Calver, Frederick Emile

6242 Private Frederick Emile Calver - 11th Battalion AIF

Frederick Emile Calver was born in Fremantle in 1893 to Frederick and Marion Calver (nee Marion Aimee Beurteaux). The family were living at Suffolk Street Fremantle. Sadly his mother died in Fremantle on the 18th January 1894 of rheumatic fever and his father (who was station master at Fremantle) on the 8th June 1895. Frederick was then brought up by in Uncle and Aunt at Nungarin.

On the 14th March 1916 Frederick enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was found to be fit for enlistment, with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 7 & 1/2 inches tall;

Weight - 150lbs;

Chest Measurement - 36-38 inches;

Complexion - Medium;

Eyes - Grey;

Hair - Dark.

Upon his successful enlistment Frederick was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp and was assigned to No.54 Training Depot. He was taken through the basics of infantry work though after two weeks he was transferred to the 20th Reinforcements to the 11th battalion AIF.

Fred trained with this group in WA for the next five months. On the 7th September 1916 Fred and his group received their embarkation orders, so they entrained to Fremantle Harbour where they boarded the transport ship Clan Macgillivray and set sail for England, disembarking at Plymouth Harbour on the 2nd November 1916.

After being disembarked Fred was sent to the 3rd Training Battalion on the Salisbury Plains. He spent the next six weeks there but on the 17th December 1916 was sent to France. He then spent some time at the 1st Australian Division Base Depot Camp at Etaples, before joining the 11th battalion on the 17th January 1917. The 11th Battalion were then situated on the Somme battlefield near Flers.

In March 1917 the Germans began their withdrawal to their pre-prepared defensive positions known as the Hindenburg Line. The Australian and British units pressed their withdrawal all the way and many sharp battles were fought. The 11th Battalion seeing action around Morchies in March 1917 and in April they held an outpost line at Lagnicourt. On the 15^th April 1917 the Germans launched an assault on this line and they were initially successful as the Australian posts weren’t connected and they were able to make their way through the posts, surrounding and capturing the men in many of the positions. The Germans were eventually repulsed and there were large casualties for both sides. Fortunately, Fred came through this action unscathed and subsequent actions at Bullecourt in May 1917.

In June 1917 the 11th Battalion were withdrawn from the front line for a well-deserved rest period and they spent three months out of the line. In September 1917 the 11th Battalion returned to the line in Belgium, taking part in the Third Battle of Ypres, serving at the battle of Menin Road on September 20th 1917 and then Celtic Wood and Zonnebeke in October 1917. 

From November 1917 to March 1918, the 11th Battalion held the front line in the sector between Messines and Ypres Belgium. As a result of the German offensive of March 21st, 1918, when they broke through the British front in the southern sector, the five Australian divisions were sent to the Somme to help stop this advance. The 11th Battalion, as part of the 1st Australian Division was the last of the divisions to leave Belgium and had just arrived near Amiens when the Germans broke through the line in Belgium and made a speedy advance into northern France. The 1st Australian Division was then returned north and met the Germans around Hazebrouck, Meteren and Merris and for the next few months were in action here.

On the 27th April 1918 Fred got evacuated sick with trench fever and after a few days in hospital in France was evacuated back to England. He was admitted to King George Hospital at Stamford and stayed there till the 21st May 1918 when he transferred to No.3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford. Three days later he was transferred to No.4 Command Depot Camp at Hurdcott. Fred remained here till the 29th July 1918 when he was transferred to the Overseas Training Brigade Camp at Longbridge Deverell.

Fred was due to be sent back to France but instead was assigned to a Signalling Course at the 1st Training Battalion at Sutton Veny Camp. He remained at this course over the next few months and was still at Sutton Veny Camp when the Armistice was announced on the 11th November 1918.

In January 1919 Fred was posted to the 2nd Training Battalion camp at Codford and would remain here for the next month. On the 28th February 1919 Fred boarded the transport ship Anchises and set sail for home, arriving at Albany on the 7th April 1919. The men were then entrained for Perth.

On the 19th May 1919 Fred was discharged from the AIF.

He then returned to the countryside and was farming at Nungarin into the mid 1930's. In 1937 Fred moved to Roseberry Ave in South Perth and secured a job as a foreman.

In 1937 he married Olive Amelia Riggs and they then moved to 36 Canterbury Terrace in Victoria Park. They remained living here till the 1960's.

Frederick died on the 23rd December 1962 aged 69. He was cremated at Karrakatta Cemetery.