only extant memorial from Hiawatha appears to be the state school honour roll and, not surprisingly, Albert Sherlock’s name does not appear on it. At the same time, his name does appear, as a resident, on the honour roll for Madalya School and District.

Private Sherlock enlisted in Yarram on 16/7/15. His initial medical was carried out by Dr Crooks at Yarram, and there was a subsequent re-examination in Melbourne 10 days later (26/7/15). He was issued with a railway warrant (number 151) by the Shire Secretary on 16/7/15. His occupation was recorded as ‘laborer’. Presumably he was working in Madalya as a farm labourer. He was 27 yo at the time and single. His religion was Church of England.

Private Sherlock joined as reinforcements for 7 Battalion and he left Melbourne less than 3 months later (11/10/15). His group of reinforcements then spent time training in Egypt and it was at this time that he was transferred (7/4/16) to the newly formed 14 Battalion. There was also a period of hospitalisation with the mumps at this time.

His unit reached France in July 1916. Nearly a year later, in April 1917, he was hospitalised with nephritis and repatriated to England. He did not return to France until October that year (15/10/17). He was hospitalised again in January 1918 (8/1/18), this time with epilepsy, and, once again, he was repatriated to the UK. He returned to France in April and re-joined 14 Battalion on 27/4/18.

Private Sherlock was killed in action on 20/8/18. He was buried in Heath Cemetery, Harbonnieres.

Private Sherlock’s death came nearly 2 weeks after the main battle at Amiens. On the night of 15/16 August, 14 Battalion moved back to the front line to relieve 11 Battalion, and stayed there until the night of 20 August when, in turn, it was relieved by 18 Battalion. Over this 5 day period in the line, the war diary for 14 Battalion indicates that there was ‘fairly heavy’ artillery fire and several instances of aerial bombing on its position. The level of air warfare had increased dramatically by this point. Battalion casualties for this short spell in the front line were only light: only 4 dead and 21 wounded. The greatest concentration occurred on 20 August, the day Private Sherlock was killed, when there were 2 dead and 10 wounded. Unfortunately, there is no Red Cross report for Private Sherlock.

The cable advising of the death was dated 1/9/18.

When it came to the distribution of the service medals, the mother was required, in keeping with relevant legislation, to identify if there were … any nearer blood relations than yourself, for instance, is his father still alive. She replied (30/7/20) that the father was dead and all medals, personal kit and the photograph of the grave were subsequently sent to her.

The personal kit returned to the mother came in 2 parcels. The first contained …  2 Discs, 1 canvas case, 1 wallet, photos, 1 note book. The second had … 5 Pr Woollen socks and I safety razor.

Little is known of Albert Sherlock’s early life or the time he spent in the local area (Madalya) before he enlisted but he definitely was a ‘local’.

References

Gippsland Standard and Alberton Shire Representative

National Archives file for SHERLOCK Albert
Roll of Honour: Albert Sherlock
First World War Embarkation Roll: Albert Sherlock