Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

25/11/1914

Date of Discharge

20/09/1919

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Shown on World War 1 Embarkation Roll as John Michael Scannell

Date of Birth

14/06/1887

Place of Birth

Canberra ACT

Address (at enlistment)

'Hawthorn', Upper Canberra ACT

School(s) Attended

Gungahleen School (Lyneham ACT)

Occupation

Shearer

Next of Kin

Annie Thompson (mother), Balcombe Street, Queanbeyan NSW

Service Number

642

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

7 Light Horse Regiment AIF

Roll of Honour, St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Queanbeyan NSW

Scannell was born in Canberra in 1887. His father was the teacher at Gungahleen School in 1883-84 but Scannell and his sister grew up with Mary and Finlay McDonald at 'Hawthorn' in Upper Canberra (where George Potter also lived). He went to school at Gungahleen but, like most men of his generation, left to find work. He was a shearer when he enlisted in November 1914 in the 7th Light Horse Regiment, A Squadron, with the rank of Trooper. He embarked from Sydney in December 1914 and went into camp at Maadi, Egypt.

Scannell landed at Gallipoli in May 1915 and served there (mostly in the Holly Ridge sector) until September 1915 when he was admitted to hospital with dysentery and diarrhoea. He was invalided home in May 1916 suffering paratyphoid but was not discharged. Scannell reported for duty in September 1916 and rejoined the 7th Light Horse at Shellal in Palestine on 4 August 1917. In June 1918 Scannell was admitted to hospital with malaria and returned to Australia in June 1919. Scannell was discharged on 20 September 1919. He later lived in Willoughby in Sydney. Scannell died at Yaralla Hospital, Concord on 24 February 1949. He was a cousin of William Frederick Young (who died as a result of his service during the Boer War) and Stan O'Grady (who died on Gallipoli). Scannell has the rare distinction of being one of only four people in the People Australia websites (maintained by the Australian Dictionary of Biography at ANU) born in Canberra and the only one to serve in war.

Description - height 5 feet 10 inches, weight 168 pounds, chest 36-39 inches, dark complexion, blue eyes, black hair, Presbyterian, complete upper denture.

National Library of Australia : Country Women's Association of NSW (Canberra Branch) History, 1959 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 734). Referred to as 'Scanlon'.
Lyall Gillespie, 'Early Education and Schools in the Canberra Region', 1999
Lyall Gillespie, 'Canberra 1820-1913', AGPS 1991 (Photograph on p.66)
Queanbeyan Age - 27 July 1909, 11 July 1916, 14 July 1916, 11 March 1949
Queanbeyan/ Canberra Advocate - 10 July 1916, 18 January 1917
Queanbeyan Leader - 8 November 1915
Sydney Morning Herald - 26 February 1949
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455
Karen Fox, 'A City and its People: Canberra in the ADB', 2013 - http://adb.anu.edu.au/essay/7. See note 1.
Image courtesy of Ray Carnall from the Keith Carnall collection