Just Another Pair Of Socks

Melton District ANZACS

Ernest James TATE

Personal

Born: 18 February, 1888

Birth registration: Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages Registration No. 4040

Birthplace: Keilor, Victoria

Parents: James Tate (Tait)
Elizabeth Milburn

Died: 2 May, 1915

Cause: Killed In Action

Place of death: Gallipoli, Turkey

Burial place: Unknown - Commemorated at Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli

Awards and Honours

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

Battalions

16th Battalion, 1st Reinforcement

Events

Enlistment

Regimental Service Number: 795

Enlistment date: 28 September, 1914 Helena Valley, W.A.

Age at enlistment: 26 years 7 months

Address at enlistment: Korrelocking, W.A.

Religion: Church of England

Marital Status: Single

Next of kin: Father: James Tate, Pleasant Vale, Diggers Rest, Victoria

Physical Description: Height: 5 feet 6 inches
Weight: 138 pounds
Complexion: Dark
Eyes: Grey
Hair: Brown

Embarkation ship: HMAT A35 Berrima.

Rank: Private

War Service Summary

28/09/1914 - Enlisted in Western Australia; in the 16th Battalion, which was later sent to Broadmeadows, Victoria, for training.
22/12/1914 - Embarked at Melbourne
28/12/1914 - Left with the 2nd convoy, including the submarine AE2 from Albany, W.A.
28/01/1915 - Arrived at Suez
02/02/1915 - Arrived at Alexandria
22/03/1915 - Transferred to C Company
12/04/1915 Proceeded to join Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli Peninsular
25/04/1915 - Landed at Gallipoli with the AIF 16th Battalion, 1st Reinforcement in the afternoon
29/04/1915 - Reported to Field Ambulance with a slight graze
02/05/1915 - Reported missing; Killed in Action; Gallipoli

War Service Commemerated

Killed in action.

Date: 2 May, 1915

02/05/1915 - Participant in the attack on Bloody Angle. The 16th entered action on 2 May with 17 officers and 620 men, but by the time they were withdrawn from the front line on 3 May, they had suffered eight officers and 330 men killed, wounded or missing. Tate was one of those missing, and his body was never found.
04/12/1915 Extract from letter to Commonwealth of Australia Military Office, London, by Pte. Leslie A. Parsons a personal friend: I received this information from men of the 16th Batt. Who saw him shot and fall right on the Turkish trenches, they absolutely stand by this statement given to me. Pre. Tate of the 16th Battalion was shot by the enemy on Tuesday the 27th April in a charge the 16th Battalion made, his body was not recovered.
13/03/1916 - Witness account by Sgt J. Matthews, 4454: "He was in C Company, 10th Platoon he took part in an attack on the position known as Dead Mans Ridge between Popes Post and Quinns Post on 2/5/15. The casualties were very heavy .. Tate has not been seen since."
06/04/1916 Court of Inquiry 4th Aust. Infantry Brigade determined that Ernest was Killed In Action on 02/05/1915.

Memorial: Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli

Personal effects sent to Ernest’s mother ex Seang Choon. One packet containing felt hat, bank book, clothebrush, wallet containing cheque book and letters, hairbrush, calibash pipe, pocket book, watch fob, rubber stamp, address tab, accounts and receipts

Additional Information

1910 Electoral Rolls show Ernest James Tate as:- Farm Hand at Rock View Farm, Calgie1912, 1913 Labourer at Queletting, Korrelocking

Family background:
First ancestors in Australia were Paul and Hannah Tate. See Keilor Pioneers, Dead Men Do Tell Tales by Angela Evans and the Keilor Pioneer Research Collective. Page 284
19/04/1915 - Brother Frederick Milburn Tate died at the family home.
21/07/1921 - Brother, Herbert A. Tate, resides at “Pleasant Vale”, Diggers Rest.
When father dies in 1920, Mother resides at “Loloma”, 18 Raleigh St., Essendon. She died 02/01/1931

Sunday Times Perth
26 September 1915
Missing Friends Column
TATE – No. 795, Private E. J. Tate, C Co., 16th Battalion, 4th Brigade, A.I.F. Enlisted from Korrelocking, W.A. Information wanted by parents, Diggers’ Rest, Victoria.

Sunday Times Perth
20 April 1919
Tenders for the purchase of leases.
Avon Location 15735, 3 miles north-west of Korrelocking, were two conditional purchase leases in the name of Ernest James Tate

Sources

Australian War Memorial,
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Service Record
Embarkation Roll
Regimental / unit records
Newspapers
Family sources
Diary of H V Reynolds, who also embarked the HMAT Berrima on 22 December, 1915.