Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

11/01/1915

Place of Enlistment

Liverpool NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Frank'

Date of Birth

12/11/1888

Place of Birth

Sutton NSW

Address (at enlistment)

30 Ridge St, Surry Hills NSW

Occupation

Clerk

Next of Kin

Son of Thomas Darmody (deceased) and Sarah (nee Ryan) Darmody of Sutton NSW. At the time of enlistment, Frank Darmody nominated his mother as NOK living at 30 Ridge St, Surry Hills, Sydney. Thomas Darmody (died 7 Aug 1904) had helped to cart stone for the second St. John's tower, Reid ACT.

Burial Place

41 Chatby Memorial, Alexandria, Egypt

Service Number

1732 (1738 on Embarkation Roll)

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

1 Battalion AIF

Died of sickness on board ship while returning to Australia, 19 September 1915

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 28, Canberra ACT
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT
Chatby Memorial, Alexandria, Egypt

Died of pulmonary laryngeal tuberculosis on board ship returning from Gallipoli to Egypt, 19 September 1915. Darmody embarked in April 1915 with the 1st Battalion and landed on Gallipoli on 26 May. He was sent to hospital on Mudros with a scalded foot in June 1915 but was then evacuated to Egypt with tuberculosis in July 1915. Darmody had developed a cough while in camp at Liverpool near Sydney and it had persisted throughout his military service. By August 1915 he had lost about three stone in weight (about 19 kilograms). He embarked on 29 August 1915 aboard the HMAT Euripides to return to Australia but died at sea of pulmonary laryngeal tuberculosis at 11.30am on 19 September 1915 and was buried at sea that afternoon.

Frank Darmody was one of four brothers who enlisted for service in World War 1. His parents had run a hotel at Sutton before moving to the Sydney area. He played grade rugby league for South Sydney. Of his brothers, Fred enlisted but died at Randwick Military Hospital in 1924, Stephen, who also played for South Sydney, enlisted with the Royal Flying Corps in England, lost his leg and lived the rest of his life in Britain and William returned to the Canberra district to farm after being discharged. He appears on the honour roll at St. John's Church in Reid because Sutton was part of the parish of St. John's, Canberra.

Description - height 5 feet 8½ inches, weight 139 pounds, chest 32-35½ inches, fair complexion, grey eyes, fair hair, Catholic, teeth "alright", no civil convictions.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
First World War Nominal Roll Database
First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
Peter Procter, Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan, Canberra, Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001 (pp.70,71)
Peter Darmody, 'From Banagher to Majura', 1984
Queanbeyan Age - 24 April 1917
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)