Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

20/06/1917

Date of Discharge

01/07/1919

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Enmore NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Canberra ACT

Occupation

Telegraphist

Next of Kin

Harriett Brooke (mother), Balmain NSW

Service Number

21627

Final Rank

Sapper

Final Unit

3 Signal Troop AIF

Brooke was living in Moruya when he applied to enlist in July 1916 but he was rejected as unfit for service because his “physique (was) below standard”. He then moved to Canberra and served as stipendiary lay reader in the St. John’s Parish from September 1916 to December 1917. In 1917 he successfully applied to register the Territory’s second scout group, which was based at Hall, and he ran services at St. Paul’s church in Kingston during 1917. Although he served in Egypt and in Palestine, he does not appear to have seen front line service. He married Leila Vidler on 8 December 1923 at Kurri Kurri and was ordained as an Anglican priest on 21 December 1922 in Newcastle. After being ordained he served at Cessnock, Aberdare, Williamtown, Jerrys Plain, Terrigal and Dora Creek before retiring a few months before his death on 10 September 1969 in Kurri Kurri.

Description - height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 146 pounds, chest 30-33 inches, fresh complexion, brown eyes, brown hair, Church of England.

Alfred Body, 'Firm Still You Stand', 1986
Eddie Braggett, 'Camps, Settlements and Churches', 2010
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920), Series MT1486/1