Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 19/07/1916
- Place of Enlistment
- Gundaroo NSW
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Place of Birth
- Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northumberland, England
- Address (at enlistment)
- Bywong, Gundaroo NSW
- Occupation
- Stud sheep expert
- Next of Kin
- Son of Mr J. Grindley, Glansk Parts, Crick Howell, South Wales
- Burial Place
No known grave.
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- 6734
- Final Rank
- Private
- Final Unit
- 4 Battalion AIF
Fate
Died (killed in action) 15 April 1917 near Boursies, France
Commemoration
AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 40, Canberra ACT
Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT
Gundaroo War Memorial, corner of Cork Street and Harp Street, Gundaroo NSW
Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Memorial Gates, Sutton Public School, Sutton
Notes
According to one source Grindley was a sheep expert employed by Anthony Horderns. He was working at Bywong near Gundaroo when he enlisted. He had three months experience with the Guards in Britain but had 'bought out' his enlistment. Grindley joined the 4th Battalion in France on 23 March 1917 but was killed a few weeks later near Boursies on the Bapaume to Cambrai road. His burial place is unknown. Grindley left all his personal effects to a Miss Kathleen Cartwright of "Lendale", Sutton via Queanbeyan. He was described by one local woman "as a flirt whose motto was stolen fruit is always the best".
Grindley's connection with Canberra is unclear except that he may have been a parishioner of St. John's whose parish included Sutton and Gundaroo.
Description - height 5 feet 9 inches, weight 168 pounds, chest 34-36 inches, fresh complexion, hazel eyes, black hair, Church of England.
Sources
AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM First World War Nominal Roll
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Queanbeyan/ Canberra Advocate - 13 July 1916
Queanbeyan Age - 11 July 1916
Maxwell collection, Canberra & District Historical Society