No.2730 – Private John Stanley Cross – 12th Battalion AIF
John Stanley Cross was born in Hornsey London England in 1890 to John and Annie Cross. He went to the Duncombe Rd School in Upper Holloway and after leaving took up an apprenticeship of 7 years as a Machine/Paper Ruler.
In 1911 aged 21 he travelled to Australia for work. He arrived in Western Australia and resided for a time in Fremantle. His father later wrote that Fremantle was the town he was most closely associated with while in Australia.
When John enlisted into the AIF in August 1915 he was in Townsville Queensland and the medical officer found him to be 5 feet 7 ½ inches tall; weight of 132 lbs; chest measurement on 33 ½ inches; fair complexion; blue eyes and fair hair. His religious denomination was Church of England.
John was allotted to the 6th reinforcements to the 26th Battalion AIF and trained with them in Queensland until the 21st October 1915 when they embarked upon the H.M.A.T “Seang Bee”. After arriving in Egypt John was sent to the 7th Training Battalion but he never joined the 26th Battalion. On the 1st March 1916 John was taken on strength of the 12th Battalion AIF. The next few weeks was spent training in Egypt though on the 29th March they boarded the transport ship in Alexandria and made their way to France, arriving at Marseilles on the 5th April 1916.
After arriving in France, the Australians were sent to the north in the vicinity of Armentieres. The 1st Division would spend the next few months in this area and would only leave when they were sent south to take part in the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. The 12th Battalion took part in the capture of Pozieres village in July and John survived this action. After the 1st Division was relieved they had a few weeks rest but in mid August were again brought into the line for an attack against Mouquet Farm. It was during the period 19th – 22nd August that John was killed in action. There are no eyewitness accounts of his death and he has no known grave and is therefore commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
