Edward CROWE
Year of Birth: 1882
Place of Birth: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Date of Enlistment: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Date and Place of Embarkation: 20 April 1916 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Ship: SS Hawkes Bay
Rank: Private
Unit(s): 47th Infantry Battalion A.I.F
Regimental Number: 1642
Died: 14 November 1916
Edward Crowe was born 7 January 1882 in Brisbane to William Crowe and Margaret (nee Gorman). His parents married in Cairns in 1879 where William Crowe was a policeman stationed at Smithfield. Edward was the second eldest of their 5 children – Thomas Hurley (b. 1880), Norah Frances (b. 1884) and twins Mary Margaret and Joseph (b. 1885).
In the Queensland Electoral Rolls in the years 1905 to 1916, Edward was either a miner or carrier by occupation working in the Coen area of Far North Queensland.
He travelled to Townsville where he enlisted on the 22 January 1916 then on the “Canberra” to Brisbane to join the 47th Australian Infantry Battalion.
He was described as 34 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. His religion was Roman Catholic. He named his mother his next of kin as his father had died when Edward was young.
He embarked on the SS Hawkes Bay from Sydney on 20 April 1916 arriving in Alexandria Egypt on 6 June 1916 before continuing to Plymouth England on the Cunard troop carrier RMS Franconia 16 June.
Private Crowe proceeded to Etaples, France to join the 47th Battalion on the 8th September 1916 and was killed in action 14 November 1916 and is remembered on the Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, France.
He was listed in the Cairns Post among those killed in action.
Online Resources
NAA: B2455 (CROWE E) National Archives of Australia
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
National Library of Australia: Trove Digitised Newspapers
Australian Light Horse Studies Centre
Queensland Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages
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