15th Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps
Joshua Haddon Fenton was born in Woollahra, New South Wales (NSW), Australia in about 1892. His parents were Charles and Eleanor Mary Fenton and at the time of the Great War they were living at 11 Prospect Road, Summer Hill, Sydney, NSW.
Joshua left his position as a librarian to enlist, at Casula, NSW, in the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC) on 24 January 1916, stating his age to be 24 years. After a brief period of basic training with ‘D’ Company Depot Battalion, Casula, he joined up with the AAMC at Liverpool, a south western suburb of Sydney, where he stayed from 12 February to 8 September 1916. On the following day he embarked from Sydney on HMAT Euripides bound for Europe as a re- enforcement for 15th Field Ambulance. Whilst on the voyage he fell ill with measles and was confined to the sick bay from 7 to 21 October: he had recovered by the time the ship docked at Plymouth on 26 October 1916.
A period of training followed in England and it was not until 3 February 1917 that he sailed from Folkestone bound for France on board the SS Princes Clementine. Initially time was spent at the large British Expeditionary Force (BEF) training base at Etaples, before he joined the 15th Field Ambulance, part of the 5th Australian Division.
He was wounded in action for the first time on 7 May 1917, sustaining a gunshot wound to the head and treatment at 3rd Casualty Clearing Station. This wound cannot have been too severe as he was able to re-join his unit on 19 May 1917. On 16 July 1917 he was detached for duty with the ‘prophylactic treatment department’, rejoining his unit on 27 July 1917.
On 21 September 1917 he was wounded in action for the second time; a much more serious wound this time with shrapnel entering the right side of his chest. He was treated at 6 Field Ambulance before arriving at 33 General Hospital on 23 September. The next day he was repatriated to England on the Hospital Ship St Andrew and admitted to the Bevan Military Hospital at Sandgate, Kent. Here he was treated for shrapnel wounds to his right arm and shoulder. On 10 October 1917 he was transferred to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford and after a period of furlough reported to the Training Depot at Longbridge Deverill, near Warminster, Wiltshire. After time there and at Park House Camp on Salisbury Plain it was back to France on 17 February 1918, via Southampton and Rouelles and he rejoined 15th Field Ambulance in the field on 26 February 1918.
On 17 April 1918, during that part of the German Spring Offensive known as the Battle of the Lys, Joshua was severely gassed. Initially treated at his own unit he ended up at 11 Stationary Hospital, Rouen, via 55th Field Ambulance and 41 Casualty Clearing Station. On 21 April he was invalided to the UK on the Hospital Ship Grantully Castle and was admitted to Suffolk Hall Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Hospital, Lypiatt Road, Cheltenham. He was not to recover from the effects of the gas poisoning and died at 5 pm on 1 May 1918; he was 26 years of age.
He was afforded a full military funeral to mark his burial at Cheltenham Cemetery at 2pm on 4 May 1918. The Gloucestershire Volunteer Regiment provided a band, firing party and bugler, plus a company of men. An estimated 200 soldier patients from local hospitals attended and also 20 members of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade and 30 members of the Red Cross Society. Also present was the deceased brother, 538 Private Arthur Charles Fenton, 56th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, on leave from 2/1 Southern General Hospital, Birmingham. He was about three year’s Joshua’s senior and had been gassed on active service on at least two occasions. He was to survive the war and returned to Australia in July 1919. Initially Joshua’s grave was marked with a wooden cross to be replaced in later years by a standard CWG headstone.
In his will Joshua left his monies to his mother and his pocket book to a Miss M E Dryborough of 18 Station Street, Petersham, NSW.
Researched by Graham Adams 25 February 2013