HANKINSON, Stanley James

Stanley Hankinson was the second child of seven. Born in 1885 to James and Catherine Hankinson, nee Stratton, he had an elder sister Elizabeth (Lily) Ellen b. 1883 and then two sisters and two brothers: Ethel May b. 1888; Norman Lewis b. 1890; Albert Edward (Bert) b.1894; and Irene Victoria Catherine (Rene) b. 1901. He was born in Kyneton, Victoria, and educated at Kyneton State School. When he left schoool, he went to work at Dales' Mutual Stores in Kyneton, but was later apprenticed to Mr. A.M.Perkins, a watchmaker and jeweller, with whom he first served an apprenticeship and then worked with him for fifteen years. From Perkins, he left for Melbourne and worked there for two years, before moving to Warrnambool, where he had a position as a watchmaker with local jeweller, Mr. W. Ferguson. In his leaisure time, he was an active member of the Warrnambool Congregational CHurch and the local Men's Intsitute. He worked in Warrnambool until June, 1915, when he enlisted in the AIF. It was at Warrnambool, too, that he met his future wife, Ruby Thomas.

From Warrnambool, Stan left for military training at Seymour; on his final leave, he married Ruby, and three weeks later, on 15 September, 1915, set sail with the other volunteers for the war front on board S.S. 'Makarini'.in Egypt, they did further training at Tel-el-Kebir, before leaving for the Gallipoli Peninsula. With the rest of the 5th battalion, Stan Hankinson was part of the evacuation in December and then the defense of the Suez Canal. On 29 February, he was appointed Lance-Corporal at Serapeum.

On 25 March, 1916, the battalion left from Alexandria for the Western Front, disembarking at Marseilles on 30 March. Stanley Hankinson was sent on a twenty day course in a 'non-com' school to study bombs and bayonet fighting, before being promoted to Corporal on 29 June, 1916. In July, they were engaged in their first major action at Pozieres, a two week struggle between the opposing sides in the middle stages of the Battle of the Somme. Here, the allied troops had captured the Pozieres Ridge and village, but a fierce counter-attack by German troops began on 25 July. Stanley Hankinson was one of the many killed as part of that battle. It was the official war historian, C.E.W. Bean who commented of Pozieres that 'it is more desnely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth'. 

Stan Hankinson was first posted as 'missing in action' and his body was never retrieved. He became one of the 10,885 Australian soldiers killed in France with no known grave. However, the Red Cross files at the Australian War Memorial list a number of witnesses to his death.

Private F. Harris, 2382, 5th Battalion: 'he had his head badly wounded while on the parapet at Pozieres on July 25. Pte. W.H.Brown, 11 Platoon, A Co., and Pte. C Baker, 11 PLatoon, A Co., were with him when he was struck, They say he was killed outright ... Hankinson belonged to 11 Platoon, A Co.'

Private Cathcart ' ... he passed into the world beyond with a smile on his face and a clean soul, while nobly doing his duty.'

It was not until 6 January of 1917, however, that his parents coud place this notice in the Kyneton Guardian: 'Mr. and Mrs. Jas. Hankinson of Kynteon and Jolimont have receieved official intimation that their eldest son, Corporal Stanley James Hankinson, was killed in action in France on July 25, 1916.'

Stanley James Hankinson is listed on the Villers-Brettoneux Memorial, Villers-Brettoneux, France; in the AWM145 Roll of Honour cards and on Panel 43 in the Commemorative Area of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.