Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 29/05/1916
- Date of Discharge
- 16/04/1918
- Place of Enlistment
- Sydney NSW
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Place of Birth
- South Hackney, London, England
- Address (at enlistment)
- Duntroon ACT
- Occupation
- Bookkeeper
- Next of Kin
- Amelia Wells (wife), Rushcutters Bay NSW
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- 3008
- Final Rank
- Private
- Final Unit
- 53 Battalion AIF
Notes
John Wells was born at South Hackney in London, England in 1890 and began working as a groom and bugler at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1913. Apparently he had suffered from rheumatic fever in England and migrated to Australia for his health. He enlisted on 12 June 1916 in Sydney and embarked in October 1916 with reinforcements for the 53rd Battalion but fell ill after arriving in England. Wells spent his war in hospital in England with tachycardia and lung problems and returned to Australia in October 1917. He was discharged on 16 April 1918 as medically unfit and returned to RMC where he worked until 1921 and was bandmaster in 1920. He also served as organist at St. John's Church in Reid.
Description - height 5 feet 6¼ inches, weight 118 pounds, chest 31-33½ inches, medium complexion, brown eyes, dark brown hair, Church of England.
Sources
Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000
Alfred Body, 'Firm Still You Stand', 1986 (p.127)
Queanbeyan Age - 28 September 1915
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)