No.4589 – Private Herbert Cumming – 48th Battalion AIF
Herbert Cumming was born in Fremantle WA in 1890 to George and Sarah Cumming, though when he was a child his mother took up residence in Mundijong in the South of WA, the family being deserted by their father. Herbert attended Mundijong State School, and after leaving took up employment as a Timber Worker. On the 9th November 1915 Herbert went to Perth to enlist in the AIF. The medical examiner found him to be 5 feet 11 inches in height; weight of 147 lbs; chest measurement of 36-39 inches; dark complexion; brown eyes and black hair. His religious denomination was Presbyterian.
Initially assigned to No.36 Depot and then B Company 4 Depot Battalion, on the 16th December 1915 Herbert was assigned to the 14th Reinforcements to the 16th Battalion AIF. This group trained in WA until the 12th of February 1916 when they embarked from Fremantle aboard the H.M.A.T. “Miltiades”. Arriving at Suez on the 11th March 1916 Herbert and his reinforcement group were marched into the 4th Training Battalion. On the 2nd April 1916 Herbert was assigned to the 48th Battalion AIF and he trained with them for the next few months in the desert. On the 2nd June 1916 Herbert embarked with the 48th Battalion from Alexandria, arriving at Marseilles on the 9th June 1916.
After their arrival in France, the 48th Battalion were sent north to the region around Armentieres where they gained experience in trench warfare. In July 1916 they left this region and were sent south to the Somme. The 48th Battalion went into the line at Pozieres approx August 7th when they relieved the 2nd Division units. Herbert’s platoon had to go and occupy a forward part of a captured trench and there were 10 men in this section when a high explosive shell fell in amongst them and exploded. Four men including Herbert were killed outright.
A soldier in the same trench L/Cpl Birt was wounded and remarked to a friend that;
“Poor old Bert Cumming has gone, he has been blown to pieces.”
Herbert Cumming was listed as killed in action on 8th August 1916 and is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial
