Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

25/08/1914

Date of Discharge

04/08/1917

Place of Enlistment

Melbourne, Victoria

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

29/02/1872

Place of Birth

Melbourne, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Oak Avenue, Elsternwick, Victoria (previously Bachelor Quarter's, Acton ACT)

Occupation

Clerk

Next of Kin

L. Cadden (mother), Elsternwick, Victoria

Service Number

133

Final Rank

Staff Sergeant

Final Unit

3 Echelon HQ AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Roll of Honour 1914-19 in Queanbeyan Masonic Centre, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW

Harry Cadden was a Boer War veteran (where he won the Queen's Medal with 6 clasps), employed as a clerk with the Department of Home Affairs (Works Branch) and living at the Bachelor Quarters in Acton when he enlisted on 25 August 1914 at 40 years of age. He served in Gallipoli with the 5th Battalion before being evacuated in May and transferring to the Australian Records Section. From April 1916 he was in France with the 3rd Echelon GHQ, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant. In March 1917 he applied to return home to care for his elderly mother and was allowed to do so because he was unfit for front line duty. He was discharged on 4 August 1917. Post war he returned to Canberra and lived in Braddon. Cadden died in Manly Hospital in Sydney in 1952 aged 80 years.

Queanbeyan Age - 21 August 1914, 25 December 1914, 5 March 1915, 17 September 1918
Queanbeyan/Canberra Advocate - 25 May 1916
Sydney Morning Herald - 28 May 1952
Ann Gugler, 'The Builders of Canberra 1909-1929', 1994
Alexander J. McGilvray, 'The Hallowed High Adventure', 1973 (p.89)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
NSW Births, Deaths & Marriages - http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Bachelor Quarters', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial