Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

14/08/1914

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

04/02/1895

Place of Birth

Gympie, Queensland

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Son of Charles and Minnie Steele, Gympie, Queensland

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

2 Light Horse Regiment AIF

Steele entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in the first intake on 22 June 1911 and was a member of the guard of honour at the Canberra commencement ceremony on 12 March 1913. He also had a role in another pivotal event in Canberra; he was the Brigade Major for troops at the opening of the provisional Parliament House on 9 May 1927. He graduated early from RMC, along with his classmates, on 14 August 1914 and was appointed as a Lieutenant in A Squadron of the 2nd Light Horse Regiment. Unfortunately there is no service record for Steele in the National Archives for either World War 1 or World War 2 but he did return to Australia in 1917. He served with New Guinea Force in World War 2 achieving the rank of Major General. He died in Queensland on 20 January 1966. According to the ADB entry for his younger brother Owen, their father was a mining engineer and the Steeles were descended from Sir Thomas More, chancellor to Henry VIII.

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial
The Age (Melbourne) - 25 March 1927