Darcey, Michael (4406)

Place of Birth: Dunstown, VIC

Age: 42 years 6 months

Enlistment Details: Monday, 10 January 1916 – Melbourne, VIC

Service Number: 4406            view online service record

Address:
Benalla, VIC

Next of Kin:
Tom Darcey (brother)
rear Graham Street Railway Station
Port Melbourne, VIC

Embarkation Details:
Date: Wednesday, 29 March 1916
Ship: RMS Orontes
Port: Melbourne, VIC
Unit: 22nd Infantry Battalion – 11th Reinforcements

Fate:
KIA: Saturday, 5 August 1916
Place: France

Private, 22 Infantry, killed in action 5 August, 1916, France, aged 43, commemorated Villers-Bretonneuex Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France.

Born Dunnstown (via Ballarat0, educated Christian Brothers, Ballarat. A fleeting connection – he enlisted as a 42-year-old bookmaker at Benalla, suggesting a brother Tom “near Graham Street Railway Station, Port Melbourne” as next of kin, but this is later adjusted to a cousin Annie DARCEY at the Prince Alfred Hotel in Swanston Street, Melbourne. The serviceman’s medals eventually went to his eldest brother “J” at Wallace in country Victoria. Annie (then Mrs HENNESSY returned the circular with Benalla as place of association – NAA uses the spelling “DARCEY’, but the AWM Roll of Honour has “DARCY”.

Additional research by Brian Membrey