Tablecloth embroidery

An interesting tablecloth embroidery has recently been purchased in Colac, Victoria by the Shapland Collection and is now displayed amongst a variety of WW1 memorabilia in their Recollections of War museum in Albany, Western Australia. The tablecloth contains the embroidered names or signatures of forty-two servicemen, of which twenty-eight served within the 22nd Battalion. The known date range of when the men were overseas covers the period from at least February 1917 to October 1918, and given that all but one of the men – 5443 Pte J.Crawford, killed in action 4th October 1917 – survived the war it is hypothesised that the vast majority of these men made contact with the embroiderer or owner of the tablecloth during the early months of 1919 when the men of the AIF were preparing to return to Australia. If anyone recognises any of the names or the genesis of this tablecloth please let us know either through the contacts page or to Kathryn Shapland at the museum.

The following soldiers are found on the tablecloth – see the photograph montage below, and click on the individual images to show sections in greater detail

323    AIMERS, Walter                               22^nd Battalion, B Company

2460  BAIN, Donald                                   22^nd Battalion, 5^th Reinforcement

4359  BALDWIN, George                          22^nd Battalion, 11^th Reinforcement

4361  BARNES, Herbert                            22^nd Battalion, 11^th Reinforcement

2493  BATTON, Robert Elliott                  22^nd Battalion, 5^th Reinforcement

5972  BATTY, Thomas Edward                22^nd Battalion, 16^th Reinforcement

4364   BEAMISH, William Abraham      22^nd Battalion, 11^th Reinforcement

5543   BLACKMAN, Herbert Howbery  22^nd Battalion, 15^th Reinforcement

2268   CHARD, Jack Howard                   22^nd Battalion, 4^th Reinforcement

28195  CHIDGEY, David                             Field Artillery Brigade 7, Rft 5

815    COHEN, Stanley Ernest                   5^th Battalion, G Company

5443  CRAWFORD, John                            22^nd Battalion, 14^th Reinforcement          KIA 1917

6863  CRAWLEY, Frederick Harold         22^nd Battalion, 19^th Reinforcement

7481  DELLER, Herbert John                    14^th Battalion, 25^th Reinforcement

4703  FISK, Claude Ronald                        22^nd Battalion, 12^th Reinforcement

1053  FROWD, Hugh McGee                     22^nd Battalion, B Company

4449  GREGORY, Percival Thomas          22^nd Battalion, 11^th Reinforcement

4451  GRIMMETT, Joseph Henry             22^nd Battalion, 11^th Reinforcement

1376  HEATHCOTE, Albert Ernest             4^th Australian Div. Signals Company

Lieut. HEATHCOTE, Herbert Ramseyer   3^rd Squadron, Australian Flying Corps

1905  HEATHCOTE, Henry Wall Victor  22^nd Battalion, 3^rd Reinforcement

1079  HILL, William Percival                22^nd Battalion, 11^th Reinforcement

2884  HOLLOWAY, George Henry Berch  2^nd Pioneer Battalion, Rft 6

401    HULL, Oliver James                       22^nd Battalion, B Company

19299 KEITH, Archibald Glanvill           Special Draft Rfts, Signal Service, Egypt

19300 KEITH, William Stanley Gilbert  Special Draft Rfts, Signal Service, Egypt

181    KIRBY, Francis Victor                 22^nd Battalion, A Company

641    MOORE, Vincent Nicholas         22^nd Battalion, C Company

479    PAGE, Arthur Leo                        21^st Battalion, B Company

15148 PHILLIPS, Lloyd E.                     8^th Bn E Coy; British West Indies Regiment

5902 REDDY, Chris Norman                 22^nd Battalion, 16^th Reinforcement

1727  RUTTER, William George           22^nd Battalion, 2^nd Reinforcement

3792  STOREN, Leslie Arthur               57^th Battalion, 10^th Reinforcement

5959  STURROCK, Walter Ferguson    22^nd Battalion, 16^th Reinforcement

4558  TAYLOR, Albert Victor                22^nd Battalion, 11^th Reinforcement

6160  THORSBY, George Albert John   22^nd Battalion, 17^th Reinforcement

4560  TILLEY, George Walter                22^nd Battalion, 11^th Reinforcement

4796  TILLEY, Henry Charles                22^nd Battalion, 12^th Reinforcement

4221  TOOTH, Sydney Robert                22^nd Battalion

6912A  WALE, Keith Robert                   24^th Battalion, 20^th Reinforcements

16368   WHITFORD, William Henry     Divisional Signal Company 2, Rft 18

1185  WOODLAND, William Henry      23^rd Battalion, B Company

Published as ‘news’ 100 years on to the day, follow the 22^nd Battalion on the project website and via Facebook and Twitter

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