Just Another Pair Of Socks

Melton District ANZACS

John Alfred PALLANT

Personal

Born: 1889

Birthplace: St Peters Parish, Thurmaston, Leicester, UK

Parents: Alfred Pallant
Polly Bailey

Died: 5 March, 1917

Cause: Killed In Action

Place of death: Lagincourt, Bapaume, France

Burial place: No known Grave.

Awards and Honours

  • 1914-1915 Star
  • British War Medal 1914-20
  • Victory Medal
  • 1914-1918 Memorial Plaque

Battalions

23rd Battalion, 14th reinforcements.

Events

Enlistment

Regimental Service Number: 2434

Enlistment date: 12 July, 1915 Melbourne Town Hall

Age at enlistment: 26 years 1 month

Address at enlistment: Holdens Farm, Rockbank, Victoria

Religion: Church of England

Marital Status: Married

Next of kin: Mrs Harriet Pallant (nee Trehearne)
462 Abbey Lane, Belgrave, Leicester, UK

Physical Description: Height: 5 feet 2 inches
Weight: 126 pounds
Complexion: Fair
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Fair
Distinctive marks: Scar back of left knee

Embarkation ship: 1 - Osterley 2 - Militades.

Rank: Private

Return Date: 29 January, 1916

Return Vessel: H.T. Suffolk.

Arrival at Australia: 3 May, 1916.At: Melbourne

War Service Summary

19/07/1915 -02/08/1915 - At Depot
29/09/1915 - Embarked for overseas
17/11/1915 - Reported ill at Zeitoun; typhoid; recommend return to Australia for 3 months
21/12/1915 - Admitted 1st A. H., Heliopolis
11/01/1916 - Admitted, Cairo; enteric fever
18/01/1916 - Cairo
28/01/1916 - Discharged Shoubra Hospital for Australia per Suffolk
29/01/1916 - Embarked for Australia from Suez per H.T. Suffolk
02/02/1916 - Typhoid disability noted on medical record per Suffolk
05/03/1916 - Arrived at Melbourne
09/05/1916 - Recommended return to light duty
06/06/1916 - Returned to duty
10/06/1916 - Begins regime of typhoid vaccinations at Royal Park. Melbourne
23/06/1916 - Allotted to 14th Reinforcements, 23rd Battalion
01/08/1916 - Re-embarked per Miltiades from Melbourne
25/09/1916 - Disembarked at Plymouth; marched in to Rollestone
19/11/1916 - Proceeded overseas to France per S.S. Onward
20/11/1916 - Marched in from England; Etaples
01/12/1916 - Marched out to join unit
02/12/1916 - Rejoined unit from hospital and recuperation in Australia
03/05/1917 - Killed In Action: first reported Wounded in Action then reported Missing in Action then recorded as Killed in Action

17/12/1917 Memorandum from Commanding Officer confirming death

Killed in action.

Date: 3 May, 1917

Killed In Action: first reported Wounded in Action then reported Missing in Action then recorded as Killed in Action, Lagincourt, Bapaume, France

No known grave, but commemorated at the Villiers-Bretonneux Memorial, Somme, France.

Australian War Memorial Commemorative area: Panel 100

Red Cross Report:
“Pallant was a Leicester man … Young man – married with a couple of children he told me, medium complexion. On right of Bullicourt, in attack in Hindnburg Line in May ’16. We had just reached the Hun barbed wire, I saw Pallant leave and run toward our front line, bleeding with his hand to his eye. I spoke to him but he did not answer. Our fellows went on to the Hun 3rd line. I did not see him further.” Pte. F. Nelson 4014

“On May 3rd about Lagnicourt, the other side of Bapaume, on the morning we were lying out following up the Germans as they retired. He was captured in a German strong post and was sniping. He was either sniped or hit by a piece of shrapnel. I saw him carried back past where we were lying and put down by the side of a shell-hole. That was the last I saw of him and he was almost certainly killed by the German barrage. … He was well-liked in the Battalion.” Pte. J.B. Doren 5338

07/09/1917 - Pension awarded to wife Harriet at 40/- per fortnight and to daughters Edna May 1 per fortnight until 16/02/1928 and Jean Alice 15/- until 02/08/1933
17/12/1917 Memorandum from Commanding Officer confirming death

Additional Information

John Pallant is listed on the Melton cenotaph as "G. Pallant"

Names of wife & children:
Married Harriet Beatrice Treharne

Children:
Edna May Pallant
Constance B[eatrice?]
Jean Alice

Place/s of residence:
Rockbank
Belgrave, Leicester, UK

Other relevant information:
John was an Englishman who had arrived in Victoria on the Irishman, an immigrant ship of men seeking work in Australia. He obtained work as a farm labourer in Rockbank.

Sources

Australian War Memorial
Service Record
Nominal Roll
Newspaper accounts
Family Sources