Private Frank Chenery
Title
Private Frank Chenery
Identifier
P.005
Bibliographic Citation
Frank Chenery'. (1889). Birth Record (6876/1889). New South Wales Births Deaths and Marriages, NSW, Australia.
'Frank Chenery'. (1889), Marriage Record (1240/1889 ). New South Wales Births Deaths and Marriages, NSW, Australia.
'Frank Chenery'. (1973). Death Record (1973/B/40376). Queensland Births Deaths and Marriages, QLD, Australia.
Official Notifications. (1887, March 5). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 387. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19923204
Family Notices (1918, May 28). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 6. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20228405
Family Notices (1918, May 28). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 6. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20228423
PERSONAL. (1918, June 4). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 9. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20229534
ROLL OF HONOUR. (1918, August 19). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 8. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20271345
Family Notices (1919, September 29). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 6. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20385493
Family Notices (1919, October 4). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 4. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20386328
Bean, C. E. W. (2014). Anzac to Amiens. Penguin: London.
National Archives of Australia: Australian Imperial Force, Base Records Office; B2455, First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920; CHENERY F, Chenery Frank : SERN 6425, 1914 – 1920.
Australian War Memorial: Australian Imperial Force unit war diaries, 1914-18; AWM4 23/43, 26th Infantry Battalion.
Hamilton, R. (2016). Private Frank Chenery, 26th Battalion. State Library of Queensland Blog. Retrieved: https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/private-frank-chenery-26th-battalion
Chenery, F. (1916). 30054 Frank Chenery Papers 1916-1919. State Library of Queensland, Brisbane.
Queensland Museum Historical Register, H14417-23.
Relation
C.005.001
C.005.002
C.005.003
C.005.004
C.005.005
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C.005.007
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C.005.014
Contributor
Mr James Donaldson
Biographical Text
Private Frank Chenery was born in St Peters, Sydney in 1889 to Frank Chenery Senior and Rachel Ginn. Frank Senior was a surveyor in Ipswich, Queensland and Rachel's family were a well-established Ipswich family. It is unclear why they married in Sydney and were living there when Frank Junior, their eldest son, was born. Frank had two siblings: Celestine, born in 1903 and Alfred, born in 1906. The family lived at Alpha Street or Bellevue Terrace (now Bellevue Parade) in South Toowong (now Taringa).
Frank was unmarried and working as a clerk in Brisbane in 1916 when he enlisted on 9 September 1916 as part of the 18th Reinforcements, 26th Battalion AIF. His service number was 6425. He had been due to study with Hemingway & Robertson's Australasian Correspondence School when he enlisted, but had to cancel his enrolment.
Frank embarked aboard the HMAT Demosthenes from Sydney in late December 1916 after spending time in camps and at Corporal training school. The Corporal school was disbanded before Frank could graduate and he spent the entire war as a Private. The Demosthenes travelled to Plymouth, UK between December 1916 and March 1917, stopping at Durban in South Africa. Frank spent the next seven months in the 7th Australian Training Battalion at Rollestone camp on the Salisbury Plain.
In the middle of June 1916, he was admitted to the Fargo Military hospital for 12 days with “Pyrexia of Unknown Origin” the medical term for Trench Fever. Unfortunately records for the 7th Training Battalion are not available, but Frank's correspondence with his family describes camp life including training and route marches, poor rations, stints in isolation camps due to disease, the weather, discussions of fellow soldiers in his hut, progress of the war, trips to London to collect prisoners, and even a visit to Stonehenge for the summer solstice.
On 24 October 1917, Frank proceeded overseas to France where he was taken on strength with the 26th Battalion, stationed at Steenvoorde, France, close to the border with Belgium. On 27 October the unit entered the line at Broodseinde Ridge outside Ypres. Here the unit conducted patrols and came under artillery bombardment, include a heavy gas attack at the end of the month. These operations were the last part of the much larger Third Battle of Ypres (31 July – 10 November). His correspondence shows that he quickly became acquainted with the realities of trench warfare.
