Charles William Murray

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(Created page with ''''MURRAY, Charles William''' '''Service no:''' 1590 [http://soda.naa.gov.au/record/7984812/1] '''Place of birth:''' Orange, 1891 '''Address:''' Edgar Street, Auburn '''Oc…')
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For more than 80 years Charles William Murray had no known grave. In 2011 his remains were identified and re-interred at the newly created Fromelles Military Cemetery at Pheasant Wood in France.
For more than 80 years Charles William Murray had no known grave. In 2011 his remains were identified and re-interred at the newly created Fromelles Military Cemetery at Pheasant Wood in France.
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''Leader'', 25 September 1916, p. 1
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Sergeant Charlie Murray – A Mate’s Letter [http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117814686/13051730]
[[File:Charles_William_Murray_plaque.jpg|200px|thumb|centre|Charles William Murray commemorative plaque, Orange Cemetery. Image courtesy Orange Cemetery.]]
[[File:Charles_William_Murray_plaque.jpg|200px|thumb|centre|Charles William Murray commemorative plaque, Orange Cemetery. Image courtesy Orange Cemetery.]]

Revision as of 01:57, 21 September 2016

MURRAY, Charles William

Service no: 1590 [1]

Place of birth: Orange, 1891

Address: Edgar Street, Auburn

Occupation: Stone mason

Next of kin: William Joseph Murray (father), Edgar Street, Auburn. Later 24 McNamara Street, Orange, then 71 Peisley Street, Orange

Date of enlistment: 14 July 1915

Place of enlistment: Liverpool

Age at enlistment: 23

Fate: Embarked HMAT A72 Beltana, Sydney, 9 November 1915. Disembarked Suez, 11 December 1915. Taken on strength, C Company, 30th Battalion, Tel-el-Kebir, 15 February 1916. Promoted Corporal, Ferry Post, 1 April 1916. Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 16 June 1916. Disembarked Marseilles, France, 23 June 1916. Reported missing, 20 July 1916. Declared to have been killed in action, Fleurbaix, France, 20 July 1916, according to AIF headquarters 27 March 1917.

Date of death: 20 July 1916

Buried: Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, France


Charles William Murray was born in Orange in 1891; the second of five children of William Joseph Murray and his wife Emily (nee Freer). He attended Orange Superior Public School, where he served in the School Cadets.

Following his education Charles served a three year apprenticeship as a stonemason with his father William Joseph Murray.

In 1912 Charles married Alice M Perry at Wellington, however when he enlisted three years later, answered “No” to the question: “Are you married?” on his attestation papers, and nominated his father as his next of kin.

Private Murray embarked HMAT A72 Beltana in Sydney on 9 November 1915, and arrived in Suez on 11 December 1915. In February the following year he was taken on strength with C Company of the 30th Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir.

On 1 April 1916 Charles was promoted to Corporal, and two months later left Egypt to join the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in France. Less than one month later, on 20 July 1916, Corporal Murray was reported missing in action during the Battle of Fromelles.

The Red Cross File Wounded and Missing Bureau investigated Charles’ fate. According to two other soldiers he was shot in thigh as he approached the German trenches on the night of 19 July 1916. His name was later located on a German death list dated 4 November 1916. In March 1917 the AIF declared Charles to have been killed in action; one of the 1,917 Australian men killed during the disastrous Battle of Fromelles.

Charles William Murray is commemorated on St John's Presbyterian Church Orange Honour Roll, on the World War I Roll of Honour on the southern face of the Orange Cenotaph and on panel number 117 on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. His name also appears on a commemorative plaque on his father’s grave in Orange Cemetery, Church of England Section X, Grave 93.

In 1923 the Anzac Memorial Avenue of trees was planted along Bathurst Road to commemorate fallen WWI soldiers. A tree was planted in honour of “Pte CW Murray”; it was donated by “A Friend”. Very few of the trees are still standing today.

For more than 80 years Charles William Murray had no known grave. In 2011 his remains were identified and re-interred at the newly created Fromelles Military Cemetery at Pheasant Wood in France.


Leader, 25 September 1916, p. 1 Sergeant Charlie Murray – A Mate’s Letter [2]

Charles William Murray commemorative plaque, Orange Cemetery. Image courtesy Orange Cemetery.
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