Eric Martin ‘Dick’ Solling
From The Orange Wiki
SOLLING, Eric Martin ‘Dick’
Service no: Lieutenant [1]
Place of birth: Hexham, 21 August 1893
Address: Orange
Occupation: Optician
Next of kin: Veronica Mary Solling (wife), Lorn, West Maitland
Date of enlistment: 17 August 1914
Place of enlistment: Kensington
Age at enlistment: 21
Fate: Embarked HMAT Suffolk A23 Sydney 18 October 1914. Killed in action, Gallipoli, Turkey.
Date of death: 25 April 1915
Buried: Gallipoli
Eric Martin ‘Dick’ Solling was an optician who lived in West Maitland. He enlisted in August 1914 and was a Lieutenant who went to Egypt as part of the first expeditionary force.
Eric was the youngest of 11 children. His mother, Jane, was the eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs William West of Balmoral, Canobolas, and Eric and his wife often travelled to Orange to visit his parents.
Eric enlisted in August 1914 and embarked from Sydney in October the same year. He was killed during the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915. He was 21.
The Leader reported his death on 6 May 1915, however erroneously claimed the following day that he had merely been wounded. Eric left behind his wife Veronica and a three-week old infant.
Eric’s brother, Reginald, and sister Wilhemena, a nurse, also served during WWI.
Leader, 6 May 1915, p. 2.
Lieutenant Sollings [2]
Leader, 7 May 1915, p. 2.
A Happy contradiction. Lieut. Only wounded in action. [3]