Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Place of Enlistment

Newcastle NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Tuggeranong (Tuggranong) ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Newcastle NSW (previously Woden ACT)

Next of Kin

James Ryan (father), 'Roseleigh' via Tuggeranong ACT

Final Rank

Corporal

Final Unit

1 Field Company Engineers AIF

Ryan was born in 1883 at 'Roseleigh', Woden (now part of the suburb of Hume). There is no service file for him, or any record on the Nominal Roll or the Embarkation Roll at the Australian War Memorial. The only evidence of his service comes from a newspaper report of his welcome home at his parents' house in Woden on 28 May 1916. According to the report, Corporal Ryan was in Newcastle when he enlisted at the outbreak of the war. He served with the 1st Field Company Engineers and landed at Gallipoli on 27 April 1915. He was wounded on 8 August 1915 and returned to Australia. Ryan committed suicide on 22 May 1930 in Queanbeyan leaving behind a 17 year old widow and a baby child. He was buried in an unmarked grave at the Riverside Cemetery in Queanbeyan with an honour guard of ex-servicemen.

National Library of Australia : Country Women's Association of NSW (Canberra Branch) History, 1959 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 734)
Queanbeyan/ Canberra Advocate - 8 June 1916
Queanbeyan Age - 2 December 1919, 22 May 1930