Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Ernest George Beesley 38, life assurance agent was born in London UK. He lived with his wife and eight children in Union Road, Auburn.
Prior to enlisting in the AIF, Beesley had extensive military experience serving in the 4th Middlesex Royal Regiment in Britain, in the 21st Battalion Imperial Yeomanry (sharpshooter) in the South Africa (Boer) War and in The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force.
On 16 August 1914 Beesley enlisted in the AN&MEF which was raised with the aim of capturing German colonies in the Pacific and of silencing German Wireless communications in the region. Beesley was with the force aboard the Berrima when it set sail from Sydney’s Cockatoo Island on 19 August 1914.
Discharged from the AN&MEF 4 March 1915, Beesley enlisted in the AIF just a month later. He was almost immediately promoted to Sergeant then embarked, coincidentally again on the Berrima, on 24 June 1915. Arriving on the Gallipoli peninsular on 3 August 1915, he was killed by a bomb 26 days later. Initially buried at Victoria Gully, he was later reinterred in the Lone Pine Cemetery.
See: Family notices: The Sydney Morning Herald, Roll of Honour, Thurs. 6 January 1916, p6.
Beesley’s wife requested the following for his gravestone but it was rejected as too long.
NEVER THE LOTUS CLOSES, NEVER THE WILDFLOWER WAKES. BUT A SOUL GOES OUT ON THE EAST WIND THAT DIED FOR OLD ENGLAND’S SAKE
Ernest George Beesley is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- St Philip’s Anglican Church Auburn First World War Honour Roll
- Parramatta and District Great War Roll of Honour
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal
- 1914-20 Victory Medal
- 1914-1915 Star
