大象传媒

In 1912, Eric Pheysey was a student at King Charles 1st School in Kidderminster. By 1914, he had sailed to Australia to become a farmer. His family were shocked to hear in October that he鈥檇 enrolled in the Australian Infantry and was training with the Expeditionary Force.

His story is typical of the many British men who fought for the Commonwealth countries and travelled across the world during World War One. Like Eric, many of them had emigrated to Australia and New Zealand to become farmers.

In February 1915, Eric sailed from Australia to Egypt by steamship and joined the 11th Batallion 3rd brigade of the AIF to fight the Turkish army. After being shot in the legs he was sent to the Gizera Palace in Cairo which was operating as an army hospital.

His letters describe the attitude to race at the time, with the Black and Indian crew serving the White soldiers on board the ship, and Arabs waiting on the injured as they recuperate by taking trips down the Nile.

From there he was sent to London for more treatment before moving on to France in March 1916, as part of the reorganised AIF. He showed great optimism, declaring 鈥溾��Mother, I think by Christmas we shall have won the war鈥�Won鈥檛 we all be happy!鈥�

He was killed in the battle of Pozieres on the Somme on July 1916. He is one of the 100,000 men killed in the Salient region who have no known graves.

Today Eric is one of 46 former pupils remembered on the school鈥檚 war memorial.

For Australia, WW1 remains the most costly conflict in history. From a population of fewer than five million; 416,809 men enlisted, more than 60,000 including Eric were killed and 156,000 were wounded or imprisoned.

Location: Kidderminster High School, Kidderminster, Worcestershire DY11 6RL
Image shows Eric Pheysey, courtesy of Imperial War Museums

Show less