HUMPHREYS, Alfred Ernest

Alf Humphreys was born in Greenoch, Scotland and emigrated with his parents to Australia. The Humphreys had seven children, of whom two boys stayed behind. In 1914 when he enlisted, he was living with his mother and sister, Annie in Simpson Street, East Melbourne and working as a traveller. He was one of the earliest men to enlist, signing up on 18 August, 1914. At the time, he was aged 37 and was a large man, 5'10" in height and wieghing over 14 stone. He had had five years previous service with C Company, 2nd Battalion AIF.

He was put into the 6th Battalion, recruited from Victoria once war had been declared. Two months later,  the battalion embarked from Melbourne on HMAT A20 ' Hororata', which stopped briefly in Albany, West Australia, before proceeding to Egypt, arriving 2 December, 1914. The 6th Battalion took part in the Anzac landing on 25 April, 1915, as part of the second wave. Alf Humphreys was killed in action and his body was not recovered until 1920. The War Office wrote to his sister, Annie, his next of kin, informing her that her brother's body had been recovered from a Turkish cemetery at Pine Ridge and been re-interred at the lone pine cemetery, Row A Grave 10. He is also remembered at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, on the Roll of Honour, Panel 47 in the Commemoration Area.

The Red Cross records have two witness statements to the death of Alf Humphreys, of which that tended by Private W. Molloy is most detailed. It reads:

'Humphreys got through the first day of the launching alright up to 5 pm. About that time, a bullet struck his arm, cutting an artery. Witness saw him bleeding and tried to stop it, but it was too late. Lieut. Young was there and agreed there was no hope for Humphreys. They had to leave him. He may have made an attempt to get to a dressing station, but appeared too far gone for that. Humphreys was a big, stout fellow, and a great friend of the witness.'

In 1917, his family remembered his death in a notice in The Argus: Humphreys: IN loving memory of Alf (Private A.E. Humphries, 6th Battalion, who was killed in action at Gallipoli, 25 April, 1915.'