Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

14/08/1914

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

26/12/1892

Place of Birth

Armidale NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Ernest H. Biden (father), East Maitland NSW

Burial Place

Portianos Military Cemetery, Mudros, Greece

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

3 Field Company Engineers AIF

Died of illness, 21 December 1915, Mudros, Greece

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 23, Canberra ACT

Biden was the last man to enter the Royal Military College, Duntroon in the first intake, not entering the college until October 1911. He had permission to accompany the New South Wales Coronation Cadet Contingent to England for the coronation of King George V and joined the college upon his return. Along with his classmates he was graduated early on 14 August 1914 and commissioned as a lieutenant in the 1st Field Company Engineers with whom he landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. His section constructed roads and trenches as well building piers and landing stages on the beach at Anzac Cove. In September 1915 he was transferred to the 3rd Field Company Engineers and was with that unit when he was admitted to hospital on Lemnos Island. He died at about 2am on 21 December 1915 from pneumonia and paratyphoid in the 3rd Australian General Hospital at Mudros. Biden was promoted to the rank of Captain a few days before his death. He was buried at Portianos Cemetery, Mudros. His brother 6462 William Wareham Biden was killed in action at Strazeele, France in 1918.

Description - height 5 feet 10 inches, weight 159 pounds, chest 37 inches.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Collections Record : P07973.015
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
Royal Military College Annual Report 1911-1912 (p.41)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony', ACT Heritage Library http://www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial/honour_guard_at_canberra_commencement_ceremony_1913