Fitzgerald, Francis William
No.3049 – Private Francis William Fitzgerald – 11th Battalion AIF
Francis William Fitzgerald was born in Fremantle WA on October 19th 1896 to John Joseph & Catherine Fitzgerald. He was one of seven children and the family lived in Point Street Fremantle. Francis attended the local state school and was a member of the 86a Cadets of the Citizen Military Forces. After leaving school Francis joined the Royal Australian Navy. He was initially sent to the Navy Depot in London where he began service on the 1st January 1913. He was not in the Depot long for on the 18th January 1913 he was assigned to the HMAS Melbourne. On the 22nd April 1913 Francis was transferred to the training base, HMAS Cerberus. He remained here until the 14th November 1913 when he was transferred to the ship HMAS Encounter. Francis only had a few months service on this ship as on the 6th April 1914 he was discharged from the Royal Australian Navy due to misconduct, but it does not explain what this misconduct was.
Francis then returned home to Fremantle but on the 8th July 1915, aged just 18, he went to the Perth Drill Hall to enlist in the AIF. He was passed as fit with the medical examiner finding him to be 5 feet 7 & ½ inches in height; weight of 136 lbs; chest measurement of 33-35 inches; fair complexion; blue eyes and dark brown hair. His religious denomination was Roman Catholic.
Francis was immediately assigned to the 9th Reinforcements to the 16th Battalion but he was later transferred to the 10th Reinforcements to the 11th Battalion AIF. He trained with this group in WA for the next few months and waited for their departure call. On the 13th October 1915 he boarded the H.M.A.T. “Themistocles” in Fremantle Harbour and set sail for Egypt. After arriving in Egypt in November, the men were put into the AIF Infantry Depot where they awaited to be posted to their unit. There was a delay for Francis and his group in joining the 11th Battalion as plans were afoot to withdraw from the Gallipoli peninsula and no infantry were to be sent on to join their units. So they remained in Egypt to wait the 11th Battalion’s return.
After having Christmas on Lemnos Island the 11th Battalion returned to Egypt in early 1916. Francis was taken on strength of the 11th Battalion on the 7th January 1916 and was posted to “B” Company. From January through to March the 11th Battalion continued to train in Egypt. Francis’s only time away from the unit was when he was admitted to hospital on the 6th February 1916 though he had returned by the 12th February. In late March the Battalion received their orders to proceed to France so on the 29th March they arrived in Alexandria where they boarded the H.M.T. “Corsican”. They then set sail for France, arriving at Marseilles on the 5th April 1916.
After being disembarked the men were put onto trains and sent to the north of France where they took up front line positions for the first time. They were in positions just to the south of Armentieres in an area known as Fleurbaix. Here they gained their first experience of the Western Front and through April and May learnt the ways of warfare in France. On the 30th May 1916 the 11th Battalion were on the receiving end of a German trench raid and suffered heavy casualties. Francis survived this but was not so fortunate a week later on the 7th June when the Germans launched a fierce bombardment on the 11th Battalion’s trenches. Francis was killed in action. He was taken back and buried at Rue Petillon Military Cemetery with the burial service conducted by Reverend John Fahey of the 3rd Brigade. Francis Fitzgerald lies in plot I.J.44.
His mother was already deceased and not long after the war his father also died, leaving his sister, Monica Fitzgerald as the person who would receive Francis’s medals. At the time she was living with relations in Tuckfield Street Fremantle.