People of East Melbourne
This is a list of biographies of residents of East Melbourne.
This project started to commemorate the soldiers and nurses who went to Europe to serve in World War 1. But it has grown from there to cover biographies of any and all residents of note.
Along with many of their fellow Australians people from East Melbourne flocked to enlist. Many were heroes. Many lost their lives or suffered horrific physical or mental injuries. At home family and friends worked, endured and suffered consequences that were sometimes terrible and persisted long after the war.
Major-General Michael O'Brien gave us a starting point with a list of East Melbourne people who served in WW1. He spoke to the Society in April 2013 to give us some context to the period and to help the EMHS prepare for its own commemorations of this most devastating period in our history.
Everyone can participate by gathering or documenting information:
- Photos, memorabilia and family records
- Stories in books, newspapers and on-line
- Memorial plaques in churches and public places
- War memorial, church, national and state archives
You can refine the list by applying the various filter criteria and go to a particular detailed biography by click on the title.
CUREL, John
John CUREL was the second son of Emily Bragg and Henry Edward Curel, and stepson of Arthur Bragg (see entry). Like his brother Archibald Charles Curel, he had been born at Cloncurry, North Queensland. In 1914, He was a 22 year old and single, a miner by occupation, 5' 9" tall, with blue eyes and brown hair.
- 3267 reads
CURRIE, Robert
Photo below: Studio portrait probably of 4159 Private (Pte) Robert Kingsley Currie, 5th Battalion, of East Melbourne, Vic, and another unidentified soldier. Pte Currie enlisted on 2 September 1915 and embarked aboard HMAT Demosthenes on 29 December 1915. He returned to Australia aboard the HMAT Orontes on 25 October 1919 with the 46th Battalion. [AWM]
- 2748 reads
DALY, Patrick
Very little can be written about Patrick Daly. His name appears both on the 14th Battalion lists form the Australian War Memorial and on the Embarkation Roll, but the National Archives have no Service Records for him. On the Electoral Rolls, he appears in 1912 as a labourer, living at 394 Elizabeth St., Melbourne, but on no other Electoral Roll form 1912-1920.
- 2700 reads
DARLING, Edward Ernest
Edward Ernest Darling was born on 30 September, 1893, the son of Richard Stuart Darling and his wife Sophia, nee Cook. In 1903, he married Elizabeth Annie Agnes Kemp, known as Eliza, in South Melbourne, the daughter of Henry Kemp and Agnes Uglow Kemp.
- 3103 reads
DAVIES, Gilbert Heneage
Gilbert Heneage Davies was born in 1879 in Jolimont, to George Schoen Davies, a clerk, and his wife, Sarah Annie, nee Staples. Gilbert was born on 27 April, and Sarah died on 4 May, 1879, so it would seem that she died of complications followinf childbirth, Geogre Davies married again, to Jessie Agnes Mchurtie, and had three other sons: Dr.
- 2984 reads
DAVIES, Percival Naunton
Percival Naunton Davies was the son of John Davies and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Auguste Fischer. John Davies owned an iron foundry, Davies and Baird, and his son followed in his father's trade. Born in 1883, he married Irene Myra Scott in 1916, and they were to have three children: Margaret b.1920 d.1980, Kathleen b.1922 d. 1990 and John Scott b.1929 d.1991.
- 2994 reads
DAVIS, John George Walker
John George Walker Davis was born in East Melbourne in 1897, but was orphaned at the age of three and raised in Western Australia as her adopted son by Mary Skene, of 157 Claisebrook St., East Perth. He was just over twenty when he enlisted on 21 February 1917, working as an apprentice silversmith in Sedgewick St., Perth.
- 3411 reads
DAVIS, Mark
Mark Davis was the son of David and Florrie Davis. He was born in East Melbourne, and his address may have been at 36 Clarendon St., East Melbourne, where his mother was living in 1903. He was a railway employee, married to Lillian May Davis, nee Fielding, in 1915. In 1916, when he enlisted he was 25 years and 4 months old.
