Trooper Roy Douglas Chidgzey

Killed in action, Es Salt, Palestine, 30 April 1918

Douglas Roy Chidgzey was born in Albany in 1896 to parents GA and Frances Alma Chidgzey. He had four brothers and two sisters. When the family moved to Dinninup he attended Bridgetown State School. He began his third year of high school at Modern School in the Agricultural course on 7 February 1912 and left the school on 3 September 1912.

Douglas enlisted with his older brother, Vernon, on 14 June 1916 in the 10th Light Horse Regiment at Blackboy Hill. Douglas’s Army number was 3111 and Vernon’s was 3112.

After undergoing training, their group, the 24th Reinforcements, embarked from Fremantle on board HMAT Clan MacCorquodale on 13 February 1917. The group arrived at the Army camp at Moascar near Cairo in Egypt on 12 March 1917.

Douglas and Vernon reported on 18 April 1917 to the 10th Light Horse Regiment for duty and were thrown straight into the fray the next day, the fourth day of the Second Battle of Gaza. The Regiment’s role was to capture the Atawineh Redoubt but was unable to do so due to heavy machine gun and artillery fire. Douglas was wounded in the left arm and elbow. After treatment and rest he returned to duty on 24 May.

In June 2017 Douglas was in hospital with septic sores, and in July and August with otorrhoea, a painful ear condition that caused him deafness in his left ear for several weeks. On 31 October 1917 the Regiment took part in the Battle of Beersheba, a stunning victory immortalised in the 1987 Australian film “The Lighthorsemen”.

Douglas lost his life in another action that ended in failure, this time at Es Salt, 23 km west of Amman in what is now Jordan. The 10th played a minor role in this action and Douglas was the only man killed in the Regiment; another four men were wounded. Douglas was buried in the locality but his grave could not later be found.

Trooper Douglas Chidgzey is remembered on the Memorial to the Missing in the Jerusalem War Memorial Cemetery. He was 21 when he died. His brother Vernon survived the war, returning home in 1919.

Perth Modern School Museum Association

Trooper Douglas Roy Chidgzey
Service number 3111
Death Date 1918-04-30
Death Place Ottoman Empire: Palestine
Final Rank Trooper
Service Australian Imperial Force
Unit 10th Australian Light Horse Regiment
Place Palestine
Conflict/Operation First World War, 1914-1918

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/LX3T-D4J

Service Number: 3111
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Trooper
Last Unit: 10th Light Horse Regiment
Born: Albany , 15 May 1896
Home Town: Dinninup, Boyup Brook, Western Australia
Schooling: Perth Modern School, Western Australia, 1912
Occupation: Farmer
Died: Killed in Action, Es Salt, Palestine, 30 April 1918, aged 21 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Jerusalem Memorial, Jerusalem War Cemetery, Israel
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Boyup Brook War Memorial, Bridgetown Methodist Church Honor Roll, Jerusalem Memorial, Subiaco Perth Modern School WW1 Supplementary Honour Board, Subiaco Perth Modern School War Memorial