November and early December 1917 were spent training behind the lines near Dickebusch and Steenvoorde, before returning to the front line between Ypres and Armentieres in the middle of December. Late 1917 and early 1918 were spent in an out of the line around Ypres, providing working parties to the Australian Engineers repairing trenches, undertaking training, and short periods at the front. Frank's cousin, Lieut Alfred George Chenery (1894 - 59th Battalion), was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions while a Sergeant at Polygon Wood in September 1917.
In April 1918 Frank and the 26th Battalion moved to the south and took up new positions in the line around Amiens on the Somme. This movement was part of a redeployment of Allied troops to counter an increasingly dangerous German offensive at the Somme which was launched in March of 1918. Here the regular schedule of days in and out of the line resumed and the unit was variously stationed at Franvillers, Heilly, Bresle, Camon, Frechencourt and Villers-Bretonneux from April to July 1918.
In the line the unit could expect enemy bombardments (including gas) and regular patrols, while behind the lines the unit trained or assisted with various working parties. An expected attack at Amiens eventually occurred on 17 April 1918 around Villers-Bretonneux and continued for several weeks, including a tank attack on 24 April where the German tank 'Mephisto' was damaged and abandoned. It was recovered in July by soldiers from the 26th Battalion and is now held by the Queensland Museum.
For the remainder of the German Spring Offensive of 1918, from May to July 1918, Frank and the 26th Battalion remained around Villers-Bretonneux. Some planned attacks were made, but increasingly, the tactic of 'peaceful penetration' was used by the Allies to capture ground to the front of their lines due to the fragmentary nature of the new German trenches. On 17 July, during a planned attack against German lines at Monument Wood near Villers-Bretonneux, Frank suffered severe bullet wounds to his shoulder and right thigh. The attack commenced at 9:45pm, preceded by an artillery bombardment, and going was slow due to earlier rain. The 26th Battalion saw 30 casualties as part of the attack.
As a result of his wounds Frank was evacuated to England where he spent time in Fulham Military Hospital, Hammersmith, before being returned to Australia in November 1918, arriving in early January 1919. He was discharged in early 1919. He received the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service.
Frank Chenery Senior had died suddenly in May 1918 of a brain haemorrhage at his residence in Toowong at only 50 years of age. He had been working as second engineer on the construction of the new railway line between Maryborough and Rockhampton. Rachel died a year later in September 1919 and had been living at Sylvan Road, Toowong. Both are buried in Toowong Cemetery (Plot 10-28-25).
Pte Chenery never appears to have been to Egypt during his war service, and it is unknown how he came to acquire 14 Egyptian figurines donated to the Queensland Museum in April 1980. There is a chance that he stopped in Egypt either on his way to England, or on his return, but a single mention to a friend training in Egypt in his correspondence suggests that he hadn't visited on the trip out from Australia. The artefacts were donated by Misses Nellie Veronica (b 1914) and Catherine (b 1911) Ginn, Frank's cousins and daughters of his mother's brother James Patrick Ginn.
Frank Chenery lived the rest of his life in Toowong and died in Brisbane in 1973. He never married and is buried at Mt Thompson Memorial Gardens, Columbarium 12, Section 24.
Frank was unmarried and working as a clerk in Brisbane in 1916 when he enlisted on 9 September 1916 as part of the 18th Reinforcements, 26th Battalion AIF. His service number was 6425. He had been due to study with Hemingway & Robertson's Australasian Correspondence School when he enlisted, but had to cancel his enrolment.
Frank embarked aboard the HMAT Demosthenes from Sydney in late December 1916 after spending time in camps and at Corporal training school. The Corporal school was disbanded before Frank could graduate and he spent the entire war as a Private. The Demosthenes travelled to Plymouth, UK between December 1916 and March 1917, stopping at Durban in South Africa. Frank spent the next seven months in the 7th Australian Training Battalion at Rollestone camp on the Salisbury Plain.
In the middle of June 1916, he was admitted to the Fargo Military hospital for 12 days with “Pyrexia of Unknown Origin” the medical term for Trench Fever. Unfortunately records for the 7th Training Battalion are not available, but Frank's correspondence with his family describes camp life including training and route marches, poor rations, stints in isolation camps due to disease, the weather, discussions of fellow soldiers in his hut, progress of the war, trips to London to collect prisoners, and even a visit to Stonehenge for the summer solstice.
