Just Another Pair Of Socks

Melton District ANZACS

David Leslie SNOWDEN

Personal

Born: July, 1893

Birth registration: Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages Registration No. 8163X (1921)

Birthplace: Wangaratta, Victoria

Parents: William Snowdon
Margaret Jane Lydeker

Died: 5 May, 1969

Place of death: Yarra Junction, Victoria, Registration No. 9618

Burial place: Wesburn Cemetery, Upper Yarra, Victoria

Awards and Honours

  • British War Medal 1914-20
  • Victory Medal

Battalions

3rd Light Horse Brigade Training; Anzac Provost Police Force

Events

Enlistment

Regimental Service Number: 9522

Enlistment date: 3 August, 1915 Melbourne

Age at enlistment: 22 years 1 month

Religion: Church of England

Marital Status: Single

Next of kin: Father: William Snowdon, Baramba, Springhurst, Victoria

Physical Description: Height: 5 feet 8 inches
Weight: 11 stones 7 pounds
Complexion: Dark
Eyes: Grey
Hair: Black
Distinctive marks: 1 mole left breast, Scars big toe, right knee cap, vaccination x 4 left arm

Embarkation ship: A 70 Orontes.

Rank: Corporal

Return Date: 2 August, 1919

Return Vessel: H.T. Delta.

Arrival at Australia: 9 March, 1919.

Discharge Date: 26 October, 1919

War Service Summary

03/08/1915 - Enlisted
18/02/1916 - Embarked with brothers Stanley Gordon and Percy Claude; all in 3rd Light Horse Brigade; all transfer to Anzac Provost Corps
22/11/1915 - Australian Army Service Corps Reinforcements
20/01/1916 - Driver; 3rd Light Horse Brigade training
23/03/1916 - Proceeded to Reinforcement Camp, Zeetoun
03/04/1916 - Transferred to Anzac Provost Corps; Police from 3rd Light Horse Brigade Training; Abassia
11/05/1916 - Influenza; Choubra
22/05/1916 - Letter to father stating that David is suffering enteric fever. mild
30/05/1916 - Australian Military Infection Hospital; Choubra
05/06/1916 - Returned to unit from hospital
26/06/1916 - Sent to 3rd Australian General Hospital; influenza; Abbassia
03/06/1917 - Doing duty with Cairo detachment
29/01/1918 - Detached to General Headquarters; Cairo
03/02/1918 - Police Corp; 1st Echelon General Headquarters; assigned Cairo, Moascar, Abbassia
28/12/1918 - With Provost Corps
11/01/1919 - Provost Corps; promoted temporary Corporal (Driver)
23/02/1919 - To hospital; Abbassia
02/04/1919 - Discharged to duty
02/07/1919 - Provost Corps; Corporal
02/08/1919 - Embarked H.T. Delta for Australia from Egypt
11/08/1919 - At Cairo
03/09/1919 - Disembarked; Medical report on invalid
26/10/1919 - Discharged

War Service Commemerated

Life After the War

Names of wife and children:
20/09/1919 - Married Jessica Sophia Hatch (1894-1979) at Albury, New South Wales

1938 - Married Lily Marie Clark (1913-1979). Death certificate indicates that they married in 1938 when David was 45 years of age, but a notation to this certificate made in 1970 asks that the second marriage be deleted.

Electoral Rolls show that he was living with Jessica in 1936 but alone in 1937. In 1954 he was living with Lily Maria Snowdon.

Children:
With Jessica:
Laurence Raymond (01/01/1920-1970)
Harold Leslie (18/10/1923 02/12/1953)
With Lily:
2 children

Place/s of residence:
1914 - Boralma
1922 - 69 Powlett St., East Melbourne
1925, 1936 - 110 Moore St., Coburg
1968 - Little Yarra Toad, Gilderoy

Occupations:
1914 - Labourer
Police constable

Date of death:
05/05/1969 - Yarra Junction, Victoria; Reg. No. 9618
Place of burial:
07/05/1969 Cremated at Springvale Botanical Cemetery
08/05/1969 - Interred at Wesburn Cemetery, Upper Yarra

Other relevant information:

Note: Shown as L. Snowden on the cenotaph

Note: The Snowden family and the family of George Alexander Gordon Smith lived at Boralma, in the Wangaratta area. George's Service Record shows him farming at Gnotuk Park, Toolern Vale. This was a 700 acre farm with many farm labourers. He was a farm manager before joining up.

George Smith was a neighbour of the Snowden family, and it is probable that George Smith came to Gnotuk Park with the two Snowden brothers listed on the cenotaph.
Note:
G Snowden and L Snowden are represented on the cenotaph, but their connection to Melton is tenuous.

Five Snowden brothers from the Wangaratta area fought in WW1. We believe that two are represented on the cenotaph - G. Snowden and L (D.L.) Snowden. Their brother, Driver Percy Claude, 9523, Anzac Provost Corps, married Elizabeth Ann Condon (Lizzie) of Coimadai.
The other brothers are Sergeant Robert Charles, 3109, 40th Battalion, and Private Thomas Ernest, 349, th Battalion Battalion (Shot in head at Gallipoli, gassed when on the Western Front.)
The brother, Davis Leslie, may be L Snowden, even though he is referred to as Dave/David in the Wangaratta Chronicle. Stanley Gordon may be G. Snowdon.

Note: Mention of L W. Snowden providing information is on final page of Ernest Knell's Service Record

Sources

Australian War Memorial
Service Record