Laurance John Stone

Note some sources record his first name as Laurence but the correct spelling is Laurance.

Western Australian Birth registration index record for Laurance John Stone, father Patrick Stone, mother Ellen Roe, born Geraldton, No. 1276 of 1892.

Laurance was probably educated at the Presentation Convent, Geraldton and then at the Christian Brothers College, Perth, where he would have been a boarder.

In a 1913 letter from his father Patrick to his brother Frank, his father mentions Laurance was working at Foy & Gibson's in Perth. Foy & Gibson was one of Australia's first department stores, founded in Melbourne in 1883; the Perth store was opened in 1895.

1915 Electoral Roll - Stone, Laurance John, Cue, Storekeeper.

1916 Electoral Roll - Stone, Laurance John, Cue, Storekeeper.

Service Number - 4934 ; served in - 51st Battalion

Laurance enlisted on 12 September 1915 at Geraldton, age 23 years 3 months, grocer. In the enlistment papers, 3/5th of his pay was to go to his sweetheart Evelyn Penny. No further information is provided and in the Australian Archives file is a letter from an Annie Pyvis, c/- Boans Bros, Perth, dated 16 February 1917 seeking his address after he had been reported wounded the first time. He was formally inducted into the Army on 16 September 1915 at the Blackboy Hill camp in the Perth foothills and on 14 December was allocated to the 15th reinforcements, 11th Infantry Battalion.

The Daily News, Friday 10 March 1916, p 3.

Corporal Laurence J. Stone paid a flying visit to Geraldton to say good bye to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. P. Stone, before leaving for the front.

Embarked Fremantle, 1 April 1916 on HMAT Ulysses as part of the 15th Reinforcements, 11th Infantry Battalion.

From the Embarkation roll he is recorded as: Laurance John Stone, Acting Corporal, 23, grocer, single, address at enlistment: Cue, Western Australia, next of kin: father Mr Stone, Geraldton, WA; date of joining: 16 September 1915. His rate of pay was 5s. 0d. per day prior to embarkation. After embarkation the rate was also 5s. 0d. per day, with 3s. 0d. allotted in Australia, leaving a net pay of 2s. 0d. per day. He also had a rate of 1s. 0d. per day deferred pay, payable on completion of service with the expeditionary force.

He disembarked the Ulysses at Alexandria 26 April 1916. He embarked Alexandria on the Huntspill on 7 June 1916 and arrived Marseilles, France, 14 June 1916.

While in Egypt he was reallocated from the 3rd Training Battalion (15th Reinforcements, 11th Battalion) to the 13th Training Battalion (reinforcements to the 51st Battalion).

The 51st Battalion, Australian Imperial Force was raised at Tel-El-Kabir, Egypt, on 1 March 1916 from half of the 11th Battalion (veterans of the Gallipoli landing) and reinforcements of the 11th and 28th Battalions, all personnel being Western Australian volunteers.

On 15 July 1916 he was appointed acting Corporal, with pay and on 29 July was taken on strength, 51st Battalion, 13th Brigade, 4th Australian Division, reverting back to Private. He was appointed a Corporal 18 August 1916 and wounded in action 3 September 1916 in the attack on Mouquet Farm.

The Geraldton Guardian, Saturday 16 September 1916, p 2.

A cable message from England was received by Mr Pat Stone yesterday, stating that his son, Private Laurence Stone, who had been in France, had been wounded in the calf of the leg.

The attack on Mouquet Farm was the Battalion's first major engagement of the war and between 14 August and 3 September lost one third of its soldiers as casualties.

Laurance was admitted to the 14 General Hospital at Wimereux on 4 September with a gunshot wound to the leg; embarked for England on the Hospital Ship St David at Boulogne on 6 September and admitted to the War Hospital Norwich, 7 September. On 11 November 1916 he was transferred to the 2nd Auxiliary Hospital and he was discharged on leave on 14 November and he marched into Perham Downs on 29 November 1916.

The Geraldton Guardian, Thursday 28 September 1916, p 3.

Mr. Pat Stone received a telegram to-day stating that his son Corporal L J Stone had been admitted to the Norfolk War Hospital on the 11th September, suffering from gunshot wounds to the leg. The wounds are of a mild nature.

The Geraldton Guardian, Thursday 30 November 1916, p 3.

Corporal Lawrence Stone, son of Mr. and Mrs. P. Stone, of Geraldton, who was severely wounded some time ago and invalided to England, has made a fine recovery, and is out of hospital, hoping to return shortly to the front.

Geraldton Guardian, Tuesday 9 January 1917, p 3.

Mr and Mrs P. Stone have received postcards and photographs from their son, Corporal L. Stone, showing that he is recuperating at Eltham Hospital England, after the serious wounds he received in France some time ago. He hopes soon to be fit to again go on active service.

On 23 March 1917 he was transferred from the 51st Battalion to the 70th Battalion.

ON 4 June 1917 he was severely reprimanded by the CO of the 70th Battalion for neglecting to obey orders.

On 29 August 1917 Laurance returned to France as reinforcements to the 51st Battalion, rejoining the Battalion in the field in Belgium on 16 September. On 26 September he was killed in action at the battle of Polygon Wood.

Laurance is listed on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Panel 7-17-23-25-27-29-31, Belgium.

The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave.

The Geraldton Guardian, Tuesday 13 November 1917, p 2.

Geraldton Lads Make the Sacrifice. — We regret to announce that information was received this afternoon that Private John Drew, son of Mr T W Drew, Editor of the 'Express' had died, of wounds. The young soldier was only 21 years of age. News was also received this afternoon that Private Lawrence Stone, son of Mr Pat Stone, had been killed in action. Both young fellows were much liked and the sympathy of a wide circle of friends will go out to their parents and relatives in their sad bereavements.

The Daily News, Monday 19 November 1917, p 3.

Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Stone, of Geraldton, have been notified of the death at the front, killed in action, of their second son, Corporal Lawrence John Stone, on September 26 last, at the age of 25. Lawrence was a lad much liked, and deep sympathy is felt for his parents. He left the State with the 13th reinforcements of the famous old 11th Battalion, Aprii 2, 1916, but was subsequently attached to the 51st Battalion.

Geraldton Guardian, Tuesday 19 February 1918, p2. (Also Western Argus, Tuesday 19 Feb 1918, p9 - details of probates granted)

Local Probates. — The following probates have been issued : — Laurence John Stone, late of Geraldton, to Helen Emily Stone, £416 13s 6d.

A pension of 30s fortnightly was granted from 12 January 1918 to his parents.

From Australia's fighting sons of the empire, Perth, W.A. : Palmer & Ashworth, 1920, p190.

Laurence John Stone (son of Patrick and Helen Emily Stone, Geraldton, WA)

Corporal Laurence John Stone (4934), "C" Company, 51st Battalion, was born at Geraldton, W.A., and educated at the Christian Brothers' College, Perth, W.A. He made the supreme sacrifice on the 26th September, 1918.