Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

15/01/1917

Date of Discharge

11/10/1919

Place of Enlistment

Queanbeyan NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

20/06/1880

Place of Birth

Kowen ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Monaro Street, Queanbeyan NSW (previously Kowen ACT)

Occupation

Motor driver

Next of Kin

Sarah McInnes (mother), Monaro Street, Queanbeyan NSW

Service Number

3351

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

18 Battalion AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Roll of Honour, St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Queanbeyan

McInnes was a younger brother of George McInnes and uncle of Harry McInnes. He enlisted in January 1917 in Queanbeyan, embarking for England in July 1917. He arrived in France in January 1918 and served briefly with the 33rd Battalion before being transferred to the 18th Battalion in February 1918. He was hospitalised in August with dysentery before rejoining his unit at the end of September and taking part in the attack on the Beaurevoir Line. In March 1919 he was granted leave to attend Halley Industrial (UK) Ltd in Westminster but it was cut short so that he could return to Australia where he was discharged on 11 October 1919. McInnes moved to the Bowral district after the war and operated a piggery called 'Yedmandale' near Moss Vale in the 1940s. At the time of his death on 18 August 1965 he was living in Bowral. He is buried in Queanbeyan.

Description - height 5 feet 5 inches, weight 143 pounds, chest 33-37 inches, dark complexion, brown eyes, dark brown hair, Presbyterian, scars on his left knee, left shin and right leg.

Narelle O'Rourke, 'A Country Nurse and Midwife', 1989
Marilyn Folger, 'McInnes Family of Gilbert and Mary', 1998
Queanbeyan Age - 27 March 1917, 24 April 1917
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Image courtesy of Catherine Genge