THORNE, Alan

  1. Service Details
  2. Personal Details
  3. Unit and Rank Details
  4. Fate
  5. Commemoration
  6. Notes
  7. Sources

Service Details

Branch of Service
Army
Conflict
World War I (1914-1918)
Date of Enlistment
03/11/1914
Place of Enlistment
Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Personal Details

Gender
Male
Date of Birth
29/05/1895
Place of Birth
Sydney NSW
Address (at enlistment)
Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT
School(s) Attended
Fort Street Boys High School (Sydney)
Occupation
Soldier
Next of Kin
George Thorne (father), Marrickville NSW
Burial Place

Shell Green Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey plot 1, row F, grave 12

Unit and Rank Details

Final Rank
Lieutenant
Final Unit
7 Light Horse Regiment AIF

Fate

Died 27 July 1915 on Gallipoli, Turkey aged 20 years

Commemoration

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 6, Canberra ACT
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT

Notes

Thorne entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 7 March 1912 and he was a member of the guard of honour formed by the cadets at the naming ceremony for Canberra on 12 March 1913. Robinson refers to "Bluey Thorne was fiery as to hair and temper. To hear rather than see Bluey charging down the Rugger field swearing at himself for encouragement was exhilerating indeed." One of the AWM images is of Thorne and his First XV teammates at Duntroon. Another was taken by his classmate Kenneth Mortimer. Thorne was graduated early on 2 November 1914 and enlisted as a Lieutenant in charge of the Machine Gun Section of the 7th Light Horse Regiment. The 7th Light Horse landed on Gallipoli in May 1915 as infantry and served mostly at the southern end of the front line. On 27 July 1915 he and his best friend, fellow ex-RMC cadet Tom Elliott, were hit by a shell in the trenches at Ryrie's Post. Elliott was wounded but Thorne was killed. He was buried at Shell Green Cemetery.

Description - height 5 feet 10 inches, weight 157 pounds, chest 34½-37 inches, Church of England.

Sources

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
Frederick Robinson, 'The Dead of Duntroon', The Duntroon Society Newsletter (1/2008)
Sydney Morning Herald - 6 August 1915
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Collection Records : A03049, A04171, P11688.003
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

Create Certificate
Alan Thorne c1914 (probably at Duntroon). AWM image P11688.003.

Alan Thorne c1914 (probably at Duntroon). AWM image P11688.003.

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