Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 09/10/1915
- Date of Discharge
- 20/08/1919
- Place of Enlistment
- Melbourne, Victoria
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Date of Birth
- 05/07/1897
- Place of Birth
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Address (at enlistment)
- Ardonachie Estate via Macarthur, Victoria (previously Canberra ACT)
- School(s) Attended
- Canberra Public School
- Occupation
- Station overseer
- Next of Kin
- Margaret Hopcraft (mother), Mordialloc, Victoria
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- 6828
- Final Rank
- Gunner
- Final Unit
- 8 Field Artillery Brigade AIF
Notes
Hopcraft's father, Arthur Hopcraft, was appointed Rector of St. John the Baptist Church of England in 1905 and served there until 1909. Eric Hopcraft attended the nearby Canberra Public School. His father died shortly after leaving Canberra. Eric served in the 3rd Division Artillery from March 1916 finishing the war as a Gunner in the 8th Field Artillery Brigade. He returned to Australia in June 1919 and was discharged on 20 August 1919. He married in Melbourne in 1922 and died on 17 September 1965.
Description - height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 140 pounds, chest 34-36 inches, fair complexion, blue eyes, fair hair, Church of England, vaccination mark on right arm, scar on left shin, mole on left shoulder.
Sources
Alfred Body, 'Firm Still You Stand', 1986
Schoolhouse Museum, St. John's, Reid (school photograph, Canberra Public School 1908)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)