- 2781 reads
DAVIS, William Emille
William Davis was 45 years old when he enlisted. He was a single man, a dentist with a Doctor of Dentistry qualification from the University of California, USA. He already had extensive military experience, as a Lieutenant with the 63rd and 62nd Infantry, as well as the Automobile Corps. and had been elevated to Captain on 1 January, 1914.
- 2718 reads
DAVISON, Frank Sinclair
Frank Davison was born in August 1880. His father John left his mother in 1890 and was never seen again. Frank was living at 19 George Street, East Melbourne in 1914 [ Electoral Roll] His mother was living in South Perth in Western Australia.
- 3359 reads
DE MORTON, Walter Henri
Walter Henri de Morton was over age when he enlisted on 11 December, 1916. He gave his age as 39, but was already 47. He was a widower and gave as his next of kin his son, Edward David De Morton. They both lived at 138 Lake St., Perth. Walter was a railway employee and gave his. Employment as 'checker'.
- 2930 reads
DEACON, Allan Stanley
Allan Stanley Deacon was Scottish by birth and had been born at Milton on Lenzie, Dunbartonshire, in 1886. He was 29 years old when he enlisted, a single man, who named as his next of kin his father, Cecil Deacon of Kirkintillock, Scotland. Cecil Deacon (1859-19350 and his wife Letitia Frances, nee Berry, (b.1863) were the parents of six children, of whom Allan was the second oldest.
- 2841 reads
DEANE, Cornelius Aloysius
Cornelius Aloysius Deane came from a large family at Wahring, near Nagambie, Victoria. He was the son of Patrick and Johanna (nee Forde) Deane and brother to Teresa, Jonnie, Caecilia, May, Patrick and Thomas, plus one other sister and a brother who died early. He enlisted on 9 July, 1916, at which time he was a 24 year old bachelor and a mechanical drafstman and designer by trade.
- 3533 reads
DELANEY, Richard
Richard Delaney was Irish by birth and came from Galway. He was 35 years old, single and working as a sawyer when he enlisted on 19 July, 1916. He was Roman Catholic in faith and living at 162 Powlett Street, East Melbourne, within easy walking distance of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
- 3022 reads
DENE, Arundel Cecil
Arundel Cecil Dene enlisted on 15 December 1914. He was a journalist, aged 28, married to Phyllis Lilian and living at 'Rockleigh', in George Street, East Melbourne, now known at 'Braemar'. It may have been Phyllis's family home. Dene had been born in the suburb of Clapham, London, on 26 March, 1886.
- 2523 reads
DENSHAM, Roger
Roger Densham was the first-born of twins born to Robert Densham and his wife Mary Ann, nee Hartnell, on 20 January 189o. They had four other children, Annie (1885-1977), Alma (1887-1979), May Page (1891-1979), nad Mary (1893-1981). Roger's twin, William died in 1894.
- 2703 reads
DEVEREUX, Matthew
Born in Maryborough, Melbourne, by 1917 Matthew Devereux was 33 and 3 months old when he enlisted at Redfern, Sydney, NSW on 18 September, 1917. His connection with East Melbourne is therefore tenuous - his next of kin was his father, John Devereux, whom he claimed lived at 61 George Street, East Melbourne.
- 2968 reads
DEVINE, William
William Devine was a parish priest at St Paul's Church, 264 Brunswick Street, Coburg, when he enlisted on 1 July, 1915. The son of George Devine, a draper, and his wife Catherine, nee McGluckey, he was educated at Drumnadey National School, St. Columba's College, Derry and St. Patrick's College, Maynooth.
- 3362 reads
DITCHBURN, William Arthur
William Ditchburn was the second of eight sons born to Thomas Ditchburn (1848-1903) and his wife Eugenie Jane, nee Musika. William Ditchburn was an ironmonger, when he enlisted on 1 March, 1915. Of his four children,the youngest, Noel, was born in 1916, and it is possible that his wife, Mary Ann, nee Findlay, died in childbirth.
- 2877 reads
DIX, Frank
Frank Dix was 22 years old when he enlisted on 18 January, 1916. He was the son of George Albert Dix and Edith Hooper and identified himself by occupation as a student. He was immediately attached to 'C' Flight, No 1 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps, at Laverton, Victoria, and appointed as an Air Mechanic.
- 2249 reads