War Records: WW1 Portraits at the Australian War Memorial

Cecil Stanton of Penrith

Whilst preparing the recent workshops on Trove and Australian War Records Online at Penrith, I discovered this portrait of Cecil Stanton of Penrith at the Australian War Memorial. Many of us do not have photos of our more distant relatives and one such as this would be a great find. The image appears rather striking because he looks so young. It is dated 1916 and fortunately provides the following information attached to the image.

Portrait of 5087 Private (Pte) Cecil Stanton, 17th Battalion, of Penrith, NSW.

A labourer prior to enlistment, he embarked with the 13th Reinforcements from Sydney aboard HMAT Kyarra on 5 June 1916. Later transferring to the 33rd Battalion, Pte Stanton was wounded in action in France in February 1917. After several months in hospital he rejoined his unit in Belgium. On 2 June 1917, Pte Stanton died of wounds received in action at the 9th Field Ambulance, Belgium, aged 20. This portrait of Pte Stanton has been substantially hand-coloured and over-painted, with an atmospheric landscape scene added to the background. A similar hand-coloured commemorative portrait was made for Pte Stanton’s cousin, 5035A Private (Pte) William Young Hoswell, 17th Battalion, who was killed in action on 7 June 1917, aged 21.

William Young Hoswell

Similarly, William Young Hoswell‘s portrait includes the following information:

Studio portrait of 5035A Private (Pte) William Young Hoswell, 17th Battalion, of Forbes, NSW.

A labourer prior to enlistment, Hoswell embarked from Sydney with the 13th Reinforcements aboard HMAT Kyarra on 5 June 1916. Later transferring to the 33rd Battalion, he arrived with his unit at the Ypres Sector of Belgium in mid 1917. Pte Hoswell was killed in action on 7 June 1917, the day the battle of Messines was lauched, aged 21. A similar hand-coloured commemorative portrait was made for Pte Stanton’s cousin, 5087 Pte Cecil Stanton, 17th Battalion, who died of wounds on 2 June 1917, aged 20.

It is encouraging to see how much information is provided by the Australian War Memorial for our benefit. We can now check these details against the AWM databases or other sources. Next we will investigate searching these databases for a person and locating the basic information such as name, service number, unit or conflict before venturing into the various rolls and records available online.