On 24 October 1917, Frank proceeded overseas to France where he was taken on strength with the 26th Battalion, stationed at Steenvoorde, France, close to the border with Belgium. On 27 October the unit entered the line at Broodseinde Ridge outside Ypres. Here the unit conducted patrols and came under artillery bombardment, include a heavy gas attack at the end of the month. These operations were the last part of the much larger Third Battle of Ypres (31 July – 10 November). His correspondence shows that he quickly became acquainted with the realities of trench warfare.
November and early December 1917 were spent training behind the lines near Dickebusch and Steenvoorde, before returning to the front line between Ypres and Armentieres in the middle of December. Late 1917 and early 1918 were spent in an out of the line around Ypres, providing working parties to the Australian Engineers repairing trenches, undertaking training, and short periods at the front. Frank's cousin, Lieut Alfred George Chenery (1894 - 59th Battalion), was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions while a Sergeant at Polygon Wood in September 1917.
In April 1918 Frank and the 26th Battalion moved to the south and took up new positions in the line around Amiens on the Somme. This movement was part of a redeployment of Allied troops to counter an increasingly dangerous German offensive at the Somme which was launched in March of 1918. Here the regular schedule of days in and out of the line resumed and the unit was variously stationed at Franvillers, Heilly, Bresle, Camon, Frechencourt and Villers-Bretonneux from April to July 1918.
In the line the unit could expect enemy bombardments (including gas) and regular patrols, while behind the lines the unit trained or assisted with various working parties. An expected attack at Amiens eventually occurred on 17 April 1918 around Villers-Bretonneux and continued for several weeks, including a tank attack on 24 April where the German tank 'Mephisto' was damaged and abandoned. It was recovered in July by soldiers from the 26th Battalion and is now held by the Queensland Museum.
For the remainder of the German Spring Offensive of 1918, from May to July 1918, Frank and the 26th Battalion remained around Villers-Bretonneux. Some planned attacks were made, but increasingly, the tactic of 'peaceful penetration' was used by the Allies to capture ground to the front of their lines due to the fragmentary nature of the new German trenches. On 17 July, during a planned attack against German lines at Monument Wood near Villers-Bretonneux, Frank suffered severe bullet wounds to his shoulder and right thigh. The attack commenced at 9:45pm, preceded by an artillery bombardment, and going was slow due to earlier rain. The 26th Battalion saw 30 casualties as part of the attack.
As a result of his wounds Frank was evacuated to England where he spent time in Fulham Military Hospital, Hammersmith, before being returned to Australia in November 1918, arriving in early January 1919. He was discharged in early 1919. He received the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service.
Frank Chenery Senior had died suddenly in May 1918 of a brain haemorrhage at his residence in Toowong at only 50 years of age. He had been working as second engineer on the construction of the new railway line between Maryborough and Rockhampton. Rachel died a year later in September 1919 and had been living at Sylvan Road, Toowong. Both are buried in Toowong Cemetery (Plot 10-28-25).
Pte Chenery never appears to have been to Egypt during his war service, and it is unknown how he came to acquire 14 Egyptian figurines donated to the Queensland Museum in April 1980. There is a chance that he stopped in Egypt either on his way to England, or on his return, but a single mention to a friend training in Egypt in his correspondence suggests that he hadn't visited on the trip out from Australia. The artefacts were donated by Misses Nellie Veronica (b 1914) and Catherine (b 1911) Ginn, Frank's cousins and daughters of his mother's brother James Patrick Ginn.
Frank Chenery lived the rest of his life in Toowong and died in Brisbane in 1973. He never married and is buried at Mt Thompson Memorial Gardens, Columbarium 12, Section 24.
Rank
Private
Occupation
26th Australian Infantry Battalion
Birth Date
1889
Birthplace
Death Date
1973
Death Place
Files
Collection
Citation
“Private Frank Chenery,” First World War Antiquities, accessed May 3, 2024, https://ww1antiquities.omeka.net/items/show/210.
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