Frederick Arthur HUDSON
Year of Birth: 1896
Place of Birth: Mitcham, Surrey, England
Date of Enlistment: 4 January 1915
Date and Place of Embarkation: 13 February 1915, Brisbane, Queensland
Ship: HMAT Seang Choon A49
Rank: Private
Unit(s): 15th Australian infantry Battalion
Regimental Number: 1499
Died: 25 August 1915 – Gallipoli
Frederick Arthur Hudson was born c1896 in Mitcham, Surrey, England to Frederick Douglas Hudson and Marion Robinson. Frederick had 2 brothers, Robert William born 1894 and Wilfred Douglas 1900. Frederick attended the Merton Pack School in Surrey.
In 1910 the family immigrated to Australia and were in Cairns in 1912. From here they moved to Tolga and Kairi.
Frederick’s brother, Robert William joined the AN&MEF and then the AIF. They served together at one point in time and Robert’s nickname for Frederick was “Bunt”. Robert wrote many letters home giving details of life around him. He returned home on the 1 May 1919 and died 26 December 1965.
On Frederick’s enlistment in Cairns, he was 19 years 4 months, occupation a Farmer, his next of kin his father Frederick Douglas Hudson, Tolga, Queensland. His height was 5 feet 10 ¾ inches, weighed 128 pounds with fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. His religion was Church of England.
Frederick also served in the Senior Cadets in Cairns.
Frederick Arthur Hudson was killed in action on the 25 August 1915 and buried in the Chailak Dere Cemetery, Anzac, Gallipoli. All burials in that particular area were then concentrated in the Embarkation Pier Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey.
This letter was written by Robert in December 1915, four months after “Bunt” was killed in action. The newspaper article he refers to was about Frederick’s death
Online Resources
Queensland Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages
Photograph of the HMAT Seang Choon A49, Australian War Memorial
Photograph RW and FA Hudson, Northern Herald 25 June 1915 p27
NAA: B2455 Hudson, F. A, National Archives of Australia
NAA: B2455, Hudson RW, National Archives of Australia
Trove, Cairns Post 31 August 1915 p6
Trove, The Northern Hearld (Cairns) 8 October 1915 p6
The Northern Herald 7 May 1915 p6
Northern Herald 17 December 1915 p38
Cairns Post 11 September 1916 p2
National Archives of Australia
Other Resources
The First Expeditionary Force: the Thursday Island Expedition: a collection of reference documents. Denis Bird, 2015 [CDFHS Library]
If you have a photograph or further information about this soldier you would like to share and add to his biography, please contact the Society at projects@cdfhs.org or leave a comment below. Thank you!
Robert William Hudson was my grandfather. The photographs of him and his brother, Frederick Arthur Hudson, have been labelled incorrectly, They should be the other way around. I have another photo of R.W. Hudson taken a bit later in France.