Private Richard Thomas Walsh
26th Battalion, Australian Infantry
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 9 August 1895
Place of Birth: Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Date of Death: 3 October 1918 aged 24
Buried: Remembered on Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Somme; Seafront Memorial, St. Michael's Church Memorial, Teignmouth, Devon.
Private Richard Thomas Walsh age 24.
Born on 9 August 1895 in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, the son of James and Bridget of Ipswich, Queensland. James was born in Shaldon.**
Richard enlisted with the Australian Army at Brisbane on 13 September 1915; he was mobilised with 2nd Division, Cycle Corps and sent to Canal Zone on 14 March 1916 arriving in Alexandria. He was sent to join 1st ANZAC Cycle Battalion arriving in Marseille in May 1916.
1st ANZAC Cycle Battalion War Diary
His records show that he was struck off the battalion on 24 June and transferred to 26th Battalion, Australian Infantry Force on 27 August. On 5 November he was wounded in action and admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station.
Rejoining his unit on 22 November 1916 Richard went AWOL on 10 December; he surrendered to the Military Police on 17 December 1916. For the next few months he repeatedly tried to desert and following being AWOL from 11 - 27 May 1917 was sentenced to be tried for desertion. Originally sentenced to 15 years in prison this was commuted to 10 years in military prison at Rouen on 12 August 1917; this was overruled and commuted to two years on 25 August. On 19 March 1918 the balance of service remaining was suspended and he was released from prison and discharged to duty back in the field.
Information about the 26th Australian Infantry.
Richard rejoined the Australian Army and was serving with 26th Battalion, Australian Infantry, service number 3939, when he was killed in action* on 3 October 1918. Remembered on Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Somme; Seafront Memorial, St. Michael's Church Memorial, Teignmouth.
*It appears that he was actually missing and in 1919 enquiries were made to Germany as to his whereabouts, three witness statements were obtained in that year from fellow soldiers who saw him die and corroborated the fact of his death.
**His father James William Walsh was born in 1869 at Shaldon, son of Thomas and Frances who were both born in Ireland. On 1871 and 1881 census James is shown with the family living in Teignmouth, his father Thomas was a coastguard.
