Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

04/04/1916

Date of Discharge

26/02/1920

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

30/11/1896

Place of Birth

Bendigo, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Caroline Sewell (mother), Camberwell, Victoria

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

3 Division Artillery AIF

Military Cross (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, 20 December 1917)

Sewell entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 12 March 1914 and graduated on 4 April 1916. He left Australia as a Lieutenant with the 32nd Battery, 8th Field Artillery Brigade in May 1916, arriving in England in July 1916. He joined the 8th Field Artillery Brigade in France in January 1917 and his actions in Belgium on 28 August 1917 saw him awarded the Military Cross. During the consolidation of a captured position Sewell ascertained by a personal reconnaissance that the infantry were held up at one point by a machine gun. He brought the information back to Headquarters and the strong point was bombarded and shortly afterwards captured by the troops. During 1918 he served as a Staff Officer and in 1919 he was attached to the British Army before returning to Australia.

Sewell also served in World War 2 as a Brigadier with Headquarters, 1st Australian Corps, but died from illness in New Guinea on 5 October 1943. He is buried in Soputa War Cemetery L.C.11.

Description - height 5 feet 9 inches, chest 34-36 inches, sandy complexion, brown eyes, sandy hair, Catholic.

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)
AWM Honours & Awards
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
AWM Collections Record : P06252.001