Contributed by Ron Inglis, April 2022:
Apart from the Roll of Honour in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the name of Signaller Harry Stanmore does not appear to be on any memorial or honour roll in Australia outside Auburn Public School.
On his attestation paper, signed on 14 January 1916 at Liverpool, Stanmore declared he had been born in the Sydney suburb of Waterloo, that he was a newsagent, ’31 years’ old’ and married to Sarah Stanmore of Gerard Street, Neutral Bay. He had three sons Jack, William and Alan.
After almost three months training in Australia, Stanmore embarked on the Makanini on 5 April 1916, arriving in Egypt a month later. As most of the Australian forces had already left Egypt for the Western Front, troops, including Stanmore, were placed on another vessel and transported to England. It was not until 18 December 1916 that he crossed to France and was taken on strength of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Australian Division, then billeted over the freezing northern winter south of the town of Bapaume. From April to July 1917, Stanmore was in hospitals in Rouen and Etaples, rejoining his battalion on 30 July 1917.
Signaller Stanmore was killed in action on 19 September 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium. His body was never found so his name was inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial Arch, when that monument was unveiled by the British in 1927 in the Belgian town of Ypres (now Ieper).
In 1917, Stanmore’s wife and family moved to 26 Crescent Street, Manly. Sarah received the standard war widow’s pension of £2 p.f. and for her children she received £1 p.f. for Jack, 15/- p.f. for William and 10/- p.f. for Alan Fredrick.
Harry Stanmore is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn Boys Public School Great War Photographic Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra