Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

14/08/1914

Date of Discharge

25/07/1916

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

26/08/1894

Place of Birth

Hawthorn, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Wesley College (Melbourne)

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Thomas Whitelaw (father), Burwood Road, Hawthorn, Victoria

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

7 Battalion AIF

Jack Whitelaw was born in Melbourne on 26 August 1894 and entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon with the first intake of cadets on 22 June 1911. He graduated on 14 August 1914 and was appointed as a Lieutenant with the 7th Battalion Machine Gun Section. After embarking in Melbourne in October 1914, his battalion landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. In the confusion of the battle that followed, parts of the 7th Battalion were positioned near Lone Pine when Whitelaw received a severe gun shot wound to the foot. He was evacuated and after recuperating in England he returned to Australia in November. While his appointment in the AIF was terminated on 25 July 1916, Whitelaw remained in the army and was assigned to the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery in 1917. He died on 21 April 1964 at Berwick, Victoria.

Description - height 5 feet 9 inches, Church of England

AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
Australian Dictionary of Biography online
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm (entry for John Stewart Whitelaw, accessed 2 April 2014)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony, 12 March 1913', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial