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Wallace Robert GRANT
| Rank | Reg/Ser No | DOB | Enlisted | Discharge/Death | Board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pte | 2575 | 44y2m | 14 Jun 1916 | 24 Aug 1917 | 2 |
Private Wallace Robert Grant (1871 - 1964)
Ian Carnell, the author of the story of Scott Crawford Stewart Mullin, suggested that one of the effects of the conscription referendum was that older men saw a need to enlist. John Loosemore was over 40 and Wallace Robert Grant, who is the subject of this story, was 44 years and 2 months old.
Wallace was the third child of Robert Peter Grant and his wife Louisa Matilda nee Isham, and was born in Toowoomba in April 1871.
Marriage
Wallace was married in September 1898 to Rosetta Warnes who came to Australia with her parents on the Merkara in 1887.
Enlistment
Wallace and Rosetta’s marriage was 18 years old and there were 7 children aged between 3 and 17 when he enlisted on 14 June 1916. His occupation was given as store assistant, his height 167cm and weight 63.5kg, he had a medium complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. He had a distinctive scar on his left side. His religion was given as Presbyterian, and he passed his medical as fit to serve. The family lived at Kenmore in Pomona at that time.
Private Wallace R. Grant left Brisbane on 17 November 1916 on the Kyarra, disembarking in Plymouth England on 30 January 1917. He marched in to the 11th Training Battalion at Durrington north of Salisbury. On 7 April, a medical report stating ‘senility’ recorded that he had an operation for hydrocele after he enlisted. At this time he was on light duties.
He marched in to Command Depot at Weymouth on 18 April 1917 classified C3 (permanently unfit for service). On 4 May he embarked on the Runic arriving home on 5 July and was discharged medically unfit. In 1913 and 1919 his address was given as Widgee.
His wife and children each sought an incapacity pension, but the Department’s response was “…incapacity, if any, is not considered to be the result of his employment in connection with warlike operations”.
As Wallace saw no action, he was awarded only the British War Medal.
Passing
Rosetta died on 12 September 1953 and her husband, Wallace, died on 5 July 1964. Both are buried in the Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane.
Written by Bob Warrick, Brisbane, 2016 ©
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