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Archiver > AUS-MILITARY > 2004-06 > 1088204036
From: Joe Bissett <>
Subject: Re: WW1 casualty - where is Gaba Lepe?
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 17:53:56 -0500
References: <6.0.0.22.0.20040625075209.025db520@pop3.idworld.net><PCEELLIFLMFHJMDJLEBBEEENCCAA.wardfam@alphalink.com.au>
In-Reply-To: <PCEELLIFLMFHJMDJLEBBEEENCCAA.wardfam@alphalink.com.au>
Hi George,
At 05:14 PM 06/25/2004, George Ward wrote:
>Good morning all,
> Re Sgt.Major Piggot. I am sure there is a photo of him in the newspaper.
>I've done a bit of research on some members of the 5th,Battalion and felt
>that he may have served in India or even South Africa before comung here.
>Regards
Thanks for your response. You are correct. I have a photo of my
Grandfather that was published in the Melbourne newspaper after his
death. He looks exactly like what a "colonial" would expect a British
Staff Sergeant Major to look like, including the moustache. ;-)
You are also correct about his military record. He served 21 years in the
British Royal Guards Artillery, with postings in India (where he married
our grandmother), Aden and Hong Kong, as well as posts in England.
The HUGE mystery is why he went to Australia!
My grandmother either died or ran off with someone else around
1912. Frederick PIGGOTT retired from the RGA on 7 January, 1914. Some
time within three weeks preceding 7 January, his typewriten paperwork was
changed with a somewhat unreadable hand written notation. He went
immediately to Dover, rather than to Broadstairs, Isle of Thanet, Kent as
he had originally planned. The three children were "left" with relatives
in and around Broadstairs.
From papers submitted by his brothers in 1921 for award of a medal, it
seems that some time between mid January 1914 and June 1914 Frederick
sailed to Australia "in charge of 350 boys". After much discussion, we now
feel that he escorted young UK workers to Australia under the "Dreadnought"
program. I have been unable to determine his port of departure, the date,
the ship or his initial port of call in Australia. If the Dreadnought
theory proves true, than I would suspect that his first port of call would
have been in Western Australia.
In any event, he was first noted in Melbourne in June 1914 as a member of
the 52nd Regiment (Reserve). My understanding is that there are no
surviving records for the 52nd at this time. On 1 September, 1914 he
became a part of the ANZAC, as Staff Sergeant Major, number 6, for the 5th
Battalion. The Battalion sailed for Mena, Egypt along with the other ANZAC
forces, and I have a blurry picture of him in front of the pyramids.
He landed at Gaba Tepe with his men on 25 April in the initial assault. He
is mentioned in a book as assisting an Artillery Officer with a weapon. I
understand that he was wounded twice and would not fall out. His third
wound was supposedly a "dum-dum" in the stomach area, from which there is
really no chance to recover. He died aboard a hospital ship the next
morning and was buried at sea.
Our family would be thrilled to uncover any additional information on the
"when, how and why" he went to Australia, leaving our parents in
England. I would also be interested in anything for the 52nd at this time.
Finally, the only obituary that I have received was posted by a Mrs.
O'Laughlin and family. I have absolutely no information on this woman, or
what Frederick's relationship with the family included.
Thanks again for your interest.
Warm regards, Joe
Joe Bissett, PIGGOTT List Administrator/Rootsweb
I use Archive CD Books in my genealogical research to access otherwise
unavailable primary source material. http://www.archivecdbooks.us/
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