Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

10/08/1915

Date of Discharge

14/07/1920

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Derby, England

Address (at enlistment)

Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Groom

Next of Kin

Grace Meakin (sister), Derby, England

Service Number

1581

Final Rank

Trooper

Final Unit

12 Light Horse Regiment AIF

Meakin was an Englishman employed as a groom at the Royal Military College, Duntroon from October 1914 until he enlisted on 10 August 1915 in Sydney. He served with B Squadron of the 12th Light Horse Regiment in the Sinai and Palestine from February 1916 and was part of the charge of the Light Horse at Beersheba in October 1917. Meakin completed his service but rather than return immediately to Australia, he travelled to England where he married Beatrice Mary Smith in Nottinghamshire in September 1919. He and his wife returned to Australia and he was discharged on 15 July 1920. Meakin is shown as being employed at Duntroon until 1921. He later moved to the Hunter and is believed to have died in the Wyong district in 1960.

Description - height 5 feet 4½ inches, weight 114 pounds, chest 32-35 inches, ruddy complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, Church of England.

Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000
NSW Births, Deaths & Marriages
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)