Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 01/07/1915
- Place of Enlistment
- Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Date of Birth
- 25/10/1895
- Place of Birth
- Victoria
- Address (at enlistment)
- Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT
- Occupation
- Soldier
- Next of Kin
- James Bretherton (father), Punt Road, Windsor, Victoria
- Burial Place
Guards' Cemetery, Lesboeufs, France in grave 3.D.3.
Unit and Rank Details
- Final Rank
- Captain
- Final Unit
- 18 Battalion AIF
Fate
Died on 26 December 1916 near Flers, France aged 21 years
Commemoration
AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 84, Canberra ACT
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT
Notes
Bretherton was the son of a policeman and was born in Moe in Gippsland, Victoria in 1895. In 1912 he toured Britain and Canada for five months with a group of cadets before entering the Royal Military College, Duntroon in March 1913. He graduated, along with the rest of his class, early on 28 June 1915. He served with the 18th Battalion in France and the Headquarters of the 7th Brigade during the fighting at Pozières in July 1916. By October 1916 he been promoted to Captain and was on detachment to 2nd Division Headquarters as an Intelligence Officer. Described as "fearless" by his commanding officer, Brigadier General William Holmes, Bretherton went out to an observation post near Rose Trench when he was shot through the eyes by a sniper on 26 December 1916 at around 2.45pm. He died a few hours later. His body was brought back a day or two afterwards and buried in a cemetery in Gun Valley near Brigade Headquarters, Flers but was later re-interred in Guards Cemetery in grave 3.D.3.
Description - height 5 feet 7½ inches, weight 161 pounds, chest 34-38 inches, Church of England.
Sources
AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Collections Records : 3DRL/6476, 3DRL/6898
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Box Hill Reporter - 13 September 1912
The Herald (Melbourne) - 4 May 1917
