Kilpatrick, Arthur Cyril (4237)
Place of Birth: Port Melbourne, VIC
Age: 20 years 10 months
Enlistment Details: Monday, 12 July 1915 – Melbourne, VIC
Service Number: 4237 view online service record
Address:
‘Rutherglen’, 225 Elgar Road
Mont Albert, VIC
Next of Kin:
Arthur Kilpatrick (father)
‘Rutherglen’, 225 Elgar Road
Mont Albert, VIC
Embarkation Details:
Date: Wednesday, 29 December 1915
Ship: HMAT Demosthenes A64
Port: Melbourne, VIC
Unit: 14th Infantry Battalion – 13th Reinforcements
Fate:
KIA: Wednesday, 11 April 1917
Place: France
Brothers: Edward Richard Kilpatrick and Charles Harold Kilpatrick.
Cousin: Robert Arthur Caldwell
Lance Corporal, 14 Infantry, killed in action 11 April, 1917, France, aged 22, commemorated Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France.
Parents: Arthur and Selina KILPATRICK, brother of 703, Edward Richard KILPATRICK, killed in action 5 September, 1915, Enlisted as a 20-year-old labourer, his father in Elgar Road, Mont Albert as next of kin; no known grave. Noted as paying the supreme sacrifice at the unveiling of a third panel of the Honour Board at the Graham Street Methodist Church, Standard, 23 March, 1918. Another brother, 3338, Charles Harold KILPATRICK enlisted from Mont Albert, returned May, 1919. The brothers had a cousin, 177, Robert Arthur CALDWELL, born Port Melbourne but raised in Western Australia and killed in action.
Additional research by Brian Membrey
2 Comments
Brian Membrey
An unusual case – he was posted as Missing and Wounded in August, 1916, but a subsequent eyewitness declared he was still alive and with his unit …
“On or about Nov. 15th. 1916, A. Kilpatrick was at 4th Div. Headquarters, near Longueval of fatigue due. As far as I am aware, Kilpatrick (who is a personal friend) had never been wounded nor in hospital for sickness … every reason to believe (though not heard from recently) that he is still with his Battn” (J. O’Callaghan, 13327, 13th Field Ambulance)
This was subsequently conformed by Kilpatrick himself who supplied a letter from London in February, 1917 that he had never been away from his unit since he was taken on strength in April, 1916 and that he thought his name had been mistaken as Fitzpatrick.
There does not appear to be witnesses to his actual death.
Brian Membrey
“Informant state that on or about Nov. 15th. 1915, A. Kilpatrick was at 4th Div. Headquarters with Mr. Longueval on fatigue duty. As far as he is aware Kilpatrick (who was a personal friend) had never been wounded nor in hospital for sickness. On the 21st Aug:(not on date of casualty) he saw him at a place known as Casualty Corner returning from the Moquet Farm trenches. Informant has every reason to believe (though he has not heard from him recently) that he still with his Battn”. (J. O’Callaghan, 1327, 13th Field Ambulance, Kitchener Hospital, Brighton, Sussex)
“Having received your letter, I am replying at the first opportunity. I have not been away from unit since I joined on 2nd April ’16 neither for sickness or wounds. I think my name was mistaken for Fitzpatrick and that is how the report was made. Hoping you will lt my friends know at the earliest opportunity. Thanking you you for your kindness and touble” (Letter from Pte. A. C. Kilpatrick, 4237, 1th A.I.F. France to Red Cross HQ, London. 21.2.17)
“Having received your letter, I am replying at the first opportunity. I have not been away from unit since I joined on 2nd April ’16 neither for sickness or wounds. I think my name was mistaken for Fitzpatrick and that is how the report was made. Hoping you will lt my friends know at the earliest opportunity. Thanking you for your kindness and trouble” (Letter from Pte. A. C. Kilpatrick, 4237, 1th A.I.F. France to Red Cross HQ